Vajasravasa in the Upanishadic
times, desiring, performed a sacrifice and gave away cattle as gifts to people.
But his young son Nachiketas, now possessed of faith, asked the father as to
whom he would be giving him. Vajasravasa, desiring, replied: "to
Death."
But then, in return, what did Death
or Mrityu give to the young and spiritually very perceptive aspirant that Nachiketas
was? Mrityu himself being the child of the Sun is also the Master of Truth from
which is born the Law, the Dharma; therefore is he known as the Ordainer of the
Worlds. He is indeed well-possessed of that lore by which the mortal creature
can, through God-knowledge or Brahma Vidya, own and enjoy immortality. It is in
this way Mrityu reveals in himself the divine Being or Purusha. Nachiketas
could not have had a better preceptor than him.
Which is the Law that the stern
Ordainer or Yama firmly upholds in this mortal world, mŗtyuloka? Is he there simply to nullify all the gains of life
which has as if met death by a kind of undesirable accident? Why does he stand
in the way of progress of the soul? Across the path of the divine Event what
for is there this foreboding mind of Night stubbornly opposing the Godward urge
that shall bring truth and light and happiness to the darkness of mortality's
lot? but why? is that the Law? or does it only bespeak of the helplessness of
the divine Event? Indeed, what is the role that such an Ordainer plays by
carrying this apparently negative action in the scheme of terrestrial
functioning? Is the ordinance of death a part of the great celestial design? Or
is it that advantage is taken of something that had happened inadvertently?
But then Mrityu is also a learned
Brahmin; he quotes profound Scriptures and he tells that when the knots of the
heart, hŗdaya granthi, are rent
asunder then even here, in this human birth, the mortal becomes immortal. He
knows without any doubt that there is no fear in heaven, swarge loke na bhayam. His study or adhyāyan is of the heavenly flame which remains concealed in this
earthly creation. The question then is, for what purpose does Yama study that
heavenly flame? Is it not precisely for the reason because that that flame is
the world's beginning, lokādimagnim?
Is not that in it is the beginning of all that is here? It is in possession of
Truth and Consciousness and Light and precisely that is what surely interests
Mrityu. It is the foundation of all that is and also it is the thing hidden in
the secret cave of our being, nihitam guhāyām.
If it has originated and built up here these countless worlds then, above, it
has also manifested itself out of the Brahman. Therefore whether it be the
negative or the affirmative role that Yama may have to play, he must have the
full knowledge of that heavenly flame, the fount and source of the entire
creation.
Yama knows this by study and by
doing works in that study. He is methodical and makes effort to learn and he
means business. The undertaking of the great Law he knows which in a way even
the Gods do not know. Indeed, knowledge of death and dissolution can be given
only by Yama. It is by Adhyatma Yoga, Spiritual Union, can be known that which
is within and behind and above all the created and uncreated things. By it one
knows
In order to have this knowledge, in
order to journey on the upward-sloping heavenly path of the primordial Spirit,
the body becomes a chariot and the soul its master:
ātmānam rathinam viddhi śariram rathameva tu
And what is the goal of this
journey? Crossing the Great Self (Mahat) and then beyond the Unmanifest
(Avyakta), it arrives at the supreme Being (Purusha). That having seen from the
mouth of death there is deliverance, mŗtyumukhatpramuchyate.
The Supreme that has no count or is Asankhya delivers the traveller from it.
Nachiketas wins God-knowledge. He
learns the Ordinance of Yoga, yogavidhi,
and attains immortality under the guidance of Yama.