Upaniṣads · Kaṭha 1.29
॥
Devanāgarī
यस्मिन्न् इदं विचिकित्सन्ति मृत्यो यत् साम्पराये महति ब्रूहि नस् तत् ।
यो ऽयं वरो गूढम् अनुप्रविष्टो नान्यं तस्मान् नचिकेता वृणीते
Transliteración (IAST)
yasminn idaṃ vicikitsanti mṛtyo yat sāmparāye mahati brūhi nas tat /
yo 'yaṃ varo gūḍham anupraviṣṭo nānyaṃ tasmān naciketā vṛṇīte
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
यस्मिन्yasminabout which; in which
इदम्idamthis; the present
विचिकित्सन्तिvicikitsantithey are in doubt; they enquire
मृत्योmṛtyoO Death; O Yama
यत्yatwhat; that which
साम्परायेsāmparāyein the great passage (sāmparāya — 'the road beyond death'); in what lies beyond death; in the departure to come
महतिmahatigreat; momentous
ब्रूहिbrūhitell; explain
नःnaḥto us; for us
तत्tatthat; this
यःyaḥwhich; that one
अयम्ayamthis; the present
वरःvaraḥa gift; the choice
गूढम्gūḍhaminto the hidden; into the secret; into what is concealed
अनुप्रविष्टःanupraviṣṭaḥhaving entered (anu-pra-√viś — 'to enter deep within'); having gone inside; having penetrated
नnanot; no
अन्यम्anyamother; another
तस्मात्tasmātthan he; other than he
नचिकेताःnaciketāḥNaciketas; Naciketas
वृणीतेvṛṇītehe chooses (from √vṛ — 'to choose'); chooses; he asks for
Traducción
"What men are in doubt about, O Death — what is there in the great passage — tell us that. This boon, which has entered into the hidden, and no other, does Naciketas choose."
Versión
58c2ceab854c · publicado 26 jul 2026, 21:13:03 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The close of the first vallī — the third and final utterance of the question. yasmin idaṁ vicikitsanti — "what men doubt about": that very vicikitsā of verse 20; sāmparāye mahati — "in the great passage": sāmparāya is the solemn word for the after-death road, the way "beyond the bound". brūhi nas tat — "tell us that": the plural "us" — the boy is asking no longer for himself alone but for all who doubt; a personal question has grown to a universal one.
yo 'yaṁ varo gūḍham anupraviṣṭaḥ — "this boon, which has entered into the hidden": a beautiful characterization of the question itself — it has "gone deep within", into that very guhā, the secret place of the heart, where the Upaniṣad has set both the fire (verse 14) and the Ātman (vallī 2). A question that has reached the hidden is already half an answer: it stands where the truth lives.
nānyaṁ tasmān naciketā vṛṇīte — "nothing else does Naciketas choose": of himself in the third person, as of a matter settled and signed. The testing is complete: the seeker has been proved by need (the threshold), by temptation (the boons) and by dissuasion (the teacher's refusal) — the threefold assay by which tradition tests everyone who approaches the hidden. Now the silence of Death will be broken, and the second vallī will begin with the words India has been repeating for three thousand years: "One thing is the good, another the pleasant…"