Катха-упанишада: Древний индуистский текст

One of the ancient Sanskrit scriptures of Hinduism

The Katha Upanishad (Sanskrit: कठोपनिषद् or कठ उपनिषद्) (Kaṭhopaniṣad) is an ancient Hindu text and one of the mukhya (primary) Upanishads, embedded in the last eight short sections of the Kaṭha school of the Krishna Yajurveda. It is also known as Kāṭhaka Upanishad, and is listed as number 3 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Katha Upanishad consists of two chapters (Adhyāyas), each divided into three sections (Vallis). The first Adhyaya is considered to be of older origin than the second. and as Advaita (non dualistic). It is among the most widely studied Upanishads. Katha Upanishad was translated into Persian in 17th century, copies of which were then translated into Latin and distributed in Europe. Other philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer praised it, Edwin Arnold rendered it in verse as "The Secret of Death", and Ralph Waldo Emerson credited Katha Upanishad for the central story at the end of his essay Immortality, as well as his poem "Brahma".

Katha (Sanskrit: कठ) literally means "distress". Katha is also the name of a sage, credited as the founder of a branch of the Krishna Yajur veda, as well as the term for a female pupil or follower of Kathas school of Yajurveda. Some of these Sanskrit word plays are incorporated within the Upanishad's text.

The chronology of Katha Upanishad is unclear and contested by scholars. All opinions rest on scanty evidence, an analysis of archaism, style and repetitions across texts, driven by assumptions about likely evolution of ideas, and on presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies. Olivelle assigns the Katha Upanishad to the verse Upanishads, together with the Kena, Isa, Svetasvatara, and Mundaka, dating it to the first centuries BCE. Paul Deussen too considers Katha Upanishad to be a post prose, yet earlier stage Upanishad composed about the time Kena and Isha Upanishads were, because of the poetic, mathematical metric structure of its hymns. Stephen Phillips notes the disagreement between modern scholars. Phillips places the Katha Upanishad chronologically after Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Isha, Taittiriya, Aitareya and Kena, but before Mundaka, Prasna, Mandukya, Svetasvatara and Maitri Upanishads, as well as before the earliest Buddhist Pali and Jaina canons. posits a view similar to Phillips, with slightly different ordering, placing Katha's chronological composition in the fourth group of ancient Upanishads along with Mundaka and Svetasvatara. Winternitz considers the Kathaka Upanishad as pre Buddhist, pre Jaina literature.

The Katha Upanishad has two chapters (adhyāyas), each with three sections (valli), thus a total of six sections. The first section has 29 verses, the second section 25 verses, and the third section has 17. The second chapter opens with the fourth section of the Katha Upanishad, which has 15 verses, while the fifth valli also has 15 verses. The final section has 17 verses. Nachiketa is mentioned in the verses of chapter 3.11 of Taittiriya Brahmana, both as a similar story,

The style and structure suggests that some of the verses in Katha Upanishad, such as 1.1.8, 1.1.16 1.1.18, 1.1.28, among others, are non philosophical, do not fit with the rest of the text, and are likely to be later insertion and interpolations.

The Upanishad opens with the story of Vajasravasa, also called Aruni Auddalaki Gautama, who gives away all of his worldly possessions. However, his son Nachiketa (Sanskrit: नचिकेता) sees the charitable sacrifice as a farce, because all those worldly things have already been used to exhaustion, and are of no value to the recipients. The cows that were given away, for example, were so old that they had 'drank their last water' (पीतोदकाः), 'eaten their last grass' (जग्धतृणाः), 'don't give milk' (दुग्धदोहाः), 'who are barren' (निरिन्द्रियाः). Concerned, the son asks his father,

