This book is a collection of the lectures of Swami Abhedananda delivered before American students and audiences from January 2, 1906 through May 8, 1906 on the Katha Upanishad.

It is not a book about departed souls and the afterlife as such, but explains the philosophy and religion found in the Katha Upanishad in connection with a dialogue between a young man who journeys to the house of death and Yama, the King and Ruler of Death.

The publisher has added Sanskrit texts of the Katha Upanishad along with portions of Shankara's commentary in the footnotes.

Swami Abhedananda was a disciple of Ramakrishna who spent 25 years as the head of the Vedanta Society of New York. He was a brilliant lecturer who would attract 4000 people to his talks.