The 108 Upanishads by Roshen Dalal

Author:Roshen Dalal
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789353053772
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2018-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

Kena Upanishad

The Kena Upanishad belongs to the Sama Veda and forms the ninth chapter of the Talavakra Brahmana, and therefore is also known as the Talavakra Upanishad. The first eight chapters of the Talavakra Brahmana include rituals and meditation to purify the Self. These chapters provide the basic training for the individual to understand Brahman, revealed in the Upanishad forming the ninth chapter. The Upanishad is in both verse and prose, and possibly the prose sections are earlier. The text probably belongs to around the fifth century BCE. Based on relative dating, Philips feels it is later than the Brihadaranyaka, Chhandogya, Isha, Taittiriya and Aitareya, which can be dated before the sixth century BCE. Others, however, place the Isha at a later date. The Kena has an extensive commentary of Shankara. It gets its name from the first word of the text, that is, ‘Kena’ (by whom).

This Upanishad describes the nature of Brahman, superior to all the devas or gods, who can be personalized as Ishvara. It explains that Brahman is the source of all life and knowledge. The Upanishad has four khandas or sections. Khanda 1 has nine verses. The first verse puts forward the questions that sets the tone of the Upanishad. It asks, ‘By whom [kena] is the mind directed to go towards its objects? By whom does the prana [vital breath], which precedes everything, perform its functions? By whom is the speech that people speak directed? Which deva directs the eyes and ears?’

This Upanishad thus seeks to understand a hidden mystery about the power behind our actions. The commentary explains that these questions are put forward by a sadhak, an aspirant for the truth, who has purified his consciousness through action (karma) and worship (upasana), and sees that there is something behind all this that he does not know. Shankara says that the guru will reveal the answer to the one who is fit to receive and understand it. The second verse explains how He (Brahman) is the power who directs these functions, and those who renounce the world can understand it. Further verses explain that That Reality (Brahman) is different from both the known and the unknown. It cannot be revealed by speech, understood by the mind, seen, heard or smelt, yet it is that by which all these actions take place. Section 2, with five verses, continues with the same theme. It explains that those who think they know Brahman do not really know it; they only know its form as conditioned by people or by gods. But the one who says ‘I know, yet I do not know’ is on the verge of discovering Brahman as he has recognized that the ‘I’ cannot know. The third verse has the paradoxical statement ‘It is known to whom it is unknown’, but Shankara explains this. It can be known only to the one who has no trace of individuality left, who has no sense of duality. At the same time, the fourth verse explains that Brahman is known by the one who understands it as the source of every action.

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