The Vedic conception of sacrifice as a link between the celestial beings and men is explained in the Karma Kanda section. Performance of any ritual is an excellent training for the wandering mind and in truth is a sadana for spiritual progress. The rites are also known as ‘sacrifice’ since one is taught to dedicate oneself and all of one’s possessions, including the fruits of the ritual.
Many subtle truths embedded in the performance of ritual worship are brought out in the Katopanishad through Nachiketas, a son well-versed in the sastras, who loves and respects his father, pointed out Sri Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal in a discourse. Vajisravas performs a sacrifice according to the sacred injunctions mentioned in the Vedas. Towards the end, when it is mandatory to give away valuable gifts, Nachiketas notices that his father gives away emaciated cows. The boy is upset. Is this not a gross mistake? Does it not undermine the very purpose of the whole sacrifice? His father has failed to imbibe the spirit of the sacrifice that inculcates the idea of giving up not merely material possessions but also the sense of ‘I’ and ‘Mine.’ Sharp and shrewd by nature, he wonders about the consequences his father is likely to face. Being honest about the principles he values, he comes to his father and asks him: ‘Father, I too belong to you. To whom will you offer me?’ His father does not answer and the boy repeats this question. In a moment of impatience and anger the father says: ‘I give you to Death.’ The father is bewildered as much as Nachiketas by such a reply. But the son reflects for a while and is determined to keep his father’s word. He consoles his father and decides to go to the kingdom of death.
