Parmarthananda Kena Transcript

Kena
Upanishad.
Talks on Kena Upanishad

BY
Swami Parmarthananda Saraswa9
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Contents
Talk 1:-‐General Introduc9on .........................................................................................................................3
Talk 2:-‐Shanthi Patha (Peace Invoca9on) ....................................................................................................11
Talk 3:-‐ Shan9 Patha and Khanda 1:Mantra 1 .............................................................................................17
Talk 4:-‐ Khanda 1: Mantras 1 to 3 ...............................................................................................................26
Talk 8:-‐ Khanda 3: Mantras 1 ......................................................................................................................60
Talk 9:-‐ Khanda 3: Mantras 2 to 12 .............................................................................................................68
Talk 12:-‐ Summary ......................................................................................................................................91
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Talk 1:-‐General Introduc5on
Today I will give you a general introduc9on to the next Upanishad namely Kena Upanishad. While
introducing the previous Upanishad (Mundaka), I had pointed out that our basic scriptures from which
this knowledge is derived are known as the Vedas. The word Veda literally means a source of knowledge
or a means of knowledge. It is derived from the root vid to know
Vidan' anena i' Veda-‐ that through which people acquire knowledge is called Veda
Veda deals with the fulfillment of all the human goals.
Vidan' chaturaha Purusharthaan tat prap' Upanishadyancha anena i' Vedaha – that through which a
person knows about the four types of human goals – Dharma, Artha, Kama , Moksha-‐-‐ as well as the
means of fulfilling those goals is knows as Veda
This Veda is also known by another name i.e Shruti because it is supposed to be “heard” by the Rishis
when they were in medita9on; this knowledge was transmièd by or given out by the Lord himself. So
the Lord is supposed to be the source of the Vedic wisdom and the Rishis served as the medium through
whom we received this knowledge. The Rishis did not invent this wisdom; but they served as a pipeline
to give wisdom to humanity. And since the Rishis heard this knowledge in their medita9ons through
their Tapas(austeri9es), these Vedas are also known as Shru'.
Shruyate i' Shru' :-‐ The heard Wisdom is Shru9
These Vedas are broadly classified into two por9ons.

• The first por9on is called Veda Purvaha.
• And the final por9on is called Veda Antaha or Vedanta (when joined as one word)
Veda Purva (Ini.al Por.on)
The Veda Purva i.e the ini9al por9on, deals with varie9es of religious ac9vi9es for the fulfillment of all
human desires. The human being, right from birth is driven by desires. As a child I had a desire-‐ a childish
desire-‐ for toys and other things. As I grew up, I did not get rid of the desire.
THAT I DESIRE… Con9nues. WHAT I DESIRE… varies.
So the objects of desires varied but the process of desire con9nues right from the cradle to the grave.
And the Veda knows this need of the human being and the LORD through Veda wants to help the Human
being in these pursuits. We find ourselves struggling to fulfill these desires and ohen we fail in the
pursuit of the same. In this human pursuit, Veda wants to give us a suppor9ng hand.
And so the Veda holds out a board and says-‐ “Can I help you?” Veda does not impose anything. “If you
are interested I am here to help you.”
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For the purpose of fulfilling desires Veda prescribes a variety of ac9vi9es in the Purva Bhaga (ini9al
por9on). The Vedic ac9vi9es are called Karma and since the Veda Purva is full of Vedic Ac9vi9es it is
called Karma Kandam; Kanda means sec9on and Karma Kanda means Ritualis9c Sec9on
These Vedic Karma can be broadly classified into three types based on the instrument that you use for
doing the Karma.
• Body Karma (Kayika Karmani) :-‐ Some of the Karmas are heavily body oriented physical
ac9vites. They may be backed by the mind but are mainly dominated by the body. Some of these
are Yaaga, Yagya or Pooja etc. All such bodily karmas are called Kayika Karmani. Thousands of
such karma are given in the Veda
• Ac.vity Using Speech (Vachika Karmani) – The second class of ac9vity that we can do is purely
Verbal i.e we use our organ of speech for the performance of the Karma. These including
chan9ng Stotras (Hymns) Or Naam Japa (Holy names of the Lord)
For e.g If you read the Vishnu Sahasranama (Thousand Names of Vishnu) we have a phala Shruthi (Fruit
of the Ac9vity performed) men9oned at the end.
Dharmarthi prapnuyaat Dharma….etc (Refer Vishnu Sahasranama)
Now for what par9cular ac9on are you gelng these Benefits? You have not done anything physically…
these are just benefits of chan9ng the Vishnu Sahasranama. All such karmas are called Vachika KArmani
or Ac9vity using the Organs of Speech. Not only are general results prescribed for the En9re Vishnu
Sahasranama but also each verse is selected for a specific benefit. So if you have an eye problem you are
supposed to chant such and such verse. Similarly if you are economically weak, you can chant the verse
Shridhas…etc. (Refer Vishnu Sahasranama).
I can hear all of you saying...let us learn Kena Upanishad later… we need the money now. ☺ .
Anyway, Similar verses are there for leg problems, family problem, marriage problems etc. Some verses
are selected from Vishnu Sahasranama , or some Riks are selected from the Rudram or some mantras
from the Shri Suktam, or some Shlokas from the Saundarya Lahari etc. Each has its own result. All of this
will come under Vachika karmani-‐ verbal ac9vity
• Mental Ac.vity (Manasa Karmani):-‐ Finally the ac9vity purely done through your mental
equipment known as Manasa karmani or Upasanani wherein we use the mind alone for ac9vity.
These Mental Ac9vi9es are themselves are of many types. In fact you can do an en9re Puja mentally; this
is called Manasa Pujaja (mental ritual). Whatever you do physically, you can do the same mentally.
People ohen come to me and ask me what they should do when they are travelling by air or train and
they cannot do their regular puja or Sandhyavandhanam or temple visits etc.
Here is a wonderful method. You can do your whole puja in the train also!! Go to the bathroom, wash
your feet and hands and face and apply some Vibhoo' (holy Ash) and close your eyes. Now do
everything that you do physically, in your mind. It will come under Manasa Karma.
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Is it efficacious? Scripture says that it is MORE efficacious than physical puja! Similarly the en9re
Sandhyavandhanam can be mentally done.
And not only can puja be mentally done; even Japa when done mentally will come under Upasana.
Manasa puja (mental ritual), Manasa parayanam (mental repe99on of holy names) and Manasa japa
(mental chan9ng) comes under Upasana. Whatever you do mentally comes under Manasa Karma.
In addi9on to all these things there is also the visualiza9on of the deity which is called Dhyanam
For e.g Shirodhanva….( Verse describing Vishnu Refer Vishnu Sahasranama)
Here the descrip9on of the Lord is given. You can invoke the lord mentally and the scriptures point out
that whatever is the predominant quality of that deity that benefit or feature will accrue to the
worshipper
Yatha yatha Upasthe tadeva bhavathi – What you think, so you become
• So one who meditates on a deity with beauty gets a beau9ful form. Whoever wants to become
Miss Universe can do this; Tripura Sundari Upasana!!! ☺
• If u want money meditate on Lakshmi Devi with a lot of money around. ☺ ☺
• If you want knowledge, there is Saraswa9 Devi.
So we have Kayika, Vachika and Manasa karma in the Veda Purva (Not Vedanta mind you!!)
For these three types of karmas the scriptures promise three types of results also depending upon the
nature of your desire. All human desire falls into only one of these three categories
1) Improvement of the Upaadhi or equipment – Either I want to improve the efficacy of the body
or if there are any sicknesses I want to get rid of that. When I say improvement of the body, I am
also including the subtle body. This is because a human being knows that any enjoyment
requires a healthy body-‐ mind complex.
Imagine a wonderful music program on the radio and you are deaf! Where is the ques9on of enjoyment?
The best musician in the world cannot help you. Saraswa9 Devi may herself come and play Veena but
there can be no enjoyment. Even here while silng in the class for an hour, your body and mind should
not be disturbed. If aher half an hour your knee begins to hurt; the class is over for you!!! Your aèn9on
is now on the knee.
Or perhaps your mind is disturbed. While you were coming to class, a rash driver overtook your vehicle
via the leh. Some people are so par9cular about this that they may go crazy and the Class is over for
them! To enjoy anything, you require a relaxed body-‐mind-‐sense complex. And hence many desires are
centered on oneself. And many rituals are meant for this.
2) Acquiring the objects of enjoyment or Vishaya Prap4 – If I have got all the sense organs in
healthy condi9on that is not enough. The organs need to interact with sense objects to enjoy. If I
have a healthy system, I can certainly eat well. But I also need the resources i.e food.
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Without good food, what is the use of having a nice tongue? And without wonderful things to see, what
is the purpose of the eye? Not only do I need my sense organs, but I also want Vishayas as well because
only when they interact (sense organs and objects) do I draw pleasure. And Veda knows that human
beings will first ask for health, but later when health is granted they will also ask for “things”.
3) Acquiring the correct environment or Loka:-‐ Veda has studied the human life comprehensively.
Even if one has a healthy body and pleasant objects, a happy life is possible only when the
environment is harmonious, peaceful and healthy. Suppose there is a news that a terrorist has
planted a Bomb somewhere here (don’t worry, we are fine here...it is only an example ☺), then
you may not enjoy anything that is spoken. Or if you see poverty around, you can never enjoy
your posh house because whenever you open your window you will see the other people
suffering! And so to enjoy something, along with the sense organs and objects you also need a
conducive environment or Loka.
Hence we have seen that there is trividham karma phalam; threefold fruits of ac9ons i.e Upaadhi
Phalam, Vishaya Phalam and Loka Phalam
All of these are discussed in the Veda Purva. And Veda Says that if anyone wants something let him
perform the appropriate Karma.
Pashu Kamashchinvita….(Vedic Mantra Sung here)
Pashuman Bhava'….
Do you want ca`le? Do you want rains? Do you want health? Do you want shining skin? Do you want
fame? For whatever you want Veda Purva prescribes a ritual. And generally people are interested in
these things.
However Veda points out that if a person goes through life enjoying a healthy body, possessing sense
objects and having a healthy environment and if such a person is a thinking person who is willing to learn
from his experience, he will discover some important things.
He will discover that although these results of ac9ons are all wonderful and they give pleasures; all of
these have certain intrinsic defects. They have minus points also. We don’t say they have minus points
only…Be Careful here. We say they ALSO have minus points. For every result you have to pay the price.
And this generally is something people do not understand. Because for most of the people life is purely
mechanical.
Balastavat Kreedasaktaha… (Shankaracharya Bhaja Govindam)
When you were a kid you wanted play, as a young man you desired women etc….
People have no 9me for thinking. And nowadays with so many distrac9ons, the ability to introspect is
even more difficult. However there are some people – Brahamanas ; i.e. cultured thinking persons-‐ who
lead an alert non-‐mechanical life. The number of such people will always be few. Krishna says in the
Geeta….
Manushyanaam Sahasra…(Geeta)
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Only one in a thousand is interested in knowledge etc….
So you will never see the en9re Madras city turn up for a Geeta or Upanishad class. Some rare people
may turn up. And such rare people are those that discover some defects in the Karma Phalams. What
are these defects?
Three types of defects are there in ALL these Karma Phalam.
