Well, we decided to name you Nachiketa. Your name is some of the few things in your life, you can't do anything about. You love it or you hate it, you will have to live with it. If you are 21, you can officially change your name. But by then, too many people know your name and it will be almost impossible to change it.
Why Nachiketa. Your mother's maternal grandmother wanted to name you Krishna given that you were born on Janmashtami. We neverthless named you Nachiketa. Your great grandmom after calling you Krishna for a few weeks gave up.
Your mother and I have been fascinated by the Katho-Upanishad. I first read the story of Nachiketa in the Amar Chitra Katha in 1980 and was hooked. I heard Swami Chinmayananda’s commentary on the Katho-Upanishad in 1989 and was mesmerized. The Katho-Upanishad is a beautiful, poetic explanation of the mystery of life and death, the law of Karma and how to attain liberation from grief and distress. The hero of the Katho-Upanishad is Nachiketa.
The story of the Katho-Upanishad is composed in one hundred nineteen mantras and constructed around a dialogue between a spiritually minded Nachiketa on one hand and Yama, the king of death on the other. Yama, unlike portrayals in Greek or Roman mythology of the king of death, is not something dreadful. He was the first man born on the earth to die and was a self realized master. In this scripture, Yama may be compared to the highest discriminating intelligence of the human being, while Nachiketa represents the lower mind, albeit with strength and courage.
The dialogue between the two reveals the character of a dedicated but yet unrealized spiritual seeker. Nachiketa is tested by Yama to determine how strong his desire for truth is. Is it stronger than the attractions to the things of desire in the world? Yes. Nachiketa renounces everything for the sake of self-realization. Above all else he wants to know Atman the real self.
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I hope, when you grow up, one day you will read the Katho-Upanishad. Nachiketa is someone we can understand as well as admire. Though he has many doubts, his faith is indisputable. Above all he harbours a deep desire for the highest knowledge and ultimate happiness. I have come to understand that final destination is the same in any field when you seek the highest knowledge. Whatever you want to be — a Sanyasin or an astrophysicist or a stock investor, if you, my son, were to strive for the highest knowledge, there is nothing else you will need in your life. You will experience everything else falling in its place - your character, wealth, relationships and profession.
To strive for the highest knowledge requires a sincerity and dedication of a different level. Even then, you will need to motivate yourself every moment of your life. Most don’t understand what it takes and carry on with their day to day lives. A lot of people fool themselves into thinking they are striving for the highest knowledge. The few who understand, find it difficult to reach such levels of sincerity and dedication. Nachiketa of the Katho-Upanishad was one of them.
Krishna himself would have approved of your name.
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