Is Suffering Necessary for Wisdom?

Nachiketa was tested by Death. Nietzsche said what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Katha Upanishad vs Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. The fire of honest inquiry burns away everything except what is real.

A Boy at the Door of Death

The Katha Upanishad opens with a scene that would get a modern parent arrested. A man named Vajashravas is performing a great sacrifice, the kind that requires giving away all your worldly goods. But Vajashravas is cutting corners. The cattle he is donating are old, barren, blind, broken. His young son Nachiketa watches and feels something go wrong in his chest. This is not right. My father is cheating at a holy thing.

The boy walks up to his father and asks a question. 'Father, to whom will you give me?' Vajashravas ignores him. Nachiketa asks again. Ignored. A third time. And Vajashravas, out of patience, spits: 'To Death. I give thee to Death.'

He says it the way a furious parent says 'go to your room.' He does not mean it. But Nachiketa takes it literally. He leaves. He walks to the house of Yama, the god of death, and waits at the threshold. Yama is out hunting. Nachiketa waits three nights without food, without water, without hospitality. When Yama finally returns, he is horrified. A Brahmin guest at his own door, neglected for three days. This is a grave violation of dharma even for Death.

Yama offers three boons to make amends. Nachiketa chooses carefully. The first boon: peace in his father's heart, forgiveness when he returns home. Granted. The second boon: teach me the secret of the sacred fire that leads to heaven. Granted. And then the third boon, the one the entire Upanishad turns on: 'Tell me what happens to a person after death. Some say the self survives. Some say nothing remains. I want to know which is true.'

Yama tries to dodge. He tells Nachiketa this is a question even the gods find hard. He offers a replacement: 'Ask me for anything else. Sons and grandsons who live a hundred years. Cattle, elephants, gold, vast tracts of land. A kingdom. Celestial maidens with chariots. Anything your heart desires. But do not press me on this one question.'