1) Dukha Mishritatvam :-‐All these pleasures are mixed with pain also. They are not unalloyed
pleasures. Why do we say this? To accomplish these results, one has to struggle. Nothing comes
free; which means there is planning and tension and anxiety. Something may go wrong at the
very end. The higher the pleasure, the greater the compe99on. When it pays well, everybody
desires a bank job. Later everybody wants to become an Accountant. The moment something
pays well, all are aher that par9cular object.
Accomplishing an object is not enough. One has to retain it. As the Tennis Ace will say, “Gelng to
the top of the ATP rankings is easy but retaining it is more difficult”. That is why there are upsets in
Sports. Reten9on is as difficult as accomplishment.
Someone said: -‐ “First I want Status. Then I want Status Quo”. That Status Quo is almost impossible.
In Sanskrit, the first problem is called “Yoga” – union problem. And the second problem is called
Kshema – “Reten9on problem”. If Accomplishment involved pain, maintenance involves even more
pain. And despite all the efforts taken to maintain the status quo, whatever is accomplished will be
lost one day. Everything is a gih from the Lord and the Lord has the right to take away anything at
any 9me without a No9ce period. ☺ Even your very life itself can be taken away!
And when loss takes place despite my best efforts then that is the greatest pain. Therefore,
acquisi9on is Dukham (pain), preserva9on is Dukhataram (more pain), and loss is Dukhatamam
(highest pain).
2) Atrip4 Karatvam :-‐ Whatever we accomplish with our ac9ons is going to be finite. The rule is
“As the Ac9on, so is the result. Every Ac9on has a propor9onate result.”
And we know that all ac9ons are finite in nature. In Mundaka Upanishad, we discussed that all the
accessories or instruments used in ac9on are finite; the working people are finite, the working place
is finite and the working dura9on is finite. When all of these are finite then it is illogical to expect an
infinite result out of a finite ac9on. Any Karma phalam is therefore going to be finite and no one is
going to be happy with finitude.
As long as I am finite, I am going to keep looking for the next higher possibility. Un9l I get one house,
I may be craving for that. But once I get this one house, then I immediately feel that I need another
house in Ooty or Kodaikanal so that I can spend my summer holidays there! If I have one car, I feel
that I need an extra car….one for me and one for my spouse. Or perhaps two TV’s so that I don’t
have to fight with my spouse about what Channel to watch.
Whatever you have, you always think of the next possibility. The other people may be envious of
you, but you always feel that something more is possible.
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Nachiketas tells us in Kathopanishad…No Human Being can ever be sa9sfied with any amount of
money.
That is why Rs 800 Crore scams are possible! Those people who do such scams, do this because they
s9ll feel that they do not have enough…I don’t even know how many zeroes are there in this number
☺ . All Karma phalam con9nues to keep one in a state of dissa9sfac9on.
3) Bandha Tatvam: -‐ All the Karmas have an enslaving capacity. They all can cause dependence like
the dependence causing drugs. If you regularly take a sleeping pill to sleep then aher some days
you cannot sleep without one. A smoker aher some9me becomes a slave of cigareè; a
drunkard on his drink.
Scripture says that if I need Karma Phalam to be happy then I am dependent on these things. I need
crutches; not necessarily physical crutches but mental Crutches to be happy. If I need external
support to be happy; it indicates that I am a weak person. When I accomplish a lot of Karma
Phalams and I learn to use a lot of them to be make myself happy, then any one of those Phalams is
capable of making me unhappy.
“If the Gas connec9on is not working one day, you are sad. No Car….Ok, that is a enough to spoil my
day. Why can you not take a Bus? NO, I cannot. Why Not an Autorikhshaw? No way!!!. Why can you
not ask your friends to take you to the Upanishad class? No, that is below my dignity. So I will miss
my Upanishad class. “
Every object has the capacity to bind. Thus we travel not from dependence to independence. When
analyzed, we are travelling from dependence to greater dependence. And we call this – Success! We
call this success because we can order so many things-‐ however Vedanta says that you are a failure.
Why? Because you are dependent psychologically.
So to summarize, you have to remember these nine Terms

• Three Types of Ac9ons – Physical, Verbal and Mental
• Three Types of Results :-‐ Improvement of the Body, or Acquisi9on of sense objects or improving
the environment
• Three Types of Defects:-‐ Mixed with pain, Never Infinite and Tend to Bind you more
Generally however people do not discover these three defects. A Karma Yogi i.e. a person who leads a
Vedic life alone discovers this. A Vedic life is designed so that you discover these defects. Without
discovering this, you will not look for a beèr goal. You will say that “Everything is Fine”. You will se`le
for something less when something higher is possible. Therefore Veda prescribes a way of life by which I
can accomplish two things; I can fulfill my desires and I can discover the limita9ons inherent in them.
And once I discover these defects, I will automa9cally look for a beèr goal. I want to find a goal which is
free from these three defects i.e dosha rahita sadhyam or Dosha Rahita Purushartha.
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When I become mature I seek THIS par9cular defect free goal. I want to accomplish THAT which will not
give me any sorrow, and will give me completeness or purnatvam. When I come to this stage in my
journey, Veda Purva becomes irrelevant to me. This is because Veda Purva prescribes only three types of
ac9ons with three types of results and these no longer have any appeal for me. The balloons and toys, so
dear to me as a kid, no longer appeal to me now. I have grown out of these toys. For a discrimina9ve
person all these Karma Phalams have become like toys.
Nachiketas in the Kathopanishad was offered all the worldly things by the teacher. His teacher said,
“Don’t ask for this knowledge. I will give you a house in the middle of Madras, with 24 hrs water supply
etc . I will give you gold and horses and servants and I will make you the emperor. Nachiketas, I will give
you all this in exchange for this knowledge”
You know what Nachiketas, said?
Tavaiva Vaha Tava Nritya etc (You can keep these with you; Refer Katha Upanishad)
“I have grown out of all these. I am interested in a defect free goal. Veda Purva is irrelevant for me now
and I am interested in Veda Anta.”
This is a shih from Veda Purva to Veda Anta. Or from Purva Mimamsa to Uàra Mimamsa. This is shihing
from “Athatho Dharma Jijnasa” to “Athatho Brahma Jijnasa”
When such a mature person goes to Vedanta, then Vedanta points out that there indeed IS such a goal.
Now my natural curiosity is to know more about this goal? And the Upanishad introduces this goal to me
and calls it Brahman. Brahman is that goal which is free from all these above defects.
So my next ques9on is, “What is the nature of that Brahman. Describe it to me. Once I have a
descrip9on, I will go and acquire this Brahman. Just tell me where it is, where I can purchase it; I will
somehow go and get it. Because I am a great go-‐geèr. Just tell me how to Fish it out.”
So Vedanta, aher an elaborate descrip9on of that wonderful Brahman, suddenly gives me a shocking
informa9on about the same.
THAT YOU ARE!!! That Brahman which you are seeking, that defect free goal which you are seeking is
YOU yourself!
This reminds me of a woman who was looking for a baby-‐sièr for her child. She sent the baby to
different places and in each place she found some problem or the other. Somewhere there were too
many children, or perhaps the baby-‐sièr was not very punctual or perhaps she was not very pa9ent
with the child ; at every place there was some or the other problem. And this lady noted all the defects
in all these places. And she kept scratching her head, because she wanted a Baby-‐Sièr who was free
from all the defects. Then aher searching carefully for a very long 9me, she finally found out, “ There is
only one person in the world who can fulfill all these condi9ons; And that is ME! The mother of the
child” So what she was seeking was HERSELF!
So the teaching of Vedanta is “Aham Bramhasmi”. I am that Defect free Brahman!
So here aherwards my job is no more seeking Brahman because the Upanishads do not present
Brahman as an object to be accomplished. It reveals Brahman as my own self.
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However before reading Vedanta, my independent conclusion based on my own analysis was that I was a
lacking and incomplete person. Vedanta now comes and tells me that I am Brahman, lacking nothing. It
tells me that I am a Purna Purusha.
So what should I do now? My job is no more acquiring Brahman because Brahman is not presented as an
object to be acquired. My job is to find out whether I am Brahman or Not. That is my new Challenge.
Vedanta does not ask me to acquire Brahman. Vedanta tells me to enjoy my status of Brahman.
My job is to find out whether I enjoy Bramhatvam or Not. My current conclusion is that I enjoy only
incompleteness or Jivatvam. Vedanta tells me that I enjoy Brahmatvam or completeness. I have to find
out which one is correct.
And here begins SELF-‐Inquiry to find out if I am complete or incomplete. If a person successfully goes
through this inquiry, he will discover to his uèr surprise that the no9on that something is lacking is a
misconcep9on. The idea that I need things and people to be happy is a misconcep9on. The fact is that I
need nothing to be happy; I am happiness itself.
This knowledge is called Brahma Vidya or Atma Vidya; also known as Self Knowledge.
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Talk 2:-‐Shanthi Patha (Peace Invoca5on)
In the last class I pointed out that the Veda Purva prescribes varie9es of rituals in the form of Kayika,
Vachika, Manasa Karmani. All these are generally known as Sadhanani or Means. And by following these
Sadhanas, three types of Phalams or ends are promised by the Veda :-‐
• Improvement of one’s equipment
• Improvement of the objects
• Improvement of Environment
And the goals accomplishable via these Sadhanas are called Sadhyams.
We also discussed that an intelligent person, in due course of 9me discovers that all these goals are
endowed with certain defects. We looked at the three types of Doshas or Defects in these goals.
• Mixed with pain
• Never give Total Sa9sfac9on
• They lead to slavery or pshychological bondage
Thus all three Sadhyams or goals are with defects. So naturally the mind of the thinking person turns
away from all these goals and he tries to seek a defect free goal. When he seeks a Nirdosha sadhyam, he
finds that Veda Purva becomes redundant for him; the Veda Purva deals only with Sadhyams which have
these defects.
Then he comes to Vedanta which promises a defect free goal. We saw in the Mundaka Upanishad the
mantra,
Pariskya Lokan parishkritan etc….(Refer Mundaka Upanishad)
Veda says this defect free goal is called, Brahma or Brahman. (In Sanskrit it is Brahma, ending with “a”
but in English it is called Brahman)
Naturally as a seeker I am interested in Brahma Prap'. And the Upanishad also encourages me by saying
that, “If only I aàin that Brahman, I will be a free person. I will not have these three defects i.e. I will not
experience pain or incompleteness.” And thus I become more and more interested in the aàinment of
Brahman.
For this aàinment, I first need to know where this Brahman is available so that I can go and fetch
Brahman. I read Vedanta. And Vedanta talks about the glory and defini9on of Brahman… Brahman is
Satyam , Jnanam , Anantam (limitless) ,nirgunam (a`ributeless), nishkalam (stainless) etc…all these
wonderful things. I become very interested.
But then Shru9 says, that Brahman which you want to accomplish or aàin, happens to be YOU!
Un9l now my mind was objec9ve and extroverted. When I hear this statement for the first 9me my mind
turns inward i.e. it becomes subjec9ve and introvert. I have a mixed reac9on; the first reac9on is
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happiness because I Already Am what I am seeking according to the Upanishads. In other words, the
sought is not different from the seeker. This itself is a very BIG relief and there is some Trup' and
Ananda.
At the same 9me, there is a problem. And what is the problem? Before reading Vedanta, I have already
got an idea about myself. The idea is – I am a limited Jiva subject to birth, death. Subject to all kinds of
lack. In fact the list of what I Have is much smaller than the list of what I do not have. I am a lacking,
finite, limited, miserable Jiva.
