man is dead, some saying, he is; others, he
is not. This I should like to know, taught by thee; this is the third of
my boons.' And the question about the highest Self is asked in the
passage (I, 2, 14), 'That which thou seest as neither this nor that, as
neither effect nor cause, as neither past nor future, tell me
that.'--The corresponding answers are given in I, 1, 15, 'Yama then told
him that fire sacrifice, the beginning of all the worlds, and what
bricks are required for the altar, and how many;' in the passage met
with considerably later on (II, 5, 6; 7), 'Well then, O Gautama, I shall
tell thee this mystery, the old Brahman and what happens to the Self
after reaching death. Some enter the womb in order to have a body as
organic beings, others go into inorganic matter according to their work
and according to their knowledge;' and in the passage (I, 2, 18), 'The
knowing Self is not born nor does it die,' &c.; which latter passage
dilates at length on the highest Self. But there is no question relative
to the pradhana, and hence no opportunity for any remarks on it.

Here the Sa@nkhya advances a new objection. Is, he asks, the question
relative to the Self which is asked in the passage, 'There is that doubt
when a man is dead,' &c., again resumed in the passage, 'That which thou
seest as neither this nor that,' &c, or does the latter passage raise a
distinct new question? If the former, the two questions about the Self
coalesce into one, and there are therefore altogether two questions
only, one relative to the fire sacrifice, the other relative to the
Self. In that case the Sutra has no right to speak of questions and
explanations relating to three subjects.--If the latter, you do not
consider it a mistake to assume a question in excess of the number of
boons granted, and can therefore not object to us if we assume an
explanation about the pradhana in excess of the number of questions
asked.

To this we make the following reply.--We by no means assume a question
in excess of the number of boons granted, being prevented from doing so
by the influence of the opening part of that syntactical whole which
constitutes the Ka/th/avalli-upanishad. The Upanishad starts with the
topic of the boons granted by Yama, and all the following part of the
Upanishad--which is thrown into the form of a colloquy of Yama and
Na/k/iketas--carries on that topic up to the very end. Yama grants to
Na/k/iketas, who had been sent by his fat