kena upanishad 4 and last

[Guest guest]

--- Kamal Kothari <kamal_kothari_india

wrote:

>

> A wonderful book called "Choice Upanishads" by Swami

> A. Parthasarathy is available. It has covered 4

> Upanishads including Kena. Available at all major

> bookshops in India

 

I wonder if this is the same Swami Parthasarathy that

I have heard for the last three nights in London

giving talks on the way of Action in the Bhagavad

Gita? I will find out tonight.

 

Meanwhile here is my concluding effort. This has

provided an enjoyable study for the last few mornings

before the day's work unfolded but now other topics

demand attention.

 

Kena part 4

 

 

If I was to granted another thousand lifetimes there

would not be time enough to fully reveal all that

which is in this wonderful Upanishad but for a short

time we may bask in the glory of it together.

I had suggested that note was taken of the word used

for ‘approached’….AjagAma; aja is a name for Indra

and its contains the meanings of ‘leader, driver,

instigator’ and so we are being taken right back to

the first verse and the first question. Who is it that

directs the mind towards an object? Who was it that

suggested that we study this Upanishad? Who was it

that inspired Indra to approach the Yaksha? If we who

are apparently reading and writing these words go back

to the moment when we felt the ‘urge or enthusiasm’

with which to proceed, can we find its source or do

we find a moment when the egoistic mind imposed a

sentence of intention upon a power/force that was

originally there? Now if we ‘go’ back to that point,

‘to that very place’ where the imposition ‘I will do

this’ arose and let it fall away, become quiet like

Indra, and not return unknowing as did Agni and Vayu,

then……………

 

 

 

 

1. “It was Brahman,” said She, “in Brahman’s victory,

indeed, you became elated thus.” From that

(utterance) alone, to be sure, did Indra learn that It

was Brahman.

 

We need to understand that the words on this page,

like the speech on the tongue, are but the outward

level of speech. There are four levels of speech that

are ever more powerful and full (purna) as they

approach the source of emanation. In the Old Testament

of Christian and Judaic teaching there is a verse that

says: God spoke, ‘My words are not like your words,

they do not return to me unfulfilled.’ Words spoken

in consciousness (Shiva) have the full power (Shakti)

and heard as such; they are undeniable. So when Uma

speaks, because Indra is now quiet ‘in that place

where the Yaksha disappeared’, he hears perfectly.

To make sure that we get the point the shloka says:

tataH ha eva. This can have no greater emphasis but I

will break the ethical code of e-mails and ‘shout’ or

‘speak with force’: ‘tataH ha eva means: BE CERTAIN

THAT BY UMA’S WORDS ALONE, EVEN BY THOSE WORDS

ALONE’. In that moment of hearing, Indra knew that it

was Brahman that instigated the action, that the

instigation itself is Brahman. The Self reveals

Itself in Itself. There are no rites, no study, no

meditation that will reveal That. They have a part to

play in removing ignorance. Those who seek to add

something to themselves through rites, study and

meditation are ignorant, it is not through addition

but through subtraction that the fruit of action is

revealed.

Our discussion group here is for the study of advaita

and in this verse we have a core text for study.

 

 

2. Therefore, indeed, these gods, viz Fire, Air, and

Indra, did excel other gods, for

they touched It most proximately, and they knew

It first as Brahman.

 

Now the Upanishad summarises the analogy for us. The

gods of Fire and Air are powerful forces in our lives

which is why they excel the lesser powers. Fire

dominates the senses but when the senses suggest to us

the infinite potential of the world they can only turn

back from this appearance as did Agni. The internal

mind seeks an object in which to place its

intelligence but cannot do so permanently so like Vayu

it turns back from such an understanding. They can

approach, become proximate to that from which they

turn away but how can you be proximate, near to that

knowledge of Brahman that is Brahman, that is

everywhere at all time and beyond time?

Our psychic structure has a function and we should

seek to understand it, and as we seek the health of

the body so we should seek health of the psychic

structure but remember that there is no health,

wealth, family or knowledge that can be gained that

can reveal what we have already and which we are.

 

praj~nAnaM brahma

aham brahmasmi

tat tvam asi

ayam Atma brahma

 

 

3. Therefore did lndra excel the other deities. For

he touched It most proximately,

inasmuch as he knew It first as Brahman.

 

It is Indra, the pure intellect that is a mirror,

cleansed and pure, waiting in silence, that excels

even those two. For he had the direct experience.

 

4. This is Its instruction (about meditation) through

analogy. It is like that which is (known as) the flash

of lightning, and It is also as though the eye winked.

These are (illustrations) in a divine context.’

 

 

5. Then is the instruction through analogy in the

context of the (individual) self: This known fact,

that the mind seems to go to it (Brahman), and the

fact that It (Brahman) is repeatedly remembered

through the mind; as also the thought (that the mind

has with regard to Brahman).

