Chapter 1
Story Analysis
In the story you just heard, there are three key characters. The first is Uddālaka, the father of Nachiketa. The second is Nachiketa himself, and the third is Yama. These three characters personify something. Each of them represents a state of the mind. Uddālaka represents something, Nachiketa represents something, and Yama also represents something. And now we’ll talk about what each one stands for.
When we walk the path of spiritual practice, these three characters represent the three steps of sādhanā. Whenever we read any spiritual text, many steps of sādhanā are described — what we must do in the first step, what to do in the second, the third, the fourth, and so on. Even when we studied the Gita, we discussed that to reach the terrace of devotion, we must climb the ladder one step at a time. Only then can we reach the terrace.
Here too, these three characters point to the three steps of sādhanā.
Uddālaka represents the first step, Nachiketa the second, and Yama the third. When we have climbed all three steps, then we will not actually “gain” self-knowledge, but we will become eligible for it. One must first become a qualified vessel to receive self-knowledge. So when will we become such a vessel?
First character: Uddālaka
This story says that to absorb self-knowledge within ourselves, we must pass through these three steps of sādhanā. The first step is Uddālaka. Uddālaka is described as a sage. If we break down the word “Uddālaka,” it comes from ut and dālaka. Ut means “upward,” and dālaka is a Vedic word meaning “to move.” So Uddālaka means one who moves upward.
A person whose mind has begun to move upward is called Uddālaka.
So what is the first step of sādhanā?
To start moving upward.
Right now, sometimes we move upward, but we also slip downward. Someone says a small thing and we get upset. Our ego gets hurt. Someone tempts us and we fall into the temptation. So we start moving upward, but again and again we fall back down. But the character Uddālaka, the first step of sādhanā, teaches us:
Keep moving upward and stop falling downward.
Only then can you reach the second step.
But is this meaning of “Uddālaka” correct? Are we not simply imagining it? The text itself confirms this in the third verse. In the story, Uddālaka gives cows as charity — cows that have drunk all the water, eaten all the grass, whose milk has been exhausted, whose senses have weakened. These four words describe the four characteristics of a practitioner whose mind has begun moving upward.
The first characteristic is pitṛdhaka (padaka): the cow has drunk the uk. What does this mean?
Here, “go” does not just mean cow; it also means consciousness. When someone begins to move upward, their consciousness becomes pitṛdhaka — meaning it has “drunk the uk.” In Vedic usage, uk means “that which rises upward.” So to “drink the uk” means to internalize upward movement. One has stopped moving downward altogether.
So the first sign of the Uddālaka-state is that one’s consciousness has turned upward and has absorbed that upward direction within.
The second characteristic is jagad-tṛṇa: the cow has stopped eating grass. Symbolically, this means that the practitioner has stopped taking in trivial desires — all those small, unnecessary cravings we constantly feed the mind. An upward-moving consciousness no longer consumes these.
The third characteristic is dugdha-doha: the cow no longer gives milk. Milk — payah — symbolically refers to the bliss of the ānandamaya-kośa. A person in the first stage of sādhanā is moving upward, has stopped feeding unnecessary desires, but has not yet reached the state where inner bliss manifests in life. The bliss is not flowing yet.
The fourth characteristic is nirindriya: the senses have lost their power. This means that the senses no longer overpower the mind and intellect. Instead, the mind and intellect begin to guide the senses. This is the fourth hallmark of the practitioner who has begun to move upward.
All these characteristics are personified in the story through the name Uddālaka, the first step of sādhanā.
Second character: Nachiketa
Nachiketa represents the second state of the mind — the subtle mind, the inward-turned mind. When a practitioner continues sādhanā, the first stage is Uddālaka, then comes Nachiketa.
Nachiketa literally means “that which is not visible” — na meaning “not,” and chiketa meaning “perceived.” A subtle, inward-turned mind is not easily visible through outer actions or expressions. Hence the name Nachiketa.
This subtle mind has many signs, and these help us verify that we are interpreting the symbol correctly.
The first sign (verse 5) is that this mind is of superior conduct. It may be of the highest or middle kind, but never of the lowest.
The next sign (verse 6) is that the subtle mind recognizes that the body is mortal — like crops that grow, ripen, are consumed, and grow again. Nachiketa knows that the body is naturally subject to death.
Verses 7, 8, and 9 show that this subtle mind has the complete capacity to enter discipline and restraint — the domain of Yama. An ordinary mind cannot practice restraint even in small matters. Tell someone with diabetes to stop eating sugar; without inner discipline, they simply cannot resist. That is an unrestrained mind.
But the subtle mind — Nachiketa — is fully capable of restraint.
That’s why the story says Nachiketa reaches the house of Yama. This means that only a subtle mind can enter true discipline.
Another sign is gratitude toward earlier stages. In the story, Nachiketa asks Yama for his first boon for the welfare of his father. This shows that the subtle mind remembers its past state with gratitude, just as a grown child later feels thankful for the discipline his parents once insisted on.
Another characteristic of the subtle mind is that it easily grasps foundational knowledge — symbolized in the second boon.
And one more: the subtle mind is one-pointed and determined. Nachiketa desires only one thing — the knowledge of the Self. He rejects everything else with clarity and firmness.
All these signs show why Nachiketa symbolizes the subtle, inward-turned, upward-rising mind.
Third character: Yama
Yama represents the third state of the practitioner’s mind — mastery, restraint, and discipline.
When the subtle mind becomes firmly established in discipline, that is the state symbolized by Yama. Even the word “Yama” forms “sanyama,” and with “ni” it forms “niyama.” In Patanjali’s Yoga Shastra, these are the practices of restraint and discipline.
Here, Yama means complete mastery over natural instincts — hunger, thirst, sleep, fear, and other impulses. Ordinary minds cannot control these. When hunger comes, we immediately want food. When fear comes, we run. But the restrained mind gains control over these instinctive movements.
The story hints at this symbolically: when Nachiketa reaches Yama’s house, he does not eat, drink, or sleep for three nights — pointing to mastery over hunger, thirst, and sleep.
Yama is also described as the lord of death. In verse 4, Uddālaka says, “I give you to death.” This does not mean physical death. Here, “death” means becoming completely detached from worldly pleasures — the “death” of worldly temptations. What once felt like nectar loses all attraction for the disciplined mind.
So when Uddālaka says, “I give you to death,” it means:
You will now rise beyond worldly pleasures.
This marks the third stage of the practitioner.
The mind first becomes Uddālaka — rising upward.
Then it becomes Nachiketa — subtle and inward.
Then it reaches Yama — disciplined and restrained.
This is why the story contains just one simple sentence: “Uddālaka sent Nachiketa to the house of Yama.” But behind this one line lies a deep symbol: the mind rising, becoming subtle, and finally entering discipline.
This is the elevated state of the practising mind.