The Kaṭha Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. It is associated with the Taittiriya school of the Black Yajurveda. It figures as number 3 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. The Upanishad (उपनिषद्, Upaniá¹£ad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism. ... Shankara can refer to: Shiva, the Hindu god Adi Shankara, Hindu philosopher of around the year 800 This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Yajur Veda (Sanskrit (Devanagari ) from sacrifice + veda knowledge) is one of the four Hindu Vedas; it contains religious texts focussing on liturgy and ritual. ...

The Upanishad uses as its base the story of Vajasravasa (alluded to in Rigveda 10. 135), a poor and pious Brahmi who performs a sacrifice and gives as presents (dakshina) to the priests a few old and feeble cows. His son, Naciketas, feeling disturbed by the unreality of his father's observance of the sacrifice, proposes that he himself may be offered as payment. As he insisted, his father said in anger, "Unto Yama, I give thee.", whereupon Naciketas goes to the abode of Yama, and, finding him absent, waits there for three days and nights. Yama on his return, offers him three gifts. As his first gift, Naciketas asked to be allowed to return to his father alive. As the second, he asked Yama to tell him how his good works may be inexhaustible, and as the third, he asked Yama to tell him how to defeat death. The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ... Tibetan Dharmapala at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois Yama (Sanskrit: यम) is the lord of death, whose first recorded appearance is in the Vedas. ...

The Upanishad consists of two chapters, each of which has three Vallis or sections. It has some passages in common with the Gita. Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ...