KATHOPNISHAD CHAPTER 2 - SHLOKA 10

                                                  जानाम्यहं शेवधिरित्यनित्यं 

                                                 न ह्यध्रुवैः प्राप्यतेहि ध्रुवं तत् । 

                                                 ततोमया नाचिकेतश्चितोऽग्निः 

                                          अनित्यैर्द्रव्यैः प्राप्तवानस्मि नित्यम् ॥ १0

                             JANAMYAHAM SHEVADHIR ITI ANITYAM 

                       NA HY ADRUVAIH PRAPYATE HI DRUVAM TAT |

                          TATO MAYA NACHIKEASYA CHITO AGNIR 

                  ANITYAIR DRAVYAIH PRAPTAVAN ASMI NITYAM ||10

I KNOW THAT BY DOING (KARMA) NON ETERNAL THINGS, ONE CAN NOT OBTAIN 

     ETERNAL SO BY DOING THE NACHIKETA FIRE WITH PERISHABLE THINGS,

                                         I OBTAINED ETERNAL||10

This Shloka is little confusing . One may think that it is said by Lord of Death and there are some who feel it is statement by Nachiket. I feel that this is continuation of statements by Yama. So he is saying that one can not expect to have non eternal things becoming eternal. But then in same breath he is stating that I did Nachiketa fire with  perishable things  and i achieved Eternal. So how do you explain this statement. ?

    The first part is easy to understand. One can nt sow seed for oranges  and expect mango fruits. One can not use brass to make ornaments  and expect that they are of Gold , even though they may look like gold. So when one uses perishable things the product is going to be perishable. So this part is easy to understand. But the second line or part is confusing as HE is stating that In Nachiketa fire he used perishable things  and obtained eternity. So one has to understand that things though perishable may have different life span . If one constructs house with mud , it will last much shorter time than house made out of steel and cement. So when we see a house constructed with steel, we FEEL that it is ever lasting as it may last out life time. 

   Something similar situation is here with the position of Lord of Death. When we talk about the god and the GOD , there is a difference.The GOD is only one  and unique and omnipresent and omniscient etc, But withe Creation of PERISHABLE -NONETERNAL UNIVERSE, there are different governing bodies or positions  and these last for many many years  and may look eternal when one compares the duration to life span of human being , But they will also ultimately perish. One can achieve these positions by doing things like NACHIKET FIRE. So the YAMA is saying that i did do such Fire with perishable things  and got (RELATIVELY) ETERNAL position.