If you consider this equal to my question, choose wealth and long life.

Yama attempts one last persuasion tactic: he suggests that his material offerings are equivalent (tulya) to the question about death that Naciketas wishes to ask. This is a sophisticated rhetorical strategy — to convince the seeker that worldly prosperity can satisfy the same need as spiritual knowledge.

The term cirajīvikām (long life) was particularly attractive in ancient India, where longevity was viewed as a reward of meritorious actions (puṇya-karma). Yama, being the lord of death, has the power to grant life extension. Offering this to Naciketas is offering him precisely what his father wished for him — more time on earth.

The structure varaṃ vṛṇīṣva (choose the blessing) is in the imperative, showing Yama’s urgency to close this exchange. But Naciketas will not be hurried or persuaded. The underlying implication is that no finite extension of life can be “equal” to the knowledge of the Infinite.

The choice between vitta (material wealth) and vidyā (sacred knowledge) is the central theme of many Upaniṣads. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad presents this dichotomy dramatically through the dialogue between Yama and Naciketas. The boy, though young, has already made his irrevocable choice.