Three Nights at Death’s Door

In the Katha Upanishad, the boy Nachiketa waits three nights at the house of Yama, the god of death. To make amends, Yama grants him three boons. For the third, Nachiketa asks what comes after death.

Yama offers him anything else instead. “Choose sons and grandsons who shall live each a hundred years,” he says, and he offers riches and beautiful women with chariots. Nachiketa refuses: “Man is not to be satisfied by riches.”

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