And when I come to Vedanta, Vedanta tells me, “You are Brahman”. Now there is a clash of ideas. Am I
Jiva as I took myself to be un9l now or am I Brahman as revealed by Vedanta?
When I come to this moment ,I do not have to go in search of Brahman. My struggle is to find out
whether I am Jiva is correct, or I am Brahman is correct.
I am Jiva is my conclusion; I am Brahman is Vedan.c revela.on. Which one is correct?
What is required hereaher is Self-‐Inquiry. And what is the purpose of Inquiry? To find out which
statement is true, I am Jiva as thought by me or I am Brahman as revealed by Vedanta.
So from here on, there is No more Karma. Veda Purva was exclusively dealing with varie9es of Karma;
whereas Vedanta does not involve even an Iota of karma. It involves inquiry; it involves Study-‐ A Study of
Myself.
I want to find out: -‐ Who wins the case? Me or Vedanta.
If I want to make a systema9c self-‐inquiry, Vedanta is ready to help me. In fact, Vedanta also gives me a
warning, “Never do the self-‐inquiry by yourself. You will fail miserably. In fact you will confirm your
Jivahood even more.” You can enquire with open eyes or with closed eyes (Some people close their eyes
and keep asking “Who am I? Who am I? Who Am I?”); but such self-‐Inquiry done by you will not lead you
anywhere.
Therefore Vedanta says “Do the self-‐ Inquiry Assisted by Me (Vedanta)”. And Not only should you have
the assistance of Vedanta-‐ that alone is not sufficient-‐ you should also be assisted by a Guru who knows
how to open the Vedanta; who has the key to open the Vedanta.
So what is the Sadhana involved here? It is Self-‐Inquiry with the help of Guru – Shastra Upadesha.
(Scripture and teacher assisted inquiry)
Guru Shastra Upaya Sahitha Aatma Vichaara – This is our job now. This is called Jnana Yoga.
A person needs to do this inquiry properly and also for sufficient length of 9me. Properly directed inquiry
and adequate inquiry are both equally important. When I want to reach a street in front of me; I should
take care two factors i.e. I should move in the correct direc9on and I should move adequately. If the
street is 30 steps away and I take only 10 steps, I cannot complain that the street has not arrived. The
direc9on may be correct but adequacy may be lacking. Any effort requires both direc9on and adequacy.
Similarly self-‐inquiry must be in the proper direc9on and adequate.
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And if this is done as prescribed, then my greatest discovery will be – “I am Jiva is a false no9on! I have
taken this for granted because I have never made a proper self-‐inquiry”
For e.g. we had been thinking for several hundred years that the earth is at the center and the sun is
going around the earth. However, when one scien9st makes a correct inquiry, he discovers that the earth
is going around the sun and not vice versa.
Similarly, I have taken for granted that I am Jiva…that I have to get peace of mind from outside…that I
need security from outside…that I need happiness from outside. I have assumed that all these basic
things have to come from outside and on inquiry I find that these conclusions were made without
thinking.
As a child, I started with desiring toys-‐In fact nowadays even before the child is born, parents have the
toys ready. And I conclude that I need toys to be happy. The Toy is replaced by video game; the video
game is replaced by a car; the car is replaced by a wife; the wife is replaced by a child; the child by the
grand-‐child. But I have never ques9oned my basic assump9on about whether I need these objects to be
happy. I have assumed that my needs are true. This assump9on is called jivatva bhran' or Self-‐delusion.
No delusion will go unless it is aàcked. A delusion has to be aàcked it by proper inquiry. Delusion does
not automa9cally fall away with 9me like hair or teeth. It requires a deliberate well directed effort. And
that well-‐directed effort is Jnana yoga. When done correctly the result is:-‐
Jivatva bhran' avagacha'…and Bhramatva jnanam aagacha' (The delusion of Jiva goes and the
knowledge of Brahman dawns)
Thus, I am not discovering Brahman as a new thing. I am discovering Brahman as a new status of myself.
For e.g (In the Mahabharatha) when Karna was exposed to Kun9’s statement, he did not discover the
sixth Pandava (a descendant in royal lineage of King Pandu) as a new person. For Karna, the sixth
Pandava was a new status that he discovered for himself. Un9l then his delusion was –“I am not a
Pandava . I am a Suta Putra (Charioteer’s son).I am not a Kshatriya (warrior)”. Now this delusion was
replaced by the knowledge, “I am Kshatriya”.
What did Karna have to DO to become a Kshatriya? Absolutely Nothing, No Ac9on was necessary.
Because he was already a Kshatriya!
And what do I need to DO to become Brahman. I need not do anything. This knowledge helps me own
up my eternal Brahman status and disown my Jiva status. Aher owning by Brahman status, I drop the
no9on that I require external factors to be contented. Every external factor is now a bonus. It is nice if
present and it is perfectly Ok if absent. The presence and absence of a S9ck makes a big difference to a
lame person. But when I have two strong feet, then presence and absence of the s9ck does not make a
big difference. If I have it then I may use it and if it is taken away from me, I am s9ll fine. This is called
Purnatva Prap'. I am complete without any object.
Purna Madah Purnamidam …..(upanishad invoca'on)
What does Vedanta do? Vedanta through knowledge helps me own up my Purnatvam or Brahmatvam.
This is called Moksha. This is called freedom. Freedom from what…from my Jivatvam. And this is the
13
content of the teaching in the Vedanta. We have this teaching at the end of all the four Vedas-‐the Rig,
Yajur, Atharvana and Sama Veda. It is called Veda Anta because it occurs at the end of the Vedas and the
very same por9on is also called Jnana Kandam because in this por9on there is only knowledge involved.
There is no Karma discussed in this por9on of the Veda.
There is yet another name for the same por9on of the Veda – “Upanishad”. The word Upanishad has
several meanings. I have already provided one meaning in the introduc9on to my previous Upanishad;
this meaning indicates the mode of gaining knowledge and its benefits.
“Upa” means “Going Near” a Guru and “Ni” means “Nitaihi avasthanam” or silng down – “Going to a
Guru and silng at his feet”; which indicates the mode of gaining knowledge. “Sad” means destroyer.
Destroyer of what? Destroyer of Jivatvam…Destroyer of Bondage…Destroyer of Samsara. So taken
together “Upanishad” means that knowledge which is acquired by approaching a teacher and silng
down at his feet, gaining which there is a destruc9on of all bandage. This is one meaning of Upanishad.
There is a second meaning also. The expression “Upa” can refer to “Aatma or the Self”. How is this?
Literally the word “Upa” means near…and what is Near to me? if I take the outside wall as the reference
then the wall is far and you are near to me, if I take the Theosophical Society as the reference then the
Theosophical Society is far and wall is near; if I take the Mylapore as the reference then the Theosophical
Society is near and Mylapore is far; everything in crea9on is rela9vely far and rela9vely near.
But what is Absolutely Near? Absolutely Near must be that where the distance is zero. And that closest
thing is I myself, the Aatma. The Self is the closest to me and therefore “Upa” means “Aatma” . “Ni” can
also mean “Nischaya Jnanam” or doubtless knowledge. At the end of inquiry you should not say…. “I
think I am Brahman “ OR “Perhaps I am Brahman” OR “My guru says I am Brahman” OR “ The Upanishad
says I am Brahman”; all these statements indicate doubtul knowledge and not “Nischaya Jnanam” .
Knowledge should be Hasta Amalakavat i.e obvious like a “berry held in your palm”. “Upani” thus means
Clear Self-‐knowledge. And the word “Sad” has got another meaning. It also means “to reach” or “to take
one” somewhere; that which takes one to some other place. What place will this knowledge take you to?
This knowledge will take you to Moksha. Previously we said that this is the destroyer or samsara and
now we are saying taker to moksha. Upanishad – That clear Self-‐Knowledge which will take you to
Moksha.
In the Upanishads , this teaching is in the form of dialogues between the Guru and Shishya.
Guru Shishya Samvaadaha.
Swami Chinmayananda puts it nicely, “What is the difference between a discussion and an argument? A
Discussion generates light; an Argument generates heat!” So you choose if want to become enlightened
or you want to get heated up! Between a Guru and Shishya, the discussion is Samvaada which makes the
Shisya enlightened.
At the end of the Vedas, there are many dialogues. Either a single dialogue or a group of dialogues put
together is called one Upanishad. In certain cases an Upanishad may have only one dialogue. For e.g. In
Mundaka Upanishad, there is a single Guru, a single student and a single dialogue. But In Chandogya
Upanishad, there are several teachers, several students and several dialogues. In Prasnopanishad there
are 6 students, one teacher and 6 dialogues.
The four Vedas together have 1180 Upanishads. Of these 1180 Upanishads , 108 are popular. And of
those 108 Upanishads, 10 are generally studied because these 10 Upanishads have Adi Shankaracharya’s
14
pioneering commentary. These 10 Upanishads are chosen by Shankara from all the 4 Vedas. Why did
Shankaracharya choose these 10 Upanishads? There are a couple of reasons:-‐
1) These 10 Upanishads will give a comprehensive teaching of Vedanta from all angles. All the other
Upanishads will deal with these same topics alone and hence studying these 10 is as good as studying
108 or 1180 Upanishads.
2) These 10 Upanishads are the ones that are predominantly analyzed logically by Vyasacharya in his
Brahma sutras to show that Vedan9c teaching does not violate logic i.e. Vedanta is not a dogma or faith.
Shankaracharya also feels that a commentary on these 10 Upanishads will be useful for later Bramha
Sutra study.
Of these 10 also, we generally study only 5 or 6 and this takes us a few years. We don’t include
Chandogya or Brihadaranyaka in our study because these are voluminous Upanishads.
We are now going to commence the study of Kena Upanishad which belongs to Sama Veda. It is a very
small Upanishads consis9ng of only 4 chapters in prose form. Prose Upanishads are generally called
“Brahmana Upanishads” and poetry Upanishads are generally called Mantra Upanishads. For e.g.
Mundaka is a Mantra Upanishad while Kena is a Brahmana Upanishad.
Why is it called Kena? The first word of the Upanishad is “Kena” and hence it is named aher the first
word. This is similar to Ishavasya Upanishad which begins with the word “Ishavasya”. (An Upanishad may
get its name due to different reasons; not necessarily from the first word.)
This Kena Upanishad has a Shanthi Patha (Peace Invoca9on). All the Upanishads begin with a Shanthi
Patha (Peace Invoca9on). Generally all Upanishads belonging to a par9cular Veda will have a common
Shanthi Patha. For e.g. Mundaka Upanishad, Prasna Upanishad and Mandukya Upanishad belong to the
Atharvana Veda and they share the same Peace Invoca9on
Bhadram karnebhi …(May I hear what is auspicious etc; Refer Mundaka Up)
Similarly the Sama Veda Upanishads like Kena and Chandogya will have a common Peace Invoca9on.
This” Peace Invoca9on” is chanted in the beginning of the study by both the teacher and the student.
The success of the study depends on two factors both of which are extremely important.
• Individual effort:-‐One should have a value for Upanishad and one should take interest and
ini9a9ve in the same. If one has only a casual approach, then one will leave the study at the
smallest excuse. Unless I have a Teevra jijnasa (intense desire) it will not work.
