katha
कथा kathā'Story'; the public recitation and exposition of a sacred text, especially a Purana, by a reciter before an audience.
Where this term appears
- What are the Upanishads? Scriptures
That scene is from the Katha Upanishad , and it tells you what kind of literature you are entering.
- Atman and Brahman Essentials
The clearest picture of this comes from the Katha Upanishad , a dialogue between a boy named Nachiketas and Death himself.
- Is yoga Hindu? Is it a religion? Yoga
One of the oldest clear definitions comes from the Katha Upanishad , which describes yoga as the steady holding of the senses, the mind and intellect held still, a state the sages call the highest condition.
- The Antahkarana: The Fourfold Inner Instrument Essentials
The chariot The tradition's oldest and greatest picture of how these parts work together is in the Katha Upanishad , and it is worth quoting because nothing has ever put it better.
- What Does Om Mean? Deities
The Chandogya Upanishad , one of the oldest, opens by calling it the udgitha , the high chant, the essence of essences. The Katha Upanishad is blunter still.
- What happens after death in Hinduism? Essentials
That scene, from the Katha Upanishad , is where Hindu thinking about death shows its character.
- What is a Guru? Lineages
Now set beside it the Katha Upanishad , at 1.2.23, which the same tradition holds as revelation of equal weight.
- What is a Mantra? Worship
In the Katha Upanishad, the god of death, teaching a boy who would not let him off the hook, comes to the highest thing he has to give and names it as a single syllable: "That word (or place) which all the Veda…