Upanishads · Kaṭha 1.28
॥
Devanāgarī
अजीर्यताम् अमृतानाम् उपेत्य जीर्यन् मर्त्यः क्वधःस्थः प्रजानन् ।
अभिध्यायन् वर्णरतिप्रमोदान् अतिदीर्घे जीविते को रमेत
Transliteration (IAST)
ajīryatām amṛtānām upetya jīryan martyaḥ kvadhaḥsthaḥ prajānan /
abhidhyāyan varṇaratipramodān atidīrghe jīvite ko rameta
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अजीर्यताम्ajīryatāmof the unaging (a-jīryat); of the undecaying; of those who know no decrepitude
अमृतानाम्amṛtānāmof the immortals; of the imperishable ones
उपेत्यupetyahaving drawn near (upa-√i — 'to approach'); having come to; having met
जीर्यन्jīryanaging; decaying; growing decrepit
मर्त्यःmartyaḥa mortal; man
क्वkvawhere; how
अधःस्थःadhaḥsthaḥabiding below; standing beneath
प्रजानन्prajānanunderstanding; knowing
अभिध्यायन्abhidhyāyanpondering upon (abhi-√dhyai — 'to think through'); having discerned [their worth]; having reflected upon
वर्णvarṇabeauty; colour
रतिratienjoyment; love
प्रमोदान्pramodānthe joys; the merriments
अतिदीर्घेatidīrgheover-long; very long
जीवितेjīvitelife; the term of life
कःkaḥwho; the man who
रमेतrametawould take delight (optative of √ram — 'to rejoice'); would find pleasure; would find gladness
Translation
"Having drawn near to the unaging immortals and knowing [the better], what decaying mortal, dwelling here below, would rejoice in beauty and delights, pondering their [price] — in a life, however long?"
Version
3e1d73af70f9 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Naciketas's last argument lays open the psychology of his renunciation. ajīryatām amṛtānām upetya — "having come to the unaging immortals": he stands before an immortal interlocutor, he has touched the very possibility of undecaying being — and after that touch the old joys have irreversibly changed their taste. kvadhaḥsthaḥ prajānan — "abiding below — and knowing [it]": the trouble is not that a mortal lives below, but that henceforth he knows about below and above; knowledge abolishes the naïveté of enjoyment.
ko rameta — "who would rejoice?" — a rhetorical question, but an honest one: not "one must not rejoice" but "one will not be able to". abhidhyāyan varṇa-rati-pramodān — "pondering beauty, passion, delights": the very capacity to think a thing through (abhi-√dhyai — "to think into the depth") kills their spell; pleasure lives by not being thought through. atidīrghe jīvite — "in an over-long life": length does not cure; a smallness stretched out remains a smallness.
Here it becomes finally clear that Naciketas's renunciation is no feat of will but a consequence of a meeting: one who has tasted the nearness of the eternal does not reject the temporal — it falls away of itself, as yesterday's bread loses its sweetness beside fresh. All the "noes" of this vallī grew out of one "yes" spoken in the depth: there is an unaging, and I have seen its edge.