• Grace of the Lord: -‐ Effort alone is not enough. We also require the grace of the lord.
Ishwara Anugraha is also important.
So how do you get the Ishwara Anugraha. You need not “get” Ishwara Anugraha because really speaking
Grace is constantly flowing like the sunlight falling on the earth. One need not make any special appeal
to the Sun to send his light. What is needed, is the ability to tap this solar energy. Similarly Ishwara
Anugraha is always there-‐prayer becomes a medium of tapping the Ishwara Anugraha. I don’t
15
“generate” light by pulng solar reflectors; I only tap the ever exis9ng light. So prayer becomes
extremely important for tapping that grace.
What is the purpose of the prayer? That I should be free from all the obstacles for the study of Shastra.
Therefore it is called Shan' patha. Patha here means Repe99on or Chant-‐ a chant that is done by both
the teacher and student for the temporary cessa9on of all obstacles.
Let us read the Shan' Patha now
Refer h`p://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/kena.pdf for original sanskrit)
Transla9on taken from and modified to match Swamiji’s comments :-‐h`p://www.vedarahasya.net/
kena.htm)
Om ! May my organs and limbs, my speech, my breath, my strength and my sense organs like the ear,
the eyes etc., become efficient enough to perform their respec4ve du4es properly and without any
hindrance. Everything is Brahman as propounded and abundantly made clear in the Upanishads.
Brahman should not leave me aside. I should not leave Brahman aside. I pray further that such an
inseparable rela4on may con4nue for 4mes to come. I also pray that the virtues (as described in the
Upanishads) of those wise men who dwell in the Atma (or the Soul) become part of me and reside in
me.
Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!

In this Shanthi patha , the student is asking for two things.
• Freedom from obstacles to the study.
• All favorable factors must be with me to pursue this study
What are these favorable factors:-‐
The first favorable factors is: -‐ All my equipment’s or organs must be health. Without health, I cannot
accomplish anything either material or spiritual. And even if I accomplish something, I cannot enjoy that
without health. Therefore never sacrifice health. Even though Vedanta says that the body is not the end
in itself you should always remember that the body is the means to the end. A Vedanta student knows
that even to sit comfortably for a certain dura9on and listen with aèn9on, health is needed. ☺
Therefore mama angaani aapyayantu…( May my organs …be healthy)
What are those Organs? Vaak , praana, chakshu and shrotram (my speech, my prana, my sense organs
like the eyes and ears). We will see further details in the next class
16
Talk 3:-‐ Shan5 Patha and Khanda 1:Mantra 1
The Upanishad Kena begins with a Shan' Patha which is chanted by both the student and the teacher
for invoking the grace of the Lord so that the study can be successfully completed. Through this Shan'
Patha the student is seeking three things
• Health of the physical and subtle body: -‐ Whether it is a spiritual or material pursuit, we
have only one vehicle for the same and that is the human body. It is the same body, the
same set of sense organs , the same set of pranas and the same set of antahkaranas which
has to be used for either of these pursuits. If not throughout life, then at least un9l I acquire
Atma Jnana or self-‐knowledge, I need health. Aher Atma Jnana, even if health is not perfect,
I will have the mental strength to face any condi9on. Therefore Oh LORD , please give me
health
• Invoca.on of Shraddha or Faith-‐ I want faith in Brahman-‐ both Saguna and Nirguna
Qualifica.ons required for gaining this knowledge-‐ This is called Sadhana chathustaya
sampaWi or the four-‐fold qualifica9on in whose presence alone knowledge takes place,
knowledge can be sustained and in whose presence alone can the benefit of the knowledge
can be reaped. Oh Lord, let me have all those qualifica9ons!
Let us read the Shanthi Patha again

We have already seen the meaning upto Balam Indriyani cha Sarvani in the last class
Sarvam Bramha (Everything is Brahman) -‐ From the scriptures the student has heard this expression
and he repeats it. He has not understood yet what this expression means since he is only a student. It
means that the whole crea9on is nothing other than Brahman. There is no world other than Brahman.
Brahman mistaken is called “World” and the correctly understood ‘World’ is called Brahman. This is the
basic Vedan9c teaching. Thus according to scriptures, Brahman and the world are not two things. Just as
the rope mistaken as the snake are not two things. Mistaken rope is a snake and the snake correctly
understood is the rope. The whole world correctly understood is Brahman.
17
How to understand that All is Brahman? The mantra con9nues that Brahman should be understood
Aupanishadam i.e through the Upanishadic scriptures. It cannot be known through any other
instrument of knowledge like percep9on, inference etc.
Ma aham Brahman nirakuryam(May I not negate that Brahman) -‐ May I not deny the existence of
Brahman . Un9l I study the Upanishad, I have No way of knowing Brahman. Brahman is knowable only
through Upanishad. Through the sense percep9ons, I cannot see Brahman. I cannot know Brahman via a
ra9onal process. Therefore the tendency will be to reject Brahman. And that is why people become
Naas'ka (Atheists). Brahman it is not available for scien9fic experimenta9on. So our tendency is to say,
“What is not available for percep9on and scien9fic inquiry is NON-‐Existent”. The student prays, “Let me
not fall into this trap. I do not want to negate either Saguna Brahman (God) or Nirguna Brahman.
Let us look at why I tend to negate Brahman or Ishwara
I tend to negate Ishwara because there are so many ques9ons with regards to Ishwara which seem to
have no answers. The ques9ons that are generally asked are:-‐
• Why did Ishwara create this world? Could the fellow not have sat quietly doing nothing? ☺
• Ok, he created it. But why did he have to put all of us here?
• And if he had to create Mankind, why can he not make all Humans nice and ethical?
• If the Lord cannot change the people, he must not be omniscient and omnipotent. On one hand
people claim that the Lord is omnipotent. And that omnipotent Lord seems to create a world
which is full of problems with criminals, fraudulent people, violence, evil etc. In fact, one of the
very big ques9ons in all systems of philosophy is: -‐ What is evil? If God is ALL Goodness, then
why should there be any place for evil in the world. Therefore I am not able to accept Ishwara as
omnipotent
• There are others who claim, “I am such a great Bhakta (devotee)…I have done so many things for
God…and I am facing many problems in my life. Therefore I don’t belief in God”
Thus belief in God creates a lot of ra9onal problems.
What about Brahman – that Nirguna thing. Brahman creates even more problems when compared to
Ishwara!
The Upanishad tells me, “YES, there is Brahman”. But it also says, “You cannot taste it, you cannot touch
it, you cannot smell it and you cannot see it. It is unknowable, unthinkable, un-‐experiencable,
impercep9ble, incalculable”….PHEW!!!Nothing seems to be possible with this Brahman. In fact the
Upanishad also says that it is un-‐transactable i.e Avyavaharyam. Now if this thing is not available for
ANY transac9on then it does not make any difference in my life whether this thing is present or not. ‘Let
it be present or let it be absent. What good is it to me! Why know such a useless phenomenon like
Brahman. There is no need to accept such a useless Brahman.’
Thus we see that both Ishwara and Brahman are difficult to accept. And hence the student prays to the
Lord, “Oh Lord, whatever happens I do not want to reject Brahman. If I am not able to find an answer to
my ques9on, I will struggle to get the answer. But I will NEVER reject Ishwara and Brahman. If I have not
found the answers, I will NOT conclude that the answers are not there. I will conclude that I have not
18
understood sufficiently what Ishwara is and what Brahman is. Oh lord, please give me faith un9l I can
clearly understand what is Ishwara and what is Brahman”
I remember a beau9ful prayer by a devotee:-‐
Tava taPvam na janami kidrishoasi maheshvara
yadrishosi mahadeva taddrishaya namoh namah
Tava Tatvam na Jaanami Kidrishosi maheshwara :-‐ Oh lord Maheshwara (Shiva), Of what nature you are,
I am not able to fathom…Are you are male or female?…or whether you are energy…or whether you are
here or there or elsewhere or nowhere…I do not know anything. But s9ll I say this ….
Yadrishosi Mahadeva Tadrishaaya Namo Namaha :-‐Whatever is your nature, oh Lord, to THAT nature I
offer my prostra9on. It is my limita9on that I have not known you. It is not your limita9on.
A similar idea is expressed here…Let me not Reject Brahman …let me have shraddha(faith).
So I pray that ….Not only I should not reject Ishwara but Ma MA brahma nirakarot (Let not Brahma also
reject me). The first ma is “let not” and the second ma is “me”. Don’t get confused by the two ma’s
repea9ng. Let me have Ishwara’s grace. Even to have faith in the Lord, I need the Lord’s grace. Let me
enjoy the grace of the Lord. Since this shraddha is the basic founda9on for any scriptural study, the
student repeats this again Anirakaranam astu Anirakaranam me astu. Thus the second part of the
prayer is over.
The third part of the prayer is, Let me have all the necessary qualifica9ons to understand Brahman. Tad
aatmani nirate. I am a person interested in Brahma Jnana. “Nirata” means, “commièd to” or
“obsessed with” or “serious about”. I am not a casual person but a commièd person. Commièd to
what?Tad aatmani i.e. To that Aatma or Brahman.
Upanishadsu dharmaha…I need some qualifica9ons. We have already looked at the qualifica9ons in
Tatva Bodha and I hope you have not forgoèn the same ☺
To simplify the same you can remember 4 D’s. The four D’s are:-‐
• Discrimina.on: -‐ Understanding that the spiritual growth is most important in life. Material
growth is subservient to spiritual growth. If we have a choice between the two, we have to
choose spirituality. Having spiritual priority is called discrimina9on. If I am in a place where there
is scope for spiritual growth but materially it may not be very rewarding and suppose I get
something which is materially rewarding but I will not grow spiritually then I must choose the
former. That mind which can see the importance of spiritual growth is called a Viveki or
Discrimina9ng mind.
• Dispassion: -‐ Seeing material growth as incidental. It is Subject to arrival and departure. This
cannot be the primary goal in life. Seeing the secondary nature of materiality is called dispassion
• Discipline: -‐ This includes physical, sensory, emo9onal and intellectual discipline. Krishna gives
an elaborate list of virtues in the Geeta. I want these virtues within me.
• Desire for Freedom: -‐ I am a slave of this world. The world can make me happy or depressed or
irritated; people can determine if I am happy or not. I want to be a master of my inner condi9on.
For how long should my wife or husband or other family members decide my happiness? They
19
seem to have my “happiness-‐switch” in their hands. I want to decide what my mental condi9on
should be. This is called internal freedom.
Let all these 4 qualifica9ons be there in me. It is not enough that I pray to the Lord. I should also
work to acquire these 4 D’s. Bhagawan can never help us unless we are ready to put forth our effort.
Bhagawan cannot subs9tute our effort; Bhagawan can only boost our effort or complement our
effort. He can only be a catalyst for our effort. So I will do what I have to do but in addi9on to that,
Oh Lord, I want your grace. The student appreciates the role of the Lord’s grace and so he repeats it
the second 9me…te mayi santu…te mayi santu.
Om shan4h shan4h Shan4. Let there not be obstacles from 3 sources: -‐ supernatural ,surrounding or
internal . Thus we have seen the Shanthi patha for the Kena Upanishad and it is the same for all the
Sama Veda Upanishads
20
Now the Actual Text begins.

(English transla9on taken from the shining world web site www.shingingworld.com. May be modified
slightly to match Swamiji’s comments.)
