- Kena Upanishad
The "Kena"
Upanishad (IAST|kenopaniṣad), is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads commented upon byShankara . It is associated with theSamaveda . It figures as number 2 in theMuktika canon of 108 Upanishads.About the Upanishad
Kenopanishad derives its name from the first word "Kena" , meaning ‘by whom’. It belongs to the
Talavakara Brahmana ofSama Veda and is therefore also referred to as Talavakara Upanishad. It has four sections, the first two in verse and the other two in prose.Adi Shankara who has written commentaries on 12 Upanishads, chose to write two commentaries on Kenopanishad. One is called Kenopanishad Pada Bhashya and the other is Kenopanishad Vakya Bhashya.Brief Content
The One Power that illumines everything and every one is indivisible. It is the Ear behind the ears, Mind behind the mind, Speech behind speech, Vital Life behind life. The ears cannot hear it; it is what makes the ears hear. The eyes cannot see it; it is what makes the eyes see. You cannot speak about it; it is what makes you speak. The mind cannot imagine it; it is what makes the mind think. It is different from what all we know; yet it is not known either. Those who feel they know Him know Him not. Those who know that anything amenable to the senses is not
Brahman , they know it best. When it is known as the innermost witness of all cognitions, whether sensation, perception or thought, then it is known. One who knows thus reaches immortality.tory part
Once the divines won a victory over the evil forces. The victory must have been credited to the power of the Absolute Brahman. Instead the divines thought it was theirs. Brahman appeared before them in a visible form of a spirit ("yaksha") but they did not recognize the Absolute. One by one,
Agni the God of fire andVayu the God of air, came to challenge this new appearance in and tried to show off their powers. The God of Fire could not burn even the straw placed before him. The God of air could not blow even the straw placed before him. FinallyIndra the God of all the divines came nearest to that spirit to find out who it is that is presenting these challenges to the divines. And before him stood a highly adorned woman in the name and form ofUma who finally reveals toIndra that the Spirit is the AbsoluteBrahman .Final Lesson
This is the truth of Brahman in relation to nature and Man. Whether it is the flash of lightning, or the wink of the eyes or the thinking of the mind, the power that is shown is the power of Brahman. For this reason should a man meditate upon Brahman all the time. The sudden Reality that strikes Man as the power behind everything, must be transformed into a permanent Realization.
ources
*
S. Radhakrishnan . "The Principal Upanishads". George Allen and Unwin. London. 3rd imprn. 1969
*"Eight Upanishads". Vol.1. With the commentary ofSankaracharya . Tr. Swami Gambhirananda. Advaita Ashrama. Calcutta. 1957
*Sri Aurobindo , "The Upanishads" [http://www.sriaurobindoashram.info/Contents.aspx?ParentCategoryName=_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/-01%20Works%20of%20Sri%20Aurobindo/-12_The%20Upanishad_Volume-12] .Sri Aurobindo Ashram ,Pondicherry . 1972.External links
* [http://www.bharatadesam.com/spiritual/upanishads/kena_upanishad.php Kena Upanishad]
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