Nachiketa does not die, but accepts his father's gifting him to Death by visiting the abode of Yama the deity of death in the Indian pantheon of deities. Nachiketa arrives, but Yama is not in his abode. Nachiketa as guest goes hungry for three nights, states verse 9 of the first Valli of Katha Upanishad. Yama arrives and is apologetic for this dishonor to the guest, so he offers Nachiketa three wishes. Nachiketa's first wish is that Yama discharge him from the abode of death, back to his family, and that his father be calm, well disposed, not resentful and the same as he was before when he returns. Yama grants the first wish immediately, states verse 1.1.11 of Katha Upanishad. In his third wish Nachiketa then asks Yama, in verse 1.1.20, about the doubt that human beings have about "what happens after a person dies? Does he continue to exist in another form? or not?" Nachiketa says that if gods doubt that, then he "Yama" as deity of death ought to be the only one who knows the answer. Yama offers him all sorts of worldly wealth and pleasures instead, but Nachiketa says human life is short, asks Yama to keep the worldly wealth and pleasures to himself, declares that pompous wealth, lust and pleasures are fleeting and vain, then insists on knowing the nature of Atman (Self) and sticks to his question, "what happens after death?"

Yama begins his teaching by distinguishing between preya (प्रेय, प्रिय, dear, pleasant, gratifying), and shreya (श्रेय, good, beneficial excellence). The verses 1.2.4 through 1.2.6 of Katha Upanishad then characterizes knowledge/wisdom as the pursuit of good, and ignorance/delusion as the pursuit of pleasant. The pursuit of knowledge and the good, can be taught, learnt and thus realized. A similar discussion and distinction between the pleasant and the beneficial is found in ancient Greek philosophy, such as in Phaedrus by Plato.

The sixth Valli continues the discussion of Karma and rebirth theory, sections of which Max Muller states is possibly interpolated and inserted in a later period. The first five verses of the last section of the Upanishad assert that those who do not know or do not understand Atman return to the world of creation, and those who do are free, liberated. Some unaware of Brahman's essence are naturally inclined to fear God and its manifestation such as nature (fire, lightning, sun), state verses 2.6.2 and 2.6.3 of Katha Upanishad. The Katha Upanishad, in verses 2.6.6 through 2.6.13 recommends a path to Self knowledge, and this path it calls Yoga.

The Katha Upanishad concludes its philosophical presentation in verses 14 15 of the sixth Valli. The state of perfection, according to the last section of the Upanishad, explains Paul Deussen, consists "not in the attainment of a future or yonder world, but it is already just now and here for one who is Self realized, who knows his Self as Brahman (Cosmic Self)". This teaching is also presented in the other ancient scriptures of Hinduism, such as Brihadaranyaka Upanishad's Chapter 4.4.6. The verse 15 of the sixth Valli declares that the Upanishad concludes its teaching therein. that these remaining verses 2.6.16 – 2.6.18 are possibly modern additions as appendix and have been interpolated. This is due to the declaration of Upanishad's end in verse 15, and the additional three verses that are structured in prose like manner, rather than the poetic, metric perfection that Katha Upanishad is largely written in.

Charles Johnston has called Katha Upanishad as one of the highest spiritual texts, with layers of metaphors embedded therein. To Johnston, the three nights and three boons in the first Valli of Katha Upanishad, for example, are among the text's many layers, with the three connoting the past, the present and the future. The Irish poet William Butler Yeats dedicated several essays and sonnets to themes in Katha Upanishad and related ancient Upanishads of India. George William Russell similarly esteemed the Katha and other Upanishads. The American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson held Katha Upanishad highly, and wrote several poems and essays paralleling the themes in it. The various themes contained in Katha Upanishad have been subject of many scholarly works. For example, Elizabeth Schiltz Radhakrishnan notes that Katha Upanishad's discussion of "good versus pleasant" is evidence of ethical theories and philosophical longings of ancient human beings in India by 1st millennium BCE, much like those in Greek city states in Europe.

A verse in the Upanishad inspired the title and the epigraph of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel The Razor’s Edge, later adapted, twice, into films of the same title (see articles on 1946 and 1984 films). The epigraph reads, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." taken from a verse in the Katha Upanishad – 1.3.14. Maugham had visited India in 1938 and met Ramana Maharishi at his ashram in Tamil Nadu. Filmmaker Ashish Avikunthak made a film based on this Upanishad called “Katho Upanishad” which was first shown as a video installation at Gallery Chatterjee & Lal in Mumbai in 2012. Roger Zelazny included a quote from the Katha Upanishad as dialogue between two characters in his novel, Lord of Light.