य इमं परमं गुह्यं श्रावयेद् ब्रह्मसंसदि ।
प्रयतः श्राद्धकाले वा तदानन्त्याय कल्पते ।
तदानन्त्याय कल्पत इति ॥ १७॥
इति काठकोपनिषदि प्रथमाध्याये तृतीया वल्ली ॥
ya imaṃ paramaṃ guhyaṃ śrāvayed brahmasaṃsadi .
prayataḥ śrāddhakāle vā tadānantyāya kalpate .
tadānantyāya kalpata iti .. 17..
iti kāṭhakopaniṣadi prathamādhyāye tṛtīyā vallī ..
And he who, practising self-control, recites the supreme secret in an assembly of Brahmins or at a after-death ceremony obtains thereby infinite rewards. Yea, he obtains infinite rewards.
Commentary:
This is a supreme secret that has been described in this Upanishad, not easy to understand by a casual mind. If anyone will be good enough and great enough to expound this secret to an audience of seekers, with eagerness to expound it, or expounds it to an audience of people who have come to attend a shraddha ceremony—which is the ceremony performed for the well-being of the forefathers or departed souls—whoever teaches, expounds, and makes a large audience of seekers and good people understand the great truth of this Upanishad, such a person will attain to the limitless abode, tadānantyāya kalpate. He will not come back to this world. He will reach eternity instantly. Tadānantyāya kalpate iti. It is repeated a second time. There is no doubt about this.
Here concludes the First Chapter, as it is called, of the Kathopanishad, of which we already had three subsections. This Upanishad contains two chapters, each chapter containing three subsections. In that way, we can say it has six subsections. Now we go to the Second Chapter.