Ome Saha'navavu,

Saha'nobhannobhuntu,

Sahhviriam Karavavah,

Tejas'nawadi,

Tamsthumavidwitwai

Om shant, shy, shanty.

May the Lord protect us both teacher and the taught together by revealing knowledge.

May he protect us both by giving us the results of knowledge.

May we attain vigor together. Let our study be invigorating.

May we not cavail at each other. Ome, peace, peace, peace.

So the story goes, we've been reading in Katow Upanishad, very famous and ancient story of the little boy Natchiketa who went to the house of death and asked him the question about the Atman.

So that's the setting.

So it started off with, we were introduced to the boy Natchiketa and his father Vajas Ravasa.

The Vajashravasa, this Vedic Brahmin, he was performing a big fire ritual with the purpose, objective of going to heaven.

Then his son noticed that he was not giving away the gifts as he was supposed to.

And he was keeping the good stuff for himself and giving away the not so good stuff. And then Natchiketa asks him, to whom do you want to give me and persists in asking him. So his father, you know, he sees it as impertinence. But Nacchkeeta wants to point out that one should hold on to the truth in this world and in the next also it is truth that matters, values that matter.

And basically his father is just cheating himself, cheating the society by not doing what he was supposed to do.

But his father sees it as impertinence and says,

I'll give you to death, go to the house of death.

And Sonagetha goes to the house of death, and we know that

death, Yamaraja, the Lord of Death, was away on tour or something.

And he was not at home.

...