उपनिषद् · Kaṭha 2.10
॥
देवनागरी
जानाम्य् अहं शेवधिर् इत्य् अनित्यं न ह्य् अध्रुवैः प्राप्यते हि ध्रुवं तत् ।
ततो मया नाचिकेतश् चितो ऽग्निर् अनित्यैर् द्रव्यैः प्राप्तवान् अस्मि नित्यम्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
jānāmy ahaṃ śevadhir ity anityaṃ na hy adhruvaiḥ prāpyate hi dhruvaṃ tat /
tato mayā nāciketaś cito 'gnir anityair dravyaiḥ prāptavān asmi nityam
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
जानामिjānāmiI know; I understand
अहम्ahamI; I myself
शेवधिःśevadhiḥthe treasure (śevadhi — 'a hoard'); the accumulated fruit; the treasury [of merit]
इतिitithus; what
अनित्यम्anityamimpermanent; transient
नnanot; no
हिhiindeed; for
अध्रुवैःadhruvaiḥby unstable [means] (a-dhruva); by the non-eternal; by the precarious
प्राप्यतेprāpyateis reached; is won
हिhiindeed; for
ध्रुवम्dhruvamthe stable (dhruva — 'the unshakable'); constant; unchanging
तत्tatthat; it
ततःtataḥtherefore; for that reason
मयाmayāby me; by me
नाचिकेतःnāciketaḥthe fire of Naciketas; of Naciketas
चितःcitaḥhas been laid (from √ci — 'to pile'); has been built; has been set in courses
अग्निःagniḥfire; the sacrificial fire
अनित्यैःanityaiḥby impermanent [things]; by transient [things]
द्रव्यैःdravyaiḥthings (dravya); substances; materials
प्राप्तवान्prāptavānhaving attained; having obtained
अस्मिasmiI am; I have become
नित्यम्nityameternal; constant
अनुवाद
"I know: the treasure [of works] is not eternal — for the stable is not attained by the unstable. Therefore I laid the Naciketas fire: by impermanent things I attained the [relatively] eternal."
संस्करण
2a9c086667af · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 9:13:03 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
An astonishing confession: Death herself professes the limits of her own station. jānāmy ahaṁ śevadhir ity anityam — "I know that [this] treasure is impermanent": śevadhi is a hoard, an accumulated fruit; even the rank of the lord of death is a fruit of deeds, and na hy adhruvaiḥ prāpyate hi dhruvaṁ tat — "the Stable is not attained by the unstable": out of bricks of time no eternity is built. A means imparts its nature to the end; everything won by the transient is transient.
tato mayā nāciketaś cito 'gnir anityair dravyaiḥ prāptavān asmi nityam — "therefore I laid the fire… by impermanent things I attained the eternal". The apparent contradiction is resolved exactly: nityam here is "the lasting", the relative eternity of a cosmic office (Yama rules until the end of the kalpa), not the absolute. Death is honest about herself: rite gave her power and an age — but her power and her age too are under the law about which Naciketas asked.
The lesson for the pupil is twofold. First: ritual works — Yama is its living proof. Second: ritual is not final — its fruits are held by a being who still stands before the mystery of the imperishable. So the teacher cuts off both contempt for rite and reliance on rite: the next verse will say that the pupil "let go" even of that magnificence — and the discourse on the Ātman will begin.