Images of Struggle
The book is replete with the images of struggle in life. The pious people seem to be striving for a better place in the life after death. They behave well with others and accept all the challenges of life with a smile on their faces. They do not feel reluctant to bear the hardships that they encounter. Nachiketa strives to learn about the principles of life and death. He sacrifices his own life just because he wanted his father to achieve the highest pace after death. The author has conveyed the imagery of doing the impossible by narrating different principles and stories. The principle of karma depicts the images of striving in life. A man gets the result of his deeds. If a person does not strive, he will not achieve anything in this life or hereafter.
Imagery of Teaching
The title conveys the imagery of apprenticeship. Usually the students sit near their teachers to learn from them. The book itself is an attempt to teach the basic principles of all religions. It compels the people to ponder over their ways of life just like a teacher who wants his students to follow the right path. The images of teacher and a student are also present in the story of Nachiketa, when he reaches heaven. Nachiketa’s father kills him in a fit of anger to please the god Yama, who is the god of death in Hindu religion. Yama gets surprised after seeing a small child there but then she decides to take him in his apprenticeship and teaches him about the theory of rebirth and the theory of liberation. It seems like a teacher is delivering the lecture in his class.
Images of Prison and Liberation
There are images of liberating the soul, from the entrapment because of evil deeds. In Hindu religion, it is believed that a man gets stuck in the vicious cycle of death and life and he cannot get Moksha or Mukti until he acknowledges the Brahma and embarks on the journey towards enlightenment. By demonstrating this belief system, the author has portrayed the images of prison and liberation. The soul seems to be in a prison when it is bound to born again and again. After liberation, the soul is portrayed as flying like a bird after getting free from the body.
