XIV

A rise! Awake! Having reached the Great Ones (illumined
Teachers), gain understanding. The path is as sharp as a razor,
impassable and difficult to travel, so the wise declare.

This is the eternal call of the wise: Awake from the slumber of ignorance!
Arise and seek out those who know the Truth, because only those who have
direct vision of Truth are capable of teaching It. Invoke their blessing with
a humble spirit and seek to be instructed by them. The path is very difficult
to tread. No thoughtless or lethargic person can safely travel on it. One
must be strong, wakeful and persevering.


XV

Knowing That which is soundless, touchless, formless, undecaying;
also tasteless, odorless, and eternal; beginningless, endless and
immutable; beyond the Unmanifested: (knowing That) man escapes
from the mouth of death.

The Ruler of Death defines here the innermost essence of our being. Because
of its extreme subtlety, it cannot be heard or felt or smelled or tasted like
any ordinary object. It never dies. It has no beginning or end. It is
unchangeable. Realizing this Supreme Reality, man escapes from death and
attains everlasting life. Thus the Teacher has gradually led Nachiketas to a
point where he can reveal to him the secret of death. The boy had thought
that there was a place where he could stay and become immortal. But Yama
shows him that immortality is a state of consciousness and is not gained so
long as man clings to name and form, or to perishable objects. What dies?