1. OM. The disciple asked: By whose will is the mind directed to its objects? By whose command does
the most important life breath do its duty? Who causes the eyes to see and the ears to hear? Who
speaks through the mouth?
This is the first mantra. The Upanishad has 4 chapters. Each chapter is called a Khanda. We are in the
Prathama Khanda i.e first chapter. Kena is a very small Upanishad. But even though it is small, it is a very
powerful Upanishad. The Upanishad reminds me of the small needle-‐sized green chillies; they look 9ny
but if you bite them you will reach the 7th heaven straightaway. ☺
Like most of the other Upanishads, this one is also in the form of a dialogue. This dialogue method is
used to signify many things:-‐
1. The first significance is, ‘One should learn Brahma Vidya from a Guru only’. Independent study is
a highly risky proposi9on. If I am not able to understand something then there is no problem;
only 9me is wasted. But if I misunderstand something then this a big problem. If a Guru comes
later, then his job becomes double fold. Already this person has read and misunderstood and
now the poor Guru has to erase all the misunderstandings and thereaher he has to rewrite some
understanding into the disciple’s head! So the first significance of the dialogue method is to
indicate that ‘Every disciple learnt from a guru’. The disciple may be a very learned person-‐in
Chandogya and Brahadaranyaka you will see that the students themselves were greatly learned
people like Narada etc. But however learned you may be and however much you may be a
Sanskrit scholar, Vedanta was never studied independently. Everyone who wanted to learn
humbly went to a Guru.
2. The second significance is, ‘A dialogue form is easier to understand’. It has a personal touch. And
all our doubts will be appearing in the Upanishads from the mouth of the student. Therefore
Shankaracharya says Sukhartha pra'bodhanartham (for easy understanding) dialogue method of
teaching is convenient
3. The Third significance is that Every Upanishadic student has learnt this knowledge from his Guru.
And when the student asked the Guru where the Guru learnt this knowledge, the Guru says that
he has learnt it from his Guru. And the Guru’s Guru says…I learnt it from my own Guru …and so
on. This is a tradi9onal wisdom which has no beginning.
This is just like the following; I am here because of my parents; my parents are here because of
their parents…and so on. This has been so from beginingless 9me and we cannot trace this back.
21
When did the first human come on earth? Scien9sts are s9ll pushing this date further and
further away. They find a bone in South Africa one day and they say Humans appeared 2 million
years ago; later they find another bone in Ethiopia and they say that humans appeared 3 million
years ago ; another bone is found is some other place and the scien9sts says that humans
appeared 4 billion years ago. ☺
Similarly we know that even the Upanishadic Rishis are not the composers of the Veda; they are
also only transferor’s of the Veda. Therefore Veda is Anaadi parampara praptam; it is a most
ancient teaching. And if this ancient teaching is s9ll surviving then it means it has validity and
efficacy. This validity of the Upanishad is revealed because of its ancient nature. This is the third
significance of the Guru Shishya dialogue method.
In some Upanishads, the names of the Guru and Shishya are given. E.g. in the Mundaka Upanishad,
Shaunaka , the student went to Angiras, the teacher for knowledge. Here in Kena the names are not
men9oned.
Shankaracharya says that even though no names are men9oned you have to assume that some student
approached some teacher for knowledge. How do I know that? Because the first verse happens to be a
ques9on. So there must be a ques9oner. And from the second verse onwards we get an answer in the
en9re Upanishad. And we have to assume that there was a Teacher.
So before reading the first mantra we have to add Shishya Uvacha (Student said) just like we say Arjuna
Uvacha in the Geeta. Let us get started with the text.
A disciple asks a Teacher a ques9on. The ques9on itself is a very deep ques9on. The student seems to be
a very informed student who has studied a lot. To understand the ques9on, we have to come to the level
of the student. The student seems to know certain fundamental ideas from the scriptures. What are
these ideas?
1. The student knows that the physical body is made up of maèr. This is something all of us also
know. Body is material in nature, whether you go by science or by Shastra.
If you go by science, then science will say that the body if full of chemicals. The body has
aluminum, iron, nickel, potassium etc. That the body is made up of chemicals is proved because
to cure the diseases you add chemicals to the body.
If you go by Shastra also, we say that the body is made up of 5 elements. There is earth-‐ the
solid por9on of the body, there is water in the body which gives it its shape, there is fire in the
body in the form of temperature, there is air in the body in the form of breath and there is space
which we all occupy in plenty! This is a panchabhau'ka shariram ( 5 elemental body). So the
student knows that body is material. Maèr is inert -‐> Body is maèr -‐> therefore Body is inert
(achetanam) by itself. This is the first thing that the student seems to understand (sthula
shariram achetanam)
2. Then the second point that the student seems to know is that even the invisible inner body
called the sukshma shariram is also made up of maèr. We have seen before that the sukshma
sharira consists of 5 jnanendriyas, 5 karmendriyas, 5 pranas, manas and buddhi …the subtle
body consists of 17 facul9es. We can mainly call this “Mind” for our understanding. The student
knows that the mind is made up of maèr.
22
How do you prove that the mind is made up of maèr? Science is not yet very sure about what
the mind is. They are s9ll confused whether the mind is synonymous with the brain, or whether
mind is a separate process in the brain or whether mind of something which is located outside
the brain.
Shastra talks about the nature of mind and points out that mind is also made up of maèr. The
only difference when compared with the body is that mind is made up of “subtle” maèr. This is
like the rela9on between maèr and energy. In science an Invisible or intangible or subtle form
of maèr is called energy. Similarly mind is also a subtle form of maèr only according to
Shastras. And this is the reason that the mind is influenced by maèr. Which is why many
psychological condi9ons can be treated by chemicals or drugs. Today, there seems to be some
confusion about whether the mind should be treated by counselling or whether drugs should be
prescribed like many psychiatrists do. We are not looking at what is the proper treatment here.
For us the important thing to understand is this: -‐ Why do these psychiatrists prescribe drugs?
Because they know that the mind IS influenced by these chemicals. Even bio-‐chemical and
hormonal changes can change mental altudes, moods etc. and this has been scien9fically
proven. If the mind has to be influenced by maèr then mind must also belong to the realm of
maèr only. So the student knows that mind is maèr. Maèr is inert -‐> Mind is Maèr -‐ > So
student concludes that mind is also inert by itself
To summarize, the two conclusions of the student are:-‐
• Body is maèr -‐> hence inert by itself
• Mind is maèr -‐> hence inert by itself.
3. Even though logically, the body must be inert since it is maèr and mind must also be inert since
it is also maèr we are faced with a different proposi9on experien9ally. Experien9ally, we feel
that the body-‐mind complex is sen9ent. So this is the third observa9on of the student: -‐ Body
must be inert logically speaking but it appears sen9ent, mind must be inert logically speaking but
it appears sen9ent. Therefore the ques9on is, how can the naturally inert body-‐mind complex
become sen9ent?
And the student himself solves the problem-‐ I told you that this is an evolved student!!
He uses a very simple idea. Suppose milk is kept in a glass in front of you. You have tasted milk before
and you know that milk is not sweet by itself. Now you drink this milk and you find that it is sweet. What
do you conclude? You say, the milk must be sweet because of some external factor pervading the milk.
Naturally the milk is not sweet; experien.ally the milk is sweet. Therefore the milk must be pervaded
by something that makes the non-‐sweet milk sweet. Do you see the sweetener? No, both sweetened
and non-‐sweetened milk are white. But you know that there must be an invisible principle which is
pervading the milk and because of which the milk is sweet.
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Similarly let us say you drink water and you find it salty. You know that water by itself is not salty. To my
experience the water is salty. And therefore there is an invisible principle which is pervading the water
because of which the non-‐salty water is salty.
You can extend this in any plane. The light bulb is not naturally luminous etc…..there must be an invisible
principle which is pervading the bulb because of which the non-‐luminous bulb is luminous.
The student understands all of this. The body-‐mind complex which is made of maèr has to be an
insen9ent bundle of maèr only. But now that it appears sen9ent, it must be blessed by some “invisible
principle”. The student calls this Deva; some invisible principle because of whose blessing the body is
sen9ent.
So the student’s ques9on to the teacher is, “I know there is an invisible principle. I want to know what is
that principle because of which the inert body, senses and mind behave as if they are sen9ent” This is
the essence of the ques9on. The teacher will have to answer: -‐ That consciousness principle is called
Aatma or Brahman. This is how the teaching is going to proceed.
Now Let us look at the meaning of the key words in the first mantra
Mana Preshitam Pata4 – The mind objec.fies the world, preshitam as though it is propelled by some
other force. Mind should not be objec9fying anything…but it seems to be doing this. Kena Ishitam…
Blessed by Whom? By whose will is the mind directed to these objects?
Then the second part of the ques9on: -‐ Prathama Prama prai4. The life principle; the 5 fold life forces
are called Prathama prana here (foremost or most important prana). Life principle is the foremost or the
most important. Without Prana, nothing can happen. During sleep, you are without organs of knowledge
and organs of ac9on. The thinking func9on is suspended, the egoism is suspended, memory is
suspended. All facul9es can be suspended. But one thing has to con9nue even during sleep. If that Prana
is suspended then people around you will conclude that you are dead. Prana func9ons in all the three
avasthas. So the disciple is calling it Prathama prana or “Most important life force”. Kena yuktha prai4…
Blessed by whom does it func4on. Here the student understands that Prana is also inert by itself. Prana
is a form of Vayu. So he is asking the ques9on what makes that Prana behave as if it is sen9ent.
Kena ishitam imam vaacham vadan4-‐ The organ of speech is not naturally sen9ent. Even a dead body
has all the facul9es like the toungue, jaws etc. Who or what is making it func9on? All the 17 organs of
the sukhsma sharira are made of the 5 elements only according to Tatva Bodha.
Vaag (Speech) is made of which element? Do you remember☺ if you aènded Tatva Bodha? Ok, It is the
rajo guna of Aakash Tatva
Chakshu Shrotram kahu devaha yunak4: -‐ What is that Deva (here Deva means “sen4ent principle” or
self-‐effulgent principle) which propels the sight and the hearing. The student men9ons only two sense
organs but you must understand that he is referring to all the 5 jnanendriyas, 5 karmendriyas, 5 pranas .
If the student could see the propeller, he would not have asked this ques9on. Just like the sweetness in
the milk is invisible, and the salt in the water is invisible similarly that extraneous principle in the body
happens to be invisible.
As an aside, it seems that someone wanted to weigh consciousness. They wanted to know the weight of
aatma. ☺ So they measured the dead body to check the weight of Aatma! It turned out that the body
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weighed more aher death; so the scien9st was in a quandary!Please note that all such scien9fic methods
can never know what consciousness is.
So the student is asking the teacher, please tell me. What is that principle? This is the only verse in the
Upanishad that comes from the student. The rest of the verses are from the teacher. We will con9nue
tomorrow. PurnaMadah…
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Talk 4:-‐ Khanda 1: Mantras 1 to 3
The Upanishad begins with a ques9on from a student. Through this ques9on, the student wants to know
about the Atma-‐The Self. The student seems to be an informed one. He is aware of the fact that the
body-‐mind complex is an inert en9ty by itself. From the Shashtra he has come to know that the mind-‐
body complex is made of maèr. The body is made up of gross maèr while the minds is made up of
subtle maèr. He also is aware of the fact that maèr is intrinsically inert. Extending this principle he
concludes that the Body-‐Mind complex which is material in nature must be Achetana or Inert. This is the
conclusion that follows from a logical analysis.
