The Upanishad opens its first chapter of twenty-nine verses with a simple statement recalling an old legend. "Desirous of heavenly rewards, Vaajashravaa, it is said , gave away all his possessions (at the Vishwajeet sacrifice). He had a son, Nachiketaa by name. Nachiketaa, the young son was watching the proceedings intently. When the gifts were being brought (for distribution) , Nachiketaa, though still a child, was filled with Shraddhaa (the spirit of truth and faith) and he thought (within himself): "Joyless, verily, are those worlds to which he goes who gives such cows as these - cows that have finished drinking water, eating hay, giving milk, and that would feed calves no more".

(8) The first six stanzas acquainted us with the exemplary character of young Nachiketaa, with his passion for truth and his fearlessness of death. In the previous writings we saw how Nachiketaa comforted his father and persuaded him to act up to the high ideals in which his ancestors walked in the past.

Exhorted by Nachiketaa to adhere to truth and righteousness, his father Vaajashravaa, eventually reconciled himself to the prospect of his so's going to the abode of Yam. So Nachiketaa left his home and entered the Domain of Death and reached Yam's abode. Yam was not at home then, and Nachiketaa had to wait there without food for three days and three nights until Yam returned after three days. The Upanishad now proceeds to tell us in its seventh and eighth verses, what people in Yam's home told Yama on his return about the neglect of the visitor in his house; and to describe the results accruing from this sin: "A Braahman Guest enters a house like fire; The householders pacify (propitaite) him with this (water). O Vaivasvat (Death)! carry water (for him).". (Х. 1.i.7). A Braahman Guest, a noble cultured man of purity and righteousness and mental and intellectual powers, is considered in our Hindu Shaastra as fire (a double-edged weapon) in as much as in the Vaidik period worship of Fire was the most common method for gaining Punya.

At the same time, fire can burn down the houses and bring sorrow and disaster to the householder, if not properly tended, attended and propitiated. The Mundak Upanishad (1.ii.3) declares of evil consequences in case such a propitiation is not done. It is obligatory to offer water for washing feet, offering seat, offering drinking water for quenching thirst etc immediately when a Braahman guest visits a Grihasth. Since there was a lapse in this regard on the part of Yam's household, the above-mentioned words were uttered either by Yam's consorts or by his ministers.

The next Mantra describes the consequences more clearly. It says - "If in anyone's house, a Braahman guest happens to stay without taking food, that Braahman destroys hope and expectations, the results of association with holy men, Punya of sweet and beneficial speech or discourses, beneficial results of sacred sacrifices, charitable deeds and pious gifts, sons and cattle. (1.i.8)

Not only in the houses of the mortals do we see the working of Sanaatan Dharm, but even in the Palace of the Lord of Death they are followed. Shaastra were not being merely quoted but were also implicitly followed, unlike now when we spend more time in questioning, criticizing and condemning Shaastra than the time we spend in complying with them. Herein precisely, we find the consequences, one will have to live through as a result of one's deliberate insults to a man of knowledge and culture. Hope (for Heaven etc) and expectations (for material wealth, relationship etc) are blasted in the life of one who insults a saintly guest.

