Why cannot we have such birth?
Desire, lust, and longing are the world. The world which is on the outside is not the question, it will remain outside. It was there when you were not born, it will be there even when you will not be here. The world will remain as it is all the time.
But the world that you create within you is important for you than the outside world. Your world is born out of your desires, the desires that extend from within you towards the physical world. The hands and wings of your desire spread out to possess the whole world.
The more you are obsessed with your inner world, the more you will become aggressive to possess the things in the outside world. But if you cannot possess the things in the outside world, you will get frustrated very quickly and whoever obstructs in getting things on your way, you get angry with that person. Even you will not spare time saying that it does not help me.
Here there are points that we do come across in our life with reference to achievements. If we achieve the desired objects we grow out worldly and in turn, we become more and more greedy. If there is a delay in getting things, we become restless, and finally, if we do not get then we are frustrated.
To overcome this situation, we need to have an understanding mind. With the help of an understanding mind, the teaching of Upanishad will work.
To understand the Truth, age, sex, caste, a creed is not criteria. But only one thing is most important that is the willingness to understand the Truth. Here a small boy Nachiketa is a disciple and Lord Death himself is the teacher.
When people are afraid of death in life that Lord Death has become a teacher of Self-knowledge. It is rare to come across this sort of situation. Lord Death becoming a teacher here teaches us that one need not be worried about me. I am the teacher of Self-knowledge. Know yourself and be free now and here. No more I am there to threaten you nor you are there to be afraid of. But if you are not interested in Self-knowledge, then I am there all the time. You cannot escape from me. The more you try to run away from me more you will be scared. In fact, I am like a shadow. Do not try to run away. Try to look, understand the nature of death and you will see death itself will not exist to chase you.
Here is the Upanishad named Kathopanishad talks in detail.
iÉ Äì ½þ EÖò¨ÉÉ®ú Äì ºÉxiÉÆ nùÊIÉhÉɺÉÖ xÉҪɨÉÉxÉɺÉÖ ¸ÉrùÉÊ´É´Éä¶É ºÉÉä +¨ÉxªÉiÉ 2
nùÊIÉhÉɺÉÖ xÉҪɨÉÉxÉɺÉÖ – when the gifts(such as cows) were being carried(for the priests), iɨÉ ½- in to him, þ EÖò¨ÉÉ®ú¨É ºÉxiɨÉ – while still in the prime of life, ¸ÉrùÉ-faith (in words of scripture), +ÉÊ´É´Éä¶É – entered, ºÉ& – he, +¨ÉxªÉiÉ- started thinking.
As the gifts were being carried away (for the priests), faith entered into his mind who was still in the prime of his life. He started thinking:
Many times it happens. Something that is not visible and clear to the father is clear to the son, because often the intelligence of the father is cover with wrong reasoning. An experienced man need not always have sharp intellect to see the things clearly. In fact most of the time our either sweet or bitter experiences influence our mind. We are being carried away by our experiences rather learning from our experience. Whereas a child may not have strong reasoning but is simple and honest. A child express himself as he feels without keeping anything inside. He is honest because he does not know what is dishonest yet. Once he discovers that nobody likes honesty, slowly he will change. He learns dishonesty from his parents first, then schools, and colleges and so on. Everywhere we teach how to pretend? Finally when the same child becomes the master of pretensions and start pretending in front of us that time we only realise that our child is wrong. But we never say we were wrong.
Here is the case of Nachiketa.
As a Child he has not crossed twelve years yet, was watching the ritual. He noticed the offerings, the things that have been offered and the things that are yet to be offered. While noticing the situation he could not believe his eyes. What he was watching was quite opposite to what he knew from his elders. That time there was confusion in his mind for a moment. The word confusion is expressed here as Sraddha. Generally people translate the word Sraddha as faith. But it is more than a faith. A faith can be dismissed, destroyed in time; where as the Sraddha cannot be. It is something ever growing. It expands. It keeps open the mind of a seeker. It helps to grow up in life. That is why Sraddha is necessary in our day to day life. We can translate the word Sraddha as pending to discover.
You have to have Sraddha in the words of teacher who is speaking in keeping with the scripture to discover the truth within. That is why while emphasizing on Sraddha, we do speak about:
1) Sruti- first one has to listen the words of a teacher but not necessary to grab or shallow.
2) Yukti- the subject matter that has been listened should be logically convincing you.
3) Anubhava- finally it should be your feeling.
When these three things are intact, you are helpless to accept the words of a teacher. That is why we say, ‘The teaching makes you to discover that you are a helpless person.’ Then only you can learn. When Sraddha, the words of the scripture took over him, he started thinking.
Note- Sraddha in the words of the scripture opens the mind of a seeker.
Once, the father was angry with his son and he was saying to him, “I have told you hundred times that you should not hit your younger brother and you have hit him again. I have explained it to you many times to never beat anybody who is younger than you.” As he was saying this to his son, the father slapped the boy. The boy getting the slap replied, “but I am very small and you are older than me?”
Father did not understand at all that he had done something wrong.