While his logical analysis indicates that the Body -‐Mind complex should be inert, his personal experience
is that the Body Mind complex is sen9ent. And therefore he can easily infer that this bind-‐mind complex
should have some external factor because of which the insen9ent Body-‐Mind has becomes sen9ent.
Let us take an example. You see this mike here, and it does not func9on .Later it begins to func9on.
Visibly you see no difference between a func9oning mike and a non-‐func9oning mike. But you have the
knowledge that the mike cannot func9on on its own and therefore you know that there is an invisible
principle which is “blessing this mike” because of which the non-‐func9oning mike becomes a func9oning
mike. You can extend this principle.
The body has borrowed consciousness i.e. Aagantuka chaitanya or Aabhasa chaitanya or Pra'mbimba
chaitanya. I have used different words here but they all indicate the same thing; borrowed
consciousness. And if this material body enjoys borrowed consciousness then there must be someone
who is willing to lend. Borrowing is impossible unless there is a lender. We need a lender principle. This
principle the student chooses to call as ‘Deva’. Deva means an intrinsically sen9ent principle which lends
sen9ency to an insen9ent en9ty. Deva means, Swayam Chaitanya Tatvam or Self resplendent. That
which has got innate consciousness and which is therefore capable of lending consciousness to this inert
body-‐mind.
That principle or Deva must be intrinsically conscious. If that principle is also borrowing consciousness
from somewhere else then I will require ANOTHER principle to lend consciousness to this “Deva”. If that
second lender is also enjoying borrowed consciousness then I need another lender etc. This type of logic
is called an infinite regress defect. So the student wants to know a lender principle who is a non-‐
borrower. Who is that non-‐borrowing lender who lends this Chaitanya. The student calls it ‘Deva’.
Normally we call it Atma or THE SELF
The teacher is going to answer the ques9on through the rest of the Upanishad.
Mantra 2
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2. The teacher replied: It is the Eye of the eye, the Mind of the mind, the Speech of speech, the Life of
life, and the Ear of the ear. Separa4ng the Self from the senses and renouncing the world the wise
one realizes his or her immortal nature.
This is the Key verse of Kena Upanishad. You can call it the founda9on verse of Kenopanishad upon
which alone the rest of the structure is built up. Every Upanishad will have a key verse; which is like a
capsule which captures the essence of the text.
In the Geeta, when the verse AshochaananVasho (The wise do not greive etc) is stated you can say that
the Geeta is complete. The rest of Geeta is only a commentary on this single verse. Another summary is
given at the end of the Geeta. Sarva dharman parityajya (Abondoning all rituals..)This is considered the
Geeta Saara (essence).
If somebody asks what is the essence of the Kena Upanishad, you can say it is this verse Shrotrasya
srotram
Through this mantra the teacher wants to say that ATMA is that principle or ‘DEVA’ which the student is
looking for. That principle is called ATMA whose nature is chaitanyam i.e Chaitanya Svaroopa Aatma . It
is also called Chidatma. Chaitaya aatma,Chit, Jnanam, Vignanam, Pragnaanam or even another rare
word Samvid…all this is synonymous.
Naturally the next ques9on will be. What is the meaning of that word -‐ ATMA or Consciousness? What
do you mean by Atma? To understand this you will have to remember the points that I have given in the
introduc9on. Do you remember?
• Consciousness is not a part of the body, property of the body or product of the body.
• Consciousness is an independent en9ty which pervades and enlivens the body
• Consciousness is not limited by the boundaries of the body
• Consciousness will con9nue to exist aher the body-‐medium collapses
• Consciousness cannot have any transac9on once the medium of transac9on collapses. Even
though the transac9on ends, it is not the end of the existence of consciousness. Non-‐transac9ng
consciousness is not non-‐exis9ng consciousness.
We call non-‐transac9ng consciousness as Avyakta chaitanyam. When it is accessible through
transac9on, we call it Vyakta chaitanya. Consciousness may be in a Vyakta form or in Avyakta form-‐
but consciousness con9nues. In order to understand the five points above, I had given an example of
light and the hand illumined by it.
• Light is not a part, product or property of the hand
• Light is an independent en9ty which pervades and illumines the hand
• Light is not limited by the boundaries of the hand
• Light will con9nue to exist even aher I remove the hand
• Light will not be percep9ble if the reflec9ng medium is absent. The non-‐percep9bility of the light
does not imply the non –existence of light.
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‘Oh Student, This eternal all –pervading consciousness principle is the Deva that you are looking for’. This
is the answer that the teacher wants to give. But the teacher presents the answer in a peculiar language
that seems un-‐understandable. The teacher says,’Shrotrasya Shrotram (It is the Ear of the ear). Oh ,
Student, you are asking what is that principle which blesses the ear? Well, that principle is the EAR of the
ear. The first EAR is not visible; the second one is visible. Atman is the EAR of the ear. Then you ask me
the ques9on what Blesses the eyes? It is the EYE of the eye. And you can con9nue to ask me…what
blesses the nose? I will have only one answer. It is the Nose of the nose. What blesses the mike? MIKE of
the mike. There will be only one answer for whatever you ask!’☺
So In the first part of the verse we have seen that the teacher defines “ The SELF” as… It is the Eye of the
Eye, the Mind of the mind, the Speech of speech, the Life of life, and the Ear of the Ear. (In the first
verse, this por9on can be considered as “Defini.on of Atma”)
Now what are we to understand by this expression? As I said in the beginning itself, when the teacher
says ‘EAR of the ear’ etc. he is direc9ng our aèn9on to the consciousness principle. Why does the
teacher choose to use such a language to express this idea?
There are several reasons for communica9ng in this manner:-‐
• When you say it is the ‘EAR of the ear’ you are communica9ng the idea that it is something
DISTINCT from the ear. Suppose you say, ‘ This is the ‘House OF Ram’. The moment you hear ‘of’,
you understand that the house and Rama are different en99es. And they have some
rela9onship. But the important thing is that they are different en99es. So by saying that Atma is
the Ear of ear, the teacher has communicated that Atma is that consciousness which is dis9nct
from the ear. And at the same 9me it pervades the ear. Remember in our example, light is
dis9nct from the hand and yet it pervades the hand.
• More importantly Consciousness is called Ear of the ear because, it is due to consciousness
alone that the ear can func9on. The Ear is an ear because of its hearing power; it has its hearing
power because of its sen9ency; and its sen9ency is because of the Atma. Similarly the Eye is an
eye only when it has seeing power; the “eyeness” of the eye is only because of the
consciousness lent by the Atma. This mike will stop to exist as a mike once electricity is gone;the
“mikeness” of the mike is because of electricity. I can define electricity as the ‘Amplifier of the
amplifier’.
So now we understand that the teacher is defining ‘ATMA’ in this verse as THAT which is different from
every organ, and which pervades every organ and because of which alone every organ func9ons as an
organ. And that principle is consciousness which is that ‘Deva’ the student is looking for.
Some of you are wondering; why should he s9ll put it in such a complicated language. He could have
said, THAT DEVA IS CONSCIOUSNESS and that would have finished the maèr. Instead of using the word
“Consciousness” directly, the teacher is saying, “Dear Student, what you are looking for is that principle
which is different from every organ, which pervades every organ and because of which alone every organ
is that organ.”
Is this an obscure language of a logician? I am reminder of a story that someone once told me. A
logician’s car 9re was punctured and he was late for a mee9ng. When asked why he was late he said,
“That part of my car, because of which the car moves forward and without which it cannot func9on as a
car, has lost its pris9ne rotundity!” ☺ ☺Now why cannot this person simply say, “My car’s 9re is
punctured”? Similarly why cannot the teacher say, ‘IT IS Consciousness’? Why does he have to say -‐ It is
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that principle which is different from every organ, which pervades every organ and because of which
alone every organ is that organ….Phew. How is the teacher any different from this logician? Is he playing
with words?
Let us try and understand the teacher. The teacher does not want to use the Word – “Consciousness”.
The moment we hear a word like “Consciousness”, our tendency will be to sit in medita9on and look for
that consciousness. This is a mistake that we have been successfully commilng 9ll today. When the
teacher tells us that ‘IT IS ATMA’, there are people who sit in medita9on and hope to experience that
‘ATMA’ one day. Our tendency is to objec9fy everything that is taught. If I introduce the word -‐Atma, you
will look for Atma. If I introduce the word Brahman, you will look for Brahman.
And if I say it is Jnana Swarupam (Pure knowing) then even this is a problem. This reminds me of a
person who came to me and said, “Swamiji, I have been closing my eyes and asking ‘Who am I?’ for the
last 12 years. Aher 12 years I have successfully managed to silence the mind. I am able to come up to the
stage of Blankness. Earlier the mind used to run all over but in 12 years I have managed to make my
mind blank. Aher this I am wai9ng for something to happen; when is ATMA DARSHAN going to happen?
When will the Lord appear? When will that Atma come so that I can have direct percep9on?”
Unfortunately that Atma is never going to COME, because it happens to be ME MYSELF! It is the VERY
Subject -‐the consciousness principle -‐ who is looking for something! I can sit for any number of life9mes
in medita9on but I am never going to come across Atman or Brahman. Whatever I come across will NOT
be Atma or Brahman. Kena Upanishad will say the same thing in the later verses. Every experience you
get has nothing to do with Atma. Every experience deals with the object of experience. We are talking
about the subject – “ THE Experiencer”. Therefore the teacher is worried that if he introduces the
word-‐“Consciousness”, then this fellow will now start looking desperately for this new object called
“Consciousness”. And he will never succeed in finding it because Consciousness happens to be HIM!
Now, here we may get another doubt. You will say, ‘We all agree that if the teacher says “It is
Consciousness” then the student is going to search for it and the teacher’s inten9on is to show that
“Consciousness” is not an object to be searched but it is the very student himself. Why then can the
teacher not make it s9ll simpler? Instead of using the word Consciousness, the teacher could have said,
IT IS YOU! This would have stopped the person from searching. The word “Consciousness” creates a
problem; it makes the person search. Perhaps for a few days the person will search externally; later he
will search internally. Consciousness is neither outside you and neither is it inside. Consciousness is YOU.
So why cannot the teacher not say the ‘Deva’ you are looking for is YOU! Isn’t this a beèr method of
communica9on?’
Even here the teacher is worried. In the teacher’s mind, ‘YOU’ means the consciousness principle. But in
the student’s mind, ‘YOU’ refers to the ‘BODY-‐MIND’ complex. So now you see? If the teacher says, ‘It is
You’, the student will assume it is the body-‐mind complex. The teacher has to find some method by
which the student should understand that “I am that principle. I am the consciousness OTHER THAN my
organs”.
And what is the best method…Shrotrasya Shrotram. It is the Eye of the Eye, the Mind of the mind, the
Speech of speech, the Life of life, and the Ear of the Ear.
