24. 'If you can think of any boon equal to that, choose wealth, and long life. Be (king), Nakiketas, on the wide earth . I make thee the enjoyer of all desires.'

25. 'Whatever desires are difficult to attain among mortals, ask for them according to thy wish;--these fair maidens with their chariots and musical instruments,--such are indeed not to be obtained by men,--be waited on by them whom I give to thee, but do not ask me about dying.'

26. Nakiketas said: 'These things last till tomorrow, O Death, for they wear out this vigour of all the senses. Even the whole of life is short. Keep thou thy horses, keep dance and song for thyself.'

27. 'No man can be made happy by wealth. Shall we possess wealth, when we see thee? Shall we live,

as long as thou rulest? Only that boon (which I have chosen) is to be chosen by me.'

28. 'What mortal, slowly decaying here below, and knowing, after having approached them, the freedom from decay enjoyed by the immortals, would delight in a long life, after he has pondered on the pleasures which arise from beauty and love ?'

29. 'No, that on which there is this doubt, O Death, tell us what there is in that great Hereafter. Nakiketas does not choose another boon but that which enters into the hidden world.'

Footnotes

^1:1 Vagasravasa is called Aruni Auddalaki Gautama, the father of Nakiketas. The father of Svetaketu, another enlightened pupil (see Khand. Up. VI, 1, 1), is also called Aruni (Uddalaka, comm. Kaush. Up. I, x) Gautama. Svetaketu himself is called Aruneya, i.e. the son of Aruni, the grandson of Aruna, and likewise Auddalaki. Auddalaki is a son of Uddalaka, but Sankara (Kath. Up. I, 11) takes Auddalaki as possibly the same as Uddalaka. See Brih. Ar. Up. III, 6, 1.

^1:2 As to @ananda@, unblessed, see Brih. Ar. Up. IV, 4, 11; Vagas. Samh. Up. 3 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. i, p. 310.

^1:3 Anandagiri explains that the cows meant here are cows no longer able to drink, to eat, to give milk, and to calve.

^2:1 Dadami, I give, with the meaning of the future. Some MSS. write dasyami.