kena upanishad part 2

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--- Kumaraguru Iyer <kumaranvijaya wrote:

>

> Dear Friends,

> Nmaste. Is any body knows KENOUPANISHAD. I want to

> study it deeply. Can anybody could help me out.

> Kumaraguru

 

Namaste,

 

Still no take up from Mr Iyer but I will continue with

my first thoughts on the upanishad and trust that they

are of use to someone.

 

I intended putting the Sanskrit terms into Itrans buts

have run out of time so I apologise for the

mispellings which can be corrected later.

 

 

Part two

 

If we wanted to probe more thoroughly into these

verses we could do so effectively through the

mahAvAkyas which I will take as: praj~nAnaM brahma,

aham brahmasmi, tat tvam asi and ayamAtman brahma,

(‘consciousness is brahman’, ‘I am brahman,’ ‘thou

art that’ and ‘this Atman is brahman’ ).

Part One has set out the meaning of the first

mahAvAkya and it will direct the seeker towards the

question ‘Who am I?’ While ignorance prevails it is

not possible to say…meaningfully…. ‘I am brahman’. As

long as a trace of attachment to an appearance of

duality prevails then there is still the possibility

of imagining brahman as an object of

perception….something to be known……and there is a

superimposition on Atman by the ego, ahaMkAra. Once

brahman is known then the statement ‘I am brahman’ has

no validity….it cannot arise. So here then is the

paradox which if we wish to study further will lead us

into the discussion of the place of sruti….the words

of the wise referred to in Part One……and the science

of language, grammar, prosody and mAntra. One for the

future maybe.

 

And so Part Two begins with the teacher encouraging

the pupil towards the paradox in the above and away

from the dangers of limiting brahman.

 

1. ( Teacher): If you think, “I have known Brahman

well enough,” then you have known only the very little

expression that It has in the human body and the

little expression that It has among the gods.

Therefore Brahman is still to be deliberated on by

you. (Disciple): “I think (Brahman) is known.”

 

So, although we know of no way of instructing about

brahman it is necessary for the pupil to make such an

enquiry into the true nature of his/her own self. The

teacher says ‘mImAMsyam eva’……this is a forceful

instruction to go away and reflect whole-heartedly on

what has been heard already. May we have the presence

to do so. Such study must be taken up within the

openheartedness that is engendered by the invocation

used at the beginning of the study of the upanishad.

After having made such a faithful, single pointed

study the pupil returns to the teacher and says:

 

2. “I do not think, ‘I know (Brahman) well enough’:

(ie. I consider) ‘Not that I do not know; I know and I

do not know as well.’ He among us who understands

that utterance, ‘Not that I do not know: I know and I

do not know as well,’ knows Brahman.’

 

That brahman that can appear to be known is the

conditioned brahman, saguna brahman. That which is

unknown is nirguna brahman. The former is known though

the limiting adjuncts of the mind and body and senses

or the supersensual powers of the gods. It is this

limited aspect that gives us individually the feeling

that brahman is known because every one of us reading

now knows the reality of his/her self…none of us can

deny our own existence.

 

 

3. It is known to him to whom It is unknown; he does

not know to whom It is known. It is unknown to those

who know well, and known to those who do not know.

 

Now the Upanishad ends its dialectical presentation

and gives the central teaching quite directly. Armed

with this verse in our memory we will be able to find

the feet of a true teacher and discern their

understanding through their true humility.

 

 

4. It (i.e. Brahman) is really known when It is known

with (i.e. as the Self of) each state of

consciousness, because thereby one gets immortality.

(Since) through one’s own Self is acquired strength,

(therefore) through knowledge is attained immortality.

 

Here we return to the conditioned aspect with the

words pratibodha viditaM which means: known through

reference to each state of intelligence or mind. Let

us consider how we come to observe anything; for

example a tree. We may open the eyes and look and at

first see nothing but very quickly the senses begin to

distinguish form and the memory might say ‘That is a

tree.’ By considering the leaves and branches, the

trunk and roots, the colours and textures, the

functions of each and their relationships each to the

other we may be able to make some accurate statements

about the tree. But have we known the tree? No. To do

so we transcend the observer/observed relationship and

become the tree in a moment of insight. That moment,

this flash of inspiration, will give us inexpressible

knowledge which in due course will enlighten our care

of trees in the future. This knowledge is ever true

and ever was true. By analogy, this is how

immortality…amR^itam…is attained. It is not suddenly

given as a reward for our efforts, it is just that our

limited view, our mortality, has dropped away through

the correct use of the buddhi and chitta. Atman ever

is immortal.

 

 

5. If one has realised here, then there is truth; if

he has not realised here, then there is great

destruction. The wise once, having realised (Brahman)

in all beings, and having turned away from this world,

become immortal.

 

A human birth is not to be wasted. It is through the

psychic structure, the tattvas in the human and the

tanmAtras etc. that are produced through the play of

the gunas emerging from the prakriti…that moksha is

attained. The tools of our imprisonment are also the

tools for our release. It is no good waiting for

better conditions to prevail; only the present

provides the opportunity to realise tat tvam asi…thou

art that. Brahman is the reality of all beings and

having realized That then ‘ayam atma brahma’. The

sequence of the mahAvAkyas will be completed. That is

immortality.

 

 

Peace

 

 

Ken Knight

 

 

 

 

 

 

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