If you carefully analyze WHAT is the EAR of the ear, you will come to one conclusion only. IT IS “I”. “I” AM
THE ONE WHO AM BEHIND THE EAR AND WHO AM FUNCTIONING THROUGH THE EAR. This is why when
I turn my aèn9on elsewhere then the ear cannot func9on as a ear. Let us say that some car passes by
and now your mind has gone away behind your eyes to look for the source to that sound. You have
29
decided to take the aèn9on away from your ears and for those two minutes whatever the Swami says is
not registered even though you have physical ears. What is really the EAR of the ear? IT is YOU…who is
other than the ear and who makes the ear func9on because of your iden9fica9on with it. THAT you are
…that consciousness principle…this is what the teacher says indirectly through this verse.
Having given this capsule, this will be elaborated in all the mantras later. Now the teacher wants to talk
about the benefit of this knowledge. What is the benefit I can possibly get by knowing I am not the ear
but the ‘EAR of the ear’ or I am not the mind but the ‘Mind of the mind’.
The teacher says …Dheeraha Adhimuchya (The wise one transcends the body-‐mind)
Dheeraha…Wise people or discrimina4ve people: -‐ Why are people who have this knowledge called
Jnanis or discrimina9ve? When the Jnanis use the word “I”, they take only the consciousness as
themselves. They don’t confuse the body-‐mind with the “I”. In the case of non-‐discrimina9ve people, the
word “I” is used for both the consciousness and the body-‐mind; it is all mixed-‐up.
A discrimina9ve person takes the body-‐mind complex as an incidental medium for his transac9ons which
he uses in the waking state. The Jnani says, ‘In the waking state I use the body-‐mind medium and
experience the world of physical and subtle objects. In sleep, the body and the mind stop func9oning;
they are relaxing. The transac9on ends, the world ends, the thoughts end, the emo9ons end. It is very
clear that all the thoughts and emo9ons are incidental experiences that come to me when I temporarily
use the body-‐mind complex. If in another life I have another ant body, I will have another incidental
equipment which will give me another incidental biography. These incidental Biographies come and go
and they all belong to the body-‐mind. But what is MY real biography? My original nature? It is free from
all these incidental experiences. It is free from the no9ons of birth, death and Change. All of these are
not present in me. I have TRANSCENDED the body and its limita9on.’
Therefore the Upanishad says, Dheeraha adhimuchya…Adhimuchya means transcending. The wise one
transcends.
Let me give you an example. Suppose I make a statement, ‘I am happy’. Does happiness belong to the
mind or to the mouth? Happiness belongs to the mind. We all agree with this. But please see who is
making the statement? BOTH the mind and the mouth are required to make this statement. To say
something a mouth is needed and for the mouth to say that thing, a mind is required behind it. The
mind-‐mouth together are making the statement. But even though the mind –mouth together are saying,
‘I am happy’, we do not refer to the mouth aspect of this mind-‐mouth mixture when we say that we are
happy. We only refer only to the Mind-‐Aspect. “I am happy” is a statement made by the mouth and
through the mouth. And yet you know that this statement refers only to the MIND.
Similarly when you say, “I AM ATMA”-‐ who is making this statement? It is Consciousness along with the
Body-‐mind complex that is making this statement. But what a discrimina9ve person means by the word
“I” in the above statement is just the Consciousness aspect. He ignores the body-‐mind aspect and takes
only the ‘Consciousness’ aspect alone as HIS iden9ty.
The teacher says that by knowing this Atma, I transcend the Body-‐Mind complex….Adhimuchya. This
transcending is not a physical ac9on. It is not a physical event. It is an intellectual event-‐ purely in terms
of understanding.
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In our previous example, when I said that “I am happy”, I do not include my Mouth in the meaning of the
sentence. I only refer to the mind. That non-‐inclusion of the mouth is called “transcending the mouth”. I
take the mouth only as a medium of expression but I recognize that happiness belongs only to the mind.
Similarly when I say “AHAM BRAHMASMI” or “I AM THE ALL-‐PERVADING CONSCIOSNESS” please note
who is making this statement. This very Jiva, the Swami in front of you is making this statement. Can this
Swami be All –Pervading. Certainly not! He does not even pervade the chair that he sits upon.
So how can I say “I AM THE ALL-‐PERVADING CONSCIOSNESS”? It is simple; I have transcended my body-‐
mind complex. And how did I accomplish this? USING the body-‐mind, I EXCLUDED the body-‐mind in the
meaning of the word “I”. This “intellectual segrega.on” is called transcendence. Every Jnani does this
only. He is using the same mouth and the same body as you are. He is ea9ng food in the same manner
like you. Please do not conclude that aher becoming a Jnani you will star9ng ea9ng food through your
ears. ☺. Everything will be just the same!
To conclude, When an Ajnani uses the word “I”, he is including the body-‐mind along with Consciousness.
However, when Jnani uses the word “I” , the “Self” excludes the body-‐mind complex.
When you include the body-‐mind complex, it is called the primary meaning of the word – “I” -‐
Vachyartha.
When you exclude the body-‐mind complex, it is called implied meaning of word-‐ ”I” -‐ Lakshartha.
The Vachyartha “Self” is mortal but the Lakshyartha “Self” is immortal. Therefore the teacher says that
the Wise man transcends (Dheera adhimuchya). This is called Jivan Muk'. How long does JivanMuk'
con9nue? First of all, a Jnani is not bothered about this. One is bothered about the body only when one
is aàched to the body. Now that the Jnani has transcended, he looks at this body as one of the millions
of bodies-‐ just like waves in the ocean. There is nothing special about this body. This body has to be
born, grow, decay and finally pop off! A Jnani does not have any extra Raaga or Dvesha towards the
body; going beyond Raaga-‐Dvesha gives peace of mind. All mental disturbances are due to strong
Raaga-‐Dvesha with respect to the body-‐mind complex. This strong Raaga-‐Dvesha is so powerful that it
overflows to the wife’s body, the husband’s body, the child’s body, the grandchild’s body etc. All
rela9onships are for the physical body alone; ATMA has no rela9onships. In fact about this Raaga-‐
Dvesha it is said in the Geeta Adhascha urdhwam prasrutaha tasya shakha (The Samsara tree spreads
out and branches outwards etc). Even the Theosophical society cannot spread as much as our Raaga-‐
Dvesha ☺. All of these gets neutralized by Jnanam. And when I use the word Neutralized, I mean that a
certain objec9vity comes; a certain acceptance comes. There is a balance. So this is called Jivan muk'.
And it will con9nue as long as the Prarabdha oil con9nues; as long as the flame of life burns. And when
the Prarabdha oil gets exhausted the flame of light is ex9nguished. So the teacher says Asman lokat
pretya.
And aher death? Sanchita is burnt by knowledge, Aagami does not come at all for a Jnani and Prarabdha
is exhausted. All these Karmas are gone. Therefore the teacher says that aher death these Jnanis are
amrataha bhavanthi i.e they are one with the all-‐pervading brahman.
This is like the pot space merging into the total space when the pot is broken. Pot space does not get
destroyed when the pot is destroyed. Pot space only merges with the total. And what type of merger is
this; it is a merger without mo9on. Please do not think that slowly it (or you) will merge li`le by li`le
into the Total by dissolving itself (yourself) ☺
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What do you mean by merger? The name POT-‐ Space is withdrawn, that’s all. Similarly you called this
person a Jivatma because of the presence of an enclosure. In the absence of an enclosure, he is called
Paramatma. Thus the teacher says Amrataha bhavanthi or they become one with Paramatma . This is
called Videha muk'.
Thus we have completed our analysis of this first verse. In this this complete verse four topics are
discussed:-‐
• Atma Swarupam is talked about…
• Atma Jnanam is talked about…
• Atma Jnanam phalam Number 1 i.e. jivanmuk9 is discussed
• Atma jnanam phalam Number 2 i.e videhamuk9 is discussed
Four huge topics have been encapsulated in this one small mantra. The teacher himself feels that full
grasping may elude the student and so he clarifies the same thing again.
The teacher himself elaborates this idea in the following verses…

3. The eye does not go out on its own, nor the speech or the mind. We do not know the Awareness
behind them. We do not know how anyone can teach it.
Here in this mantra the teacher confesses that revealing this Atma is almost an impossible task. Any
subject under the sun can be taught-‐ Perhaps by using Slideshow, or by having laboratories to conduct
experiments, or perhaps for studying microbes you can have a microscope. Somehow or other
everything in crea9on can be communicated. But Atma is one thing which is almost impossible to
communicate. The teacher does not want to say impossible, because he cannot conduct the next class
otherwise. ☺ He has to wind up the teaching.
And therefore he says that it is an extremely difficult task. Why is the task difficult? We have already
discussed this previously-‐ Un9l coming to Vedanta, we have dealt with objec9ve sciences. In the case of
all objec9ve sciences you listen and form a concept of what is being taught. And later you test or directly
experience the concept. For e.g. in chemistry they will first talk about an experiment; you take down
notes and you are told about what precipitate will be formed when some acid is used with Hydrogen-‐
Sulphide gas. Aher reading all of this, you perform the experiment in the lab and you get the result. This
is the case with any knowledge-‐ be it Atoms, or Stars or even Human Emo9ons. Human emo9ons can be
studied only because they can be objec9fied. Your emo9ons are objec9fiable for you. Thus we have
developed the objec9fica9on orienta9on and with this orienta9on we come to Vedanta. Here the
teacher talks about Atma and Brahman. And the student forms a concept; He asks how does it look or
what colour it is etc. And the teacher will say that it is Avaranam (colourless) and the student will
conclude that it is a colorless object. And then teacher will also say it is ashabdam (soundless),
asparsham(no touch), agandham(no smell), arupam (formless), arasam(tasteless). As and when some
details of descrip9on are given out, the student will adjust his mind to try and conceive of it. The nearest
object that most students can conceive of is SPACE. And having conceived Atma as space, the student
tries to experience the Atma as Space through his Dhyanam or medita9on. These are all beau9ful
32
metaphors; and the metaphor in itself is not incorrect. But unless we are extremely careful, any word
that it used can confuse the student.
Suppose I negate all of these words. I say, “It is not this, not this etc.” The Poor Upanishad tries this
method also. You cannot believe in how many ways the poor Upanishads have tried to communicate!
And once I negate all the objec9ve concepts, the student comes to me at the end and says , “ Swamiji. I
understood! There is NO ATMA. It took me 15 years but now I have finally concluded that there is no
such thing; it is Shoonyam!” So he either he tends to objec9fy or he concludes that it is not there. The
teacher has to teach in such a way that the student must conclude that Atma exists and yet the student
must also not objec9fy it. He has to accept the Atma without trying to objec9fy it. This is a real task; a
challenge for every Vedanta teacher.
The therefore the teacher says here. Na Tatra Chakshu -‐ Eyes cannot capture that Atma. Eyes represent
all the Jnaneindriyas and teacher is poin9ng out this it is not accessible to the organs of knowledge
What about karmendriyas? Can I somehow catch hold of it…Na Vaak Gacha4. It is not accessible even
for words. This is important to understand. Every word has a corresponding concept behind it. We have
associated the concept with the word only through an objec9ve experience. How does any word
communicate to you? How does the word “clock” communicate to you? How does the knowledge arise
in your mind? At some point of 9me you have seen a Clock and someone has introduced that object to
you as “Clock”. And you connect the word with the object. So we see that every word is known only by
experiencing a corresponding object and therefore every word is an objec9ve concept alone. Whatever
words are used, you will either conceptualize an object outside or an object inside. Atma is neither an
object outside not a concept inside. Atma is YOU who is aware of the external objects and internal
concepts. Therefore words cannot also objec9fy it. Also here Vaak represents all the karmendriyas and
hence ATMA is karmendriya agocharam. (inaccessible)
Hmm, What about the Mind? The Mind is a very powerful organ; it can objec9fy things which
Jnanedriyas and Karmendriyas cannot reach. For e.g. the mind can perceive LOVE. Is Love visible? No.
