Oh Death, you too shall remain. The fire is never satisfied.

Naciketas addresses Yama directly with an uncomfortable truth: even the Lord of Death is jīrasi (transitory, subject to decay). This is a bold statement — Yama represents death itself, and yet Naciketas points out that even death is temporary, not absolute.

The comparison with agni (fire) is a classic nidarshana (illustrative example). Fire consumes all fuel offered to it but is never “full.” Similarly, material desire consumes all possessions that are accumulated but never produces complete satisfaction. The fire of desire (kāma-agni) burns more intensely the more it is fed.

The term tṛptaḥ (satisfied, content) appears negated (na…syāt), reinforcing the theme of insatiability. Naciketas, with his keen perception, has identified the fundamental problem of conditioned existence: desire never rests, it always seeks more objects.

This observation connects with the deeper teaching that will come: only knowledge of the Ātman can completely extinguish this fire of desire. As the Bhagavad Gītā says, “when a man knows the Ātman, his desires fade away like rivers into the ocean.”