Message Beyond Words: A Dialogue with the Lord of Death

The Message beyond words is Osho's talks on Kathopanishad, which tells the story of a young boy Nachiketha to whom Yama,the lord of death passes on the secret of life after death. The story goes like this :Nachiketha , the son of Udhalaka felt ashamed on seeing his father's selfish and cheating act of donating old and useless cows to brahmins and when it was pointed out his father Udhalaka responded angrily to his son saying that he would be given to death. As the story goes, Nachioketha went and knocked at the door of the lord of death yama and found that Yama was not at home. Nachiketha sat at the abode of Yama for three days without eating or drinking. At the end of the third day , Yama appeared before Nachiketha and Yama was ready to grant him three wishes as a gift for his three days fasting and waiting. Nachiketha's first wish was for his father, that his father be peaceful and his anger be disappeared and on returning he be accepted as his loving son. His second wish was related to the science of inner fire and how to attain immortality.Though both the wishes were granted , Yama was reluctant to grant his third wish . His third wish was to know whether the soul lives on after death or that it does not and he wanted to finally understand this through Yama's teaching. He wanted to know the secret of death and the science of soul , which Yama passed on to him and he became enlightened. The translation of the upanishadic verses into English is exceptionally good and the language is simple and beautiful. The Upanishad says: " If a murderer believes that he can kill, and if the one to be killed believes that he can be killed , both are deluded. Neither can the soul kill nor can it be killed."The reader does not feel any heaviness of the subject. The book is eminently readble . It comprises of 17 chapters spread over about 540 pages. The language is so powerful , poetic ,simple and beautiful. The book 'The Message beyond Words' is Kathopanishad made so simple , poetic and beautiful. In my opinion it is a must read book