The one who won’t take no for an answer…(Katha Upanishads Week 1)

Tonight we began the journey into the Katha Upanishad– the teaching of…(are you ready for it?)

Death!

‘Upanishad’, translating to ‘come and sit close to’ or ‘to participate with’, we took upon the quest to peer into and participate with the scary, mysterious and liberating topic of Death itself. Yogis from all over lean in closely, eager to hear the elusive teachings of the much dreaded idea of immortality.

The Katha Upanishad reveals the legendary story of a boy, Nachiketa, who goes on his own inner quest to confront Yama – the lord of Death. Impressed by his bravery and perseverance upon finding him, Yama grants Nachiketa 3 ‘boons’ or wishes.

But unbeknown to Yama, Nachiketa is a wise young man. He has seen the transient nature of life, and come to know that all externals – our bodies, possessions and wealth, eventually dwindle and vanish. Nachiketa has a deeper yearning – to know what lies underneath it all. Whereas others may ask for wordly pleasures, Nachiketa demands from Yama to know the very secret of immortality as his last wish.

Yama resists; “Nachiketa, I will give to you sons – a lineage of men, all living to be a 100 years old. I will give to you thousands of cattle, more elephants and horses than you know what to do with. I will send beautiful women to you, to tend to your each and every wish. I will give you to a life as long as you may want it to be ….but the secret to immortality, Nachiketa, please…do not ask of that from me.”

But Nachiketa stays firm in his young heart’s desire and confirms his wish to Yama to know the answer to his question.

Yama opens his eyes to the young, courageous boy. Finally seeing before him, a worthy student…deeply hungry for the truth.

“Then your wish young Nachiketa, is my command…”

And so it begins….a questioning of Death. The one thing that must come to us all – the unavoidable truth. But what is Death? What is it that is dying? Who really dies? This ‘body’, these bones that we’ve borrowed from the Earth?

When we lose the inevitable fact of Death, we lose some of our life force. The very avoidance of death…the fact that it can happen any moment to us, means we can hold back on life itself.

But after Death comes knocking on our doors, what will be left? Our ideas? Our opinions? Our social conditioning? All of the ‘stuff’ that we have essentially ‘put on’, throughout our lives?

Yoga is the art of dying…the art of letting go. A falling away of everything that we’ve ‘added’ onto ourselves, until we are down to that innate, original and eternal place of stillness that abides within us all.

And then, we all start to wonder… what is there left to die?

Here’s to the truth seekers within each of us, the ones who refuse to take no for an answer.

Love,

Adéle x