Yajur Veda · Krishna Yajur Veda (Katha shakha) · 119 mantras
Katha Upanishad
Kaṭhopaniṣad
Central theme: Nachiketa's three boons from Yama; the chariot of the body
The boy Nachiketa, sent by his angry father to Yama (Death), waits three nights at Yama's door. Yama grants three boons. The third — "What happens after death? Does the Self survive?" — Yama tries to deflect with wealth, kingdoms, celestial pleasures; Nachiketa refuses. Yama then teaches: the Self is uncreated, eternal, beyond cause and effect. The famous chariot analogy (3.3-9): body=chariot, intellect=charioteer, mind=reins, senses=horses, the Self is the passenger.
Katha 1.3.14
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत । क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया
Uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata, kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyayā
Arise, awake; having reached the wise, learn. The path is sharp as the razor's edge — hard to cross, the poets say.
Choose the good (shreyas) over the pleasant (preyas). The Self is the only inheritance.