The Shruti calls a house-holder who ignores or insults a saintly guest as an idiot (Alp Medhaa). In the language of the Shruti, we are all a generation of idiots, if we ignore charity and hospitality. "Atithi Devo Bhava", says Shruti - "Treat the guest as God". A guest is an embodiment of God, holds Sanaatan Dharm. In fact, feeding the guest with Naaraayan Bhaav is considered to be one of Five Great Yagya (Panch Mahaa-Yagya) which a Grihasth has to perform daily for the purpose of his future growth in the scales of his conscious evolution.
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The Upanishad tells us that a guest should not be neglected under any circumstance. Having been told thus, Yam felt sorry for the delay in receiving a Brahmin guest. He keenly felt a sense of guilt and decided to make amends, as verse 9 tells us. He approached Nachiketaa and said thus:
"O Holy one! Since you ,a venerable guest, lived in my house for three nights without food, I prostrate to you, and may all be well with me as well (to protect me from the fault arising from that lapse). Ask for three boons in return - one in respect of each (night)".
तिस्रो रात्रिर्यदवात्सीत्ग्रुहे मे
अनश्नन ब्रह्मन्नतिथिर्नमस्यः ।
नमस्तेस्तु ब्रह्मन् स्वस्ति मेअस्तु
तस्मात प्रति त्रीन वरान वृणीष्व ।।(I.i.9)
The three boons promised by Yam were by way of atonement for the lapse in keeping a Braahman Guest starving for three nights and days. Is it surprising that such a Godly power as Lord of Death Himself should bow down in modesty in front of his guest, a boy merely nine years old, and beg of him to pardon the host's inevitable lapses?. No one would have found fault with Yam for having ignored a guest when he was himself not at home; and yet herein we see Yam apologizing for his un-intentioned lapse and begging Nachiketaa - a Braahman boy to accept in return an atonement in the form of three boons. Can we find people of such a character among men in power and authority to-day in obeying the laws of Dharm?

Here there is also an undercurrent of compliment paid by Yam to the Braahman boy. "May all be well with me" is a request to the Braahman boy. A true Braahman is always won over by humble prostrations and other reverences shown. He is not one to nourish a grudge for even an insult expressly shown. Still Yam offers prostrations to the young Braahman boy.

In response to Yama's offer for grant of three boons, Nachiketaa says," O Death, of the three boons, I ask this one as the first, viz., that (my father) Gautam may become cheerful, freed from anxiety, and freed from anger towards me, and  he may recognize me and welcome me when sent away by you".
शान्तसंकल्पः सुमना यथा स्यात्
वीतमन्युर्गौतमो माभि मृत्यो ।
तवत्प्रस्रुष्टं माभिवदेत् प्रतीत
एतत् त्रयाणां प्रथमं वरं वृणे ।।(1.i.10).
Nachiketaa encashes the very first boon in favor of his father. This action of Nachiketaa clearly throws a lot of glorious light on the character of Nachiketaa. Though he is now in the higher Realms of Death, he is first and foremost a dutiful son and so, the very first boon is utilized in bringing peace and joy into the heart of his father. A loving consideration for the feelings of one's own parents and guardians is the beginning of an individual's expansion, In the character of Nachiketaa, we have a clear restatement of our ideal duty to those who depend on us and towards the world around us.

(9) We saw the details of the first boon that Nachiketaa, asked from Yam, the Lord of Death. The purport of the boon was to favor Nachiketaa in such a way that Nachiketaa's father may not avoid him thinking that his son has returned after becoming a ghost and that he is not to be looked at. Yam promptly agreed to the boon and stated, "Through my favor, Uddaalak Aaruni (thy father, Gautam) shall recognize thee when he sees you after being released from the jaws (mouth) of Death; and he shall be (possessed of affection) just as he had before; he shall also be sleep peacefully at night and be free from anger." (1.i.11)

We find here that Lord Death is blessing the boy with the fulfillment of all his demands in all their details. The sum and substance of verses 10 and 11 is that as the first boon, Nachiketaa wants the blessings of Yam to return to his father.

Having secured peace at home and his own return to the human world with his first boon, Nachiketaa's thoughts turned to Heaven. In order to ask the second boon promised by Yam, Nachiketaa starts glorifying the life in higher plane of consciousness, called the Heavens. He says," In Heaven, there is no fear - you are not there; nor is one (inhabitants) afraid of old age. Having transcended both hunger and thirst and overcome all sorrow, one rejoices in the heavenly-world." (1.i.12)

Nachiketaa adopts the method of comparing it with sorrows of the world. Heaven is comparatively without fears, since life in Heaven is longer, compared to the fleeting span of existence in this mortal plane. Man has five stages to live through in life: birth, childhood, youth, old age and death. But the gods have only the first three stages. And hence Nachiketaa says, "You are not there. Nor, do they fear old age or death, but also they have neither the agonies of hunger and thirst under which he ordinary mortals suffer through their span of existence here". Nachiketaa then proceeds to ask for his second boon in the next verse.