 

When we are discussing shruti in the light of advaita

we are continually faced with the problem of speaking

from the position of absolute or from ‘where we finds

ourselves’ and the two points of view…I do not mean

opinion….need to be addressed. Paradox rules. So the

Upanishad now explains the analogy of the story from

these two points of view.

The first verse is from a feeling of transcendence, it

describes the characteristic of the mystical

experience known as ‘transiency’. Direct experience

appears to be a flash, a winking of an eye. In truth

it is no such thing because the light of consciousness

is everywhere and ever the same but to that which

approaches most proximately it appears as a flash.

For an extension to these two verses I would recommend

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3. 1-6 ( ie. All of

section three)

>From the point of view of the individual we appear to

approach Self as we would approach the temple in the

physical world. However Self is not limited by space

or time so to approach the Self no movement is

necessary. Movement is in appearance only. Stop the

seeking, stop the movement and you will find that

essential ‘I’ that has always been with you.

 

6. The Brahman is well known as the one adorable to

all creatures: (hence) It is to

be meditated on with the help of the name tadvana.

All creatures surely pray to anyone who meditates on

It in this way.

 

Now here is a verse to ‘set the cat among the

pigeons’. Can we find a place in advaita for such an

apparently dualistic phrase as ‘the one adorable to

all creatures’? Personally I find no problem and

would point to the beginning of the kaivalya Upanishad

when the student is told that the essential

ingredients for enquiry into Brahman are shraddha,

bhakti and dhyAna. However the debate will continue

long after we have forgotten who asked the question in

the first place.

Tadvana: there is a mystical tradition of the vedic

seers that is being referred to here and, alas, I am

ignorant of it. If anyone can tell us of this

tradition I would be very grateful. In the meantime I

will resort to the usual tools of etymology and

repetition. Maybe I will come back to this in a later

posting as I am sure that there something very

important for us to reflect upon here.

 

7. Disciple: “Sir, speak of the secret knowledge.”

(Teacher): “I have told you of the

secret knowledge; I have imparted to you that very

secret knowledge of Brahman.”

 

Now why, after having had such wisdom explained does

the student ask for the explanation once again. It

is, I believe, just as I began this section When we

hear the words of the wise we glory in them and we

want to hear them again and again. We want to share

in the company of those who understand and so we may

go to lectures or stasangs. A teacher is one who loves

the subject of study and has an intimate knowledge of

it whether it be mathematics or language or music etc.

and through the love of the subject loves the student.

So the teacher here does not say, ‘Have you not heard

my words you stupid fool, go away.’ He knows that the

student has the essential quality of sincerity so he

will stay and repeat his words if necessary. He know

also that the student is Brahman and as such is his

teacher and through his questions he too comes into

the realization of Brahman. So having pointed to his

previous words the teacher now gives practical steps

for he knows that to one who is deluded by the

appearance of duality these steps are important.

 

8. Concentration, cessation from sense-objects, rites

etc are its legs; the Vedas are all its limbs: truth

is its abode.

 

We remember that the Kena Upanishad is only a late

part of a treatise on the place of rites and their

subsequent meditations so he explains that these are

the basis upon which the student stands in his search

for truth. I would prefer to use the word ‘feet’ in

this image: ‘Concentration, cessation from

sense-objects, rites etc are its feet’. We are not to

give up these practices that are part of our human

life as long as we remain deluded as to our real

nature. But first we must remove our shoes…..remove

our egoistic covering…..when we stand here for it is a

holy place. The limbs that will help us ‘move’,

‘reach out’, are the Vedas but the Essence of Veda

transcends the written or spoken words for its abode

is Truth.

 

 

 

9. Anyone who knows thus, he, having dispelled

sin, remains firmly seated in the

boundless, blissful, and highest Brahman. He

remains firmly seated (there).

 

If we understand this teaching then we ‘take our stand

under’ this knowledge. The word ‘stand’ comes from the

Sanskrit root Stha from which we also get words like

‘stable’. So we remain unmoving, stable, like Indra

when he suddenly becomes aware of his own arrogance in

thinking that he has instigated his journey in search

of the explanation as to ‘Who is this Yaksha?’, ‘By

whose impulse is it that the mind falls towards its

object?’, ‘By whose impulse was it that I wished to

study the Kena Upanishad?’ etc. To believe that we

instigate the enquiry into truth is the sin to be

dispelled. Once dispelled, our duty is to remain in

this place, firmly seated, not going out, observing,

not being pulled hither and thither by a mind attached

to movement, a mind ravaged by desire and its outcome

of anger. There is action but we are not the actors,

nor are we the instigators of action. If we move from

that place there will be destruction for that into

which we move is not reality and will have a

beginning, middle and end. That which we are is

immortal.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

I hope that this study together has been of use and if

there had been any light shone it has been through the

grace of the authors of the Upanishad and the grace of

the Holy Tradition and our individual teachers. It

is inevitable that my own misunderstandings will have

intruded at times but your own study and the wisdom of

others who may like to comment will clear these away.

Thank you for proposing the topic.

 

Om sri ram jai jai ram

 

ken Knight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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