Chapter 1
Story Analysis
There are two chapters in the Kathopanishad, and each chapter contains three sections, called vallis. We have already discussed the first valli of the first chapter in detail. Today, we begin the second valli of the first chapter. In this second valli, the topic of Self-knowledge begins — you can call it Ātma-jñāna, Ātma-vigyāna, or Ātmavidyā.
Before starting the second valli, let’s take a short recap.
In the first valli, it was hinted that to truly absorb Self-knowledge, a special kind of inner readiness is required. The story of Nachiketa in the first valli is used to show what kind of qualification is needed: the mind must be subtle. And in the Upanishads, "subtle" does not mean clever, logical, or intellectually sharp. Here, “subtle” means pure and sacred.
Through the character of Nachiketa, the Upanishad points toward this pure, sacred mind. Without such purity, Self-knowledge cannot be absorbed. Only when our mind becomes pure and refined can we truly receive Self-knowledge. But the question is: how does the mind become pure and sacred?
They showed through Nachiketa that only a pure mind becomes eligible for Self-knowledge. But how to purify the mind? In the first valli, there is only a hint — and that too, in a symbolic form. You may remember the part where the text speaks about “bricks” (iṣṭakās) for building a sacred fire pit.
The hint is that we must create a yajna-kunda — a fire altar — within ourselves. Just as a physical altar is built with bricks, this inner altar also requires bricks. But the Upanishad does not clearly say what these bricks are. There is no direct explanation. So we must reflect on what these bricks could represent.
One meaning could be this: As our vision is, so our world appears.
We all know the saying: “As the vision, so the creation.”
Therefore, to develop a pure vision, our first requirement is pure and noble thoughts. If we want our inner vision to be elevated, we need elevated thinking. Why? Because the world contains both good and bad — everything is here. We cannot change the world; we cannot alter its nature. But if we change our way of seeing, then the same world will appear good to us. Good vision creates a good world.
So how do we develop such a vision?
Spiritual teachings say: start with pure and noble thoughts.
So the first brick is pure and elevated thinking.
If our thoughts are pure, then naturally our emotions will also become pure. Pure thoughts give rise to pure feelings. Pure feelings shape a pure viewpoint. And with a pure viewpoint, our actions, too, become pure. Repeated pure actions slowly refine our inner vision even more.
So one way to understand those symbolic “bricks” is:
first, pure thoughts
then pure emotions
then a pure viewpoint
then pure actions
Layer by layer, these bricks create our inner yajna-kunda, and eventually our vision itself becomes noble and pure.
That is one interpretation.
Another way could be:
Use the bricks of yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, and pratyāhāra.
Yama is one brick; niyama is another. Add āsana, then prāṇāyāma, then pratyāhāra. With these bricks, you can build your inner altar.
A third way:
Use śravaṇa, manana, and nididhyāsana.
Listen to Self-knowledge, reflect upon it, contemplate upon it, and finally integrate it into your life. These too can be the bricks.
Another method appears in the Bhagavad Gita:
Use the bricks of selflessness, desirelessness, ego-lessness, and the feeling of non-doership. Layer these one upon another to build your altar.
All these methods are aimed at only one thing: purifying and sanctifying the mind.
Another possible approach is simply this:
Accept existence exactly as it is — with good and bad, virtue and vice, flower and thorn — and surrender to the Divine. Even such acceptance and surrender can become bricks for the inner fire altar.
The Upanishad does not specify these bricks; these are reflections based on personal understanding and practice. There are many kinds of spiritual practices; someone may follow hatha yoga or something else. Whatever practice truly purifies the mind can be used as bricks for building the inner altar. The main point is: purify the mind by any means.
In Yoga Vasistha, there is a metaphor:
Just as an offering placed on cold ashes is wasted, in the same way, the offering of knowledge thrown into the ashes of an impure mind is also wasted. If the mind remains impure, polluted, or clouded, then even if we try to absorb Self-knowledge, it will not ignite any transformation — just as fire will not ignite in ashes.
Another example: a mirror.
If a mirror is dusty and dirty, it cannot reflect my face clearly. But if it is clean, it shows my true face exactly as it is. In the same way, only a pure mind — a clean inner mirror — can reflect our true Self, which is pure consciousness, the soul. If I want to realize this truth within myself, my mind-mirror must be clean.
So the Upanishad emphasizes cleansing the mirror of the mind. Remove the layers of dirt using whatever methods work for you.
This is a short recap of the first valli.
Now, why is the first valli so important? Because if our mind is not pure, Self-knowledge will not benefit us. That is why the Upanishad introduces Nachiketa — he represents the pure and sacred mind required for this study.
Now we begin the second valli.
Before starting, we must remember: we need the Nachiketa-like pure mind to study it.
When I read it, I noticed that from the first to the eleventh verse, there is no description of Self-knowledge at all. Directly or indirectly, all these verses simply praise Nachiketa — sometimes for his strength of choosing the higher path, sometimes for his detachment, sometimes for his wisdom, sometimes for his desirelessness. Up to eleven verses, only the pure mind, symbolized by Nachiketa, is praised. Then in the twelfth and thirteenth verses, they praise Self-knowledge itself.
After so much praise, Nachiketa finally says to Yama, “O Lord, O Yama, enough of the praise — now please teach me the knowledge of the Self.” And from the fifteenth verse onward, the description of Self-knowledge begins.
But we will begin right from the first verse and examine what is being said before Self-knowledge actually starts.
Let us take the first verse. Yama speaks about the importance of Brahmavidyā before beginning the actual teaching:
“Nyat śreyo anyat utaiva preyaḥ…”
The meaning:
The path to true welfare (śreyas) is different, and the path of pleasant enjoyments (preyas) is different. Both attract a person. Self-knowledge attracts us, and worldly pleasures also attract us.
Among these two — śreya and preya — the one who chooses śreya attains true welfare. The one who chooses preya may gain something, but it is not ultimately beneficial. Material efforts will certainly give results — wealth, property, status — but these are not truly elevating. Yama says: what is truly beneficial? Śreya — Self-knowledge.
At present, we are more drawn to preya — wealth, house, land, status, possessions. Because of this, we lack interest in śreyas. Especially because we don’t think deeply about rebirth. If we reflected often that this life is not the end — that we have lived many lives and will live many more — then we would understand that śreya, the path of true welfare, is better.
Both śreya and preya attract us, but only śreya elevates us.
In the second verse, Yama again says:
Śreya and preya both appear before a person. A wise person understands their true nature by carefully examining them. The wise choose śreya over preya. But the dull-witted choose preya, drawn by worldly gains and security.
Śreya and preya are completely different. A wise person sees this clearly. A dull person, lacking discrimination, chooses preya — focusing only on worldly security: “What I don’t have, may I gain. What I have, may it remain safe.” This is the meaning of yogakshema mentioned in the Gita — once as material protection and gain, and once in another sense related to spiritual realization and sustaining that realization.
Here, Yama uses yogakshema only in the worldly sense because he is speaking about preya, the pursuit of worldly security and accumulation.
And that completes the second verse.