Death as a Teacher - Katha Upanishad

The message beyond words

Though hard to hear

Seems to be screaming

To be perceived

It tells me a tale

Of a young boy

Who chanced upon death

And made it his teacher

Pray tell me, o death

Wherein lies the path to liberation

How do I achieve the holiest of holies

And redeem my soul to the eternal One

Why do you worry so hard, spoke death

And stress your young mind with such mysteries

Many sages have lived lifetimes

To realize this eternal One

This resplendent world offers you

Many carnal joys

With a thousand comforts waiting on you

Do not ask me to reveal

That which is futile to understand

Do not ask me the secret to death

Those desires are but fleeting

Why do I wander there

My heart craves for this immutable truth

Do I die when this body dies

Death looked upon this young traveler

Realizing his genuine longing, thus spoke

I will give you the word of the scriptures

And reveal a truth greater than the greatest

Realize yourself in the self

And you shall be free from the clutches of death

This self that resides within you

Was never born and shall never die

It lives on hidden in the heart of every creature

Unified, at peace, with the cosmic love

Do not run after sense pleasures

For these will only trap you

In the endless saga

Of life and death

Instead meditate on the self

And see the unity in all living things

Meditate on the self

And dissolve in the universal joy

Rise above this city of eleven gates

To attain the unitive state

Separate yourself from the ego

And know yourself to be pure

You will see you are immortal

You will conceive your boundless beauty

At once beyond all desires

You will live in perennial joy

Thus having learned from death

The young one lived

Separate from all desires

And attachments
He won immortality