Table of Contents | Read an Excerpt | Media Reviews and Endorsements | Reader Reviews
“Perennial joy, or passing pleasure? This is the choice one is to make always.”
– Katha Upanishad
This is Easwaran’s commentary on one of his favorite spiritual texts, the Katha Upanishad. A teenager called Nachiketa goes on a daring mission to the King of Death, to ask him the perennial questions of life: Who am I? Why am I here? What happens after I die?
Nachiketa stands for each of us who has a deep desire to understand the meaning of life. Death is presented as the perfect teacher – direct and honest.
Dialogue with Death traces a journey through the most fascinating realms a human being can travel: the world within. We gain precious insights into the nature of the world, the mind, and the underlying reality that many call God. Easwaran’s approach is positive and practical. Problems become challenges; living wisely becomes a tremendous adventure requiring daring, determination, and skill.
Features
- Gives a practical commentary on each section of the Katha Upanishad, showing how we can interpret the choices presented to Nachiketa in our own lives, today
- Includes full translation by Easwaran of the Katha Upanishad for meditation and study
Table of Contents | 
Preface
An Inward Journey
The great transition called death has immense potential to enrich our lives if we are open to its lessons. An ancient story about a brave teenager, Nachiketa, and Yama, the King of Death, introduces the profound benefits these lessons can bring, including deepened compassion, increased vitality, and enhanced meaning and purpose in life.
Two Paths
As we follow Nachiketa’s journey into consciousness, we learn of two opposing paths – preya and shreya – which, in their exquisite simplicity, can guide every choice we make in our daily lives. Preya brings only short-lived pleasures while shreya leads to lasting well-being for ourselves and those around us.
The City of Eleven Gates
The journey into consciousness begins at the physical level, with our senses serving as “gates” to the outside world. A trained mind, cultivated by meditation, allows us to control these gates, conserve our energy, and tap deeper resources within.
Gross and Subtle
Below surface consciousness, we discover that we live not in one body but two – the physical body of flesh and bones, and the subtle body of the mind, desires, and feelings.
A Field of Forces
The vital energy that sustains both our gross and subtle bodies is called prana. Deeply conditioned ways of thinking, called samskaras, can drain prana. Meditation allows us to loosen our samskaras, so that we have more energy and resilience for weathering the storms and stresses of life.
Will and Desire
Where our desires are, there our prana flows also. And the key to desire is will. When we resist self-centered desires, our will is strengthened. The secret of spiritual transformation is turning selfish desires into selfless ones.
Clear Seeing
The clear seeing mind asks, “What does this really accomplish? For whose benefit is it? At whose expense?” Such discrimination brings improved judgment, greater freedom of choice.
The Stream of Thought
The flow of our thoughts depends surprisingly little on external events. The implication is marvelous: by mastering our thoughts and changing our responses we can begin to solve personal problems.
Shadow and Self
The personality we are used to is no more than a shadow cast by our higher Self, our real face – “the face beneath all faces.” When our choices are dominated by self-will, the light of the Self is obstructed by our shadow self. This is the grand illusion that Hindu mysticism calls maya.
Death and Dreaming
The world of the senses is a theater of change, called samsara in Sanskrit. By identifying only with this external reality, we become alienated from the changeless Self within. To call ourselves truly awake, we must be able to freely withdraw consciousness from the senses, a skill gained through meditation.
Waking Up
We truly live in two worlds: the ever-changing external world of the body, senses, mind, and ego; and the changeless internal world which is the very source of light and life, the abode of our highest Self. Between these worlds is a frontier in consciousness which can be crossed by unifying our desires and opening to grace.
The Lesson of the Lilac
All that is ephemeral, from the wilting lilac to the death of a loved one, reminds us that as long as we identify with the body, clinging to youth and passing pleasures, life will slip through our grasping fingers. By letting go of self-centered desires, we discover within a living presence beyond change and death.
Excerpt from Dialogue with Death |
“Nachiketa,” says Yama, “the first day is over. We’ve had our speeches; now let’s get down to business – who you really are.
“Five layers of consciousness cover the Self, Nachiketa. Each must be reached by meditation, but meditation by itself is not enough. Every level brings new insights, which must be translated into daily behavior before you can progress to a deeper level. Merely to make this journey through consciousness means that personality is transformed.
“The outermost layer is the physical, the level of body consciousness. Below this lie three layers which make up a kind of mental body – senses, emotions, and intellect. And nearest to the Self is the ego, the individual sense of 'I.' Few can penetrate to this level, let alone get beyond it. Yet in every age, a handful do manage to discover that they are neither body, mind, nor ego but the Self, who lives in the body and mind as their real operator.
“You will have to make this discovery yourself, Nachiketa; I cannot do it for you. But I will give you full instructions, and I will always be with you as your guide. With my blessings, you shall reach your goal.”
Media Reviews and Endorsements |
“He has given us a clear, almost controversial book that draws on the text and teachings of an ancient mystical faith and applies them to the concerns of contemporary life. His insights into the use of meditation to overcome the fear of death are comforting, reassuring, invigorating.”
– Los Angeles Times
“The mind is the book’s central theme: the discussion leads naturally to exploring how its workings can be changed to obtain the ultimate goal of self-realization, a transcendence of death.”
– Library Journal
“Dialoguing with death is really deciding how to live. Death casts a light, not a shadow on life if we ask serious questions: Why are we here? What happens after death? How ought I to live? Eknath Easwaran is well qualified to suggest illuminating answers to those questions.”
– Prairie Messenger
“Using metaphors, information from modern science and ancient wisdom the author takes the reader on a journey through consciousness and indicates many choices, obstacles, and opportunities that life offers.”
– Journal of Religion and Psychical Research
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