Love is Jnanendriya agocharam. What about love being accessible to karmendriyas? NO, Love is not a
karmendriya vishayam also. But s9ll love is knowable within the field of your mind.
What about ATMA. No, it is not accessible even to your MIND. NO MANAHA. The mind cannot objec9fy.
Any mental experience is an object of the mind and hence has nothing to do with Atma. Therefore No
Manaha.
And finally the teacher drops a Bombshell on the student. NA Vidmaha. “Oh Student, I don’t know the
Atma”. The student says, ‘ Teacher, You should have told me this before! Aher such a long 9me, you are
finally telling me that you don’t know the Atma’. The teacher says, ‘Not only do I not know, Also yatha
anushisyaat na vijaanima…I do not know ANYONE who can communicate the Atma. I am not referring
to me alone; No Guru can communicate the Atma”. By now the student must be frustrated and must be
gelng up to leave! ☺
Then the teacher says, ‘ This is the truth. But even the uncommunicable Atma has somehow been
communicated by the scriptures which has been coming down in the form of a Parampara. And that it
can somehow communicated has been proved by my guru communica9ng it to me. My guru used a
peculiar method and he managed to communicate the Atma to me. And when I asked my guru about
this method, he told me,”Hey student, do not give me the credit. I am able to communicate because of
MY OWN guru”’. And His guru…because of his own Guru! So where did it all start.
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Narayanam Padmabhuvam Vasishtam Shak4m cha tat putra etc (Names of Gurus star.ng from the
Lord)
“The en9re Parampara up to my Guru is responsible for me gelng that knowledge. And not only did I
get the knowledge from them but I also got this method of communica9on. They have imparted that
method to me. And Oh Shishya, I will see whether that method works for you. I will try the same on
you.”
What is this method? It is given in the next mantra which we will see in the next class.
Purnamadah Purnamidam
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The Upanishad began with a ques9on from the student through which the student wanted to know
about that principle because of which all our inert organs are apparently sen9ent. The teacher could not
directly answer the ques9on. Therefore he indirectly answered it by indica9ng that the principle is the
Eye of the eye, Ear of the ear, Mind of the mind etc. We have seen the significance of this expression in
our last class. The expression Ear of the ear means -‐ That conscious which is different from the ear, which
pervades the ear and because of which the EAR can func9on as the ear. Since consciousness gives the
“Ear status” to the ear by lending sen9ence to it is called Ear of the ear. The “Earness” of the ear is
caused by the presence of consciousness. Hence consciousness is given the 9tle of “Ear of the ear”.
Similarly the teacher takes the case of the mind, eye etc. and explains that without Consciousness none
of these organs can func9on. This consciousness principle is the Atma. The teacher did not want to use
the word Consciousness directly-‐ if he uses the word the student will tend to objec9fy that
Consciousness. The student will start a fresh Sadhana to find consciousness. If the student searches for
consciousness outside or inside, he is going to fail miserably. Because consciousness is neither outside
nor inside the student-‐ IT is THE VERY Student himself. Therefore the teacher indirectly communicates
that the principle the student is looking for is consciousness which is nothing but him. Later the teacher
confesses, ‘I know I am using difficult methods. I can see that you are facing problems in understanding.
It is not a deliberate aèmpt on my part to trouble you. I have no other alterna9ve because
consciousness is a unique thing.’ What is its uniqueness-‐Na Tatra Chakshur Gacha' Na Vaag Gacha' –
We have seen that this means that Sense organs of knowledge or ac9on cannot objec9fy or grasp it. The
mind also cannot objec9fy it. Later the teacher drops a bombshell by saying, ‘I do not know that Atma-‐
Na Vidmaha. Since I do not know the Atma I cannot communicate it to you .I cannot communicate
something which is not known to me. And I am not referring to me alone, I wonder how any one will be
able to communicate. It is incommunicable.’ He makes a statement which can only give frustra9on to
student. The student has come with all op9mism but this Guru seems to be saying he does not know
Atma.
And when the student is frustrated and about to leave the lecture hall, the teacher makes a statement in
the next mantra which we will read now.
It is different from the known and above the unknown. Thus we have heard from the preceptors of
old who taught it to us.
So in the previous mantras the guru has pointed out that words cannot explain the Atma. Na vaag
Gacha'. It is verbally not communicable. S9ll there is a silver lining amidst the dark clouds. ‘ There is a
peculiar method of teaching by which even the uncommunicable can be somehow communicated. That
methodology of communica9on is not my copy-‐right. I got this method from my Acharya. And My
Acharya got it from his Acharya .Evam parapara pramptam-‐There is a tradi9onal method of
communica9on.This is called Sampradaya.’ Sampradaya literally means the handing-‐over method
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sampradeeyate anena it sampradaaya-‐ The method of handing over the knowledge to the student.
Therefore look at the second line of this mantra.
I' shushruma purveshaam -‐ I have heard this from my “forefathers” or “Previous Gurus.
And what is said about that Guru -‐Ye nah tad vyacah chakshire -‐That person successfully communicated
that knowledge to us.
Why does this par9cular Guru say that his teacher successfully communicated this knowledge? Because
our Guru was once a student and acquired this knowledge from his own Guru. The Guru says, “I got the
knowledge from my teacher and I can try on you. Whether it works or not depends on your Punya and
my Punya ☺ . But I can certainly try this method on you!”
As an aside, there is one peculiar scolding in Tamil. In order to call a person a Fool we say -‐ Person who
does not have a guru! So even in the scolding, there is Vedanta hidden though people do not realize it;
the scolding indicates that without a guru you cannot get this knowledge and will remain a Fool.
The Guru says, ‘I will give you that par9cular teaching. Listen carefully, Tad Viditaat Anyatevaa atho
avidaat adhi -‐It is different from the known and above the unknown’.
This is a Key Vedanta teaching-‐ A very important sentence. This statement is one of the key statements
of the Kena Upanishad. All the statements coming later are a development of this statement. What does
this mean?
Atma is other than the known -‐Is the first part of the defini9on. So aher listening to this part of the
defini9on of Atma, you have to negate everything that you know. Everything in crea9on comes under
what you know. If I know a Star, it is known and hence not Atma. The Sun is known, the Earth is known.
The En9re Crea9on comes under Viditam or Known and the teacher says that the Atma is something
other than known. So we have negated the en9re World. What about the physical Body-‐Even the
physical body comes under something that is known to me. In fact it is known more in9mately than the
external world. I know every physical condi9on in the body. Therefore body also comes under Viditam.
Atma is other than the known-‐ Viditaat Anya. So Atma is other than the body. What about the mind?
The Mind is s9ll more in9mately known to me. Therefore Atma is something other than the known mind
also.
What will our mind do when it hears this statement? Once the teacher says that Atma is other than the
known our mind will jump to the opposite end and conclude that Atma is Unknown-‐ This is called
dichotomous thinking. If Atma is not known it should come under UNKNOWN category. So the teacher
quickly adds, “Please do not be in a hurry. Please listen to the full defini9on. Aviditaat Adhi-‐Adhi means
Anyat or ‘Other Than’. Atma is something other than unknown also. It is neither known not unknown.”
What is the significance of this expression? Whenever we say that something is unknown, we only mean
that this par9cular thing is Not known at present but is knowable. It is like this. Suppose I ask you to give
me a list of all things that you have not eaten. Everything you enumerate will be Eatable alone. Will you
put ‘Music’ in that list? No! And why you don’t put music. Because music is not Eatable. Anything in the
“Not Eaten” list will be Eatable only! Again suppose, I ask you to list what you have not Read. Your list
will be “Readables” alone. Readables alone can come in unread category.
So what is Not-‐known for most people? What is “knowable” alone can come in the unknown category.
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By saying that Atma is other than the unknown also, the teacher is saying that it does not come under
Knowable category AT ALL! If it is knowable; you will say that it is at present Unknown, but it is knowable
and in due course of 9me it will become known. When I know it, Atma will move from Unknown to
Known etc.
By making this statement the teacher is telling the student that the Self is neither known nor knowable.
What will be the student’s conclusion? If something is neither known nor knowable then the student can
come to only one conclusion-‐ It must be Non-‐Existant. Only a non-‐exis9ng thing is neither known nor
knowable. But that conclusion is not allowed because the teacher has already said that ATMA exists in
the first mantra shrotrasya Shrotram etc. ATMA is not Non-‐Existant
So now from the Defini9on given by the teacher we have a puzzle: -‐ What is that thing which is existent
but which is not known and which is not knowable?
If you analyze this carefully, it can be only ONE THING. THE KNOWER-‐ “I-‐MYSELF”-‐ I alone can come
under the category of other than known or knowable. And I exist. ‘ The Knower’ cannot come under the
known category because any known thing is an object whereas the Knower is the Subject. Therefore
‘The Knower’ will never be known. Knower will not come under knowable; Knowables are also objects.
Knower is the only thing which is NEVER an object. Atma is the Knower principle. Atma is never an object
of knowledge, either in the past or in the present or in the future. The very aèmpt to know the Atma is
a mistake. It does not come under the object of knowledge. By his defini9on the teacher has pointed
out, Tat Twam Asi. That Brahman is nothing other than YOU the knower principle.
This is going to be elaborated in the later mantras.
5. That which cannot be expressed by speech but by which speech is expressed…know That alone to be
limitless Awareness and not that which people worship here
Now here the teacher explains the defini9ons given previously. Atma is never known and never
knowable. You MUST never aèmpt to know the ATMA. The very aèmpt itself is a mistake. And why is
this-‐ Because it is ever the knower principle
Analysis of Knower(Pramatha)-‐ Means of Knowledge(Pramanam)-‐ Object of Knowledge (Prameyam)
Triad
The Knower is called Pramatha in Sanskrit. The root prama means “to know”. Pramatha means the
knower. The instrument through which different things are known are called Pramanam-‐ means of
knowledge. The eyes are Pramanam, the ears are pramanam, the tongue is pramanam etc. You can
enhance the means of knowledge – For e.g to see you use a microscope or telescope etc. Even these
enhanced means of knowledge are s9ll called Pramanam . When a Pramatha uses a pramanam he
comes to know a variety of things. The things known (objects) are called Prameyam.
E.g. when you use your ears to hear a sound then “Sound” or Shabdha is the prameyam here.
When you use your hand to feel a touch, then ‘ Touch’ or Sparsha is a prameyam.
When you see, Rupa is a prameyam,
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When you smell,Gandha is a prameyam.
Whatever we discover in this world is called Prameyam. Scien9sts have been enquiring into the
microscopic world of atoms and the macroscopic world of stars. All of these come under Prameyams.
This Prameyam list is a very big list. However in this big list, there is one thing which will NEVER BE
Present-‐Can you guess?
What is THAT ONE THING which will never come under Prameyam list – HOWEVER powerful or
enhanced the Pramanam may be? IT IS THE Pramatha-‐ “I Myself”!
For e.g. I can use a microscope to see 9ny objects. However even through the most powerful
microscope, I cannot see my own eyes. Eyes – which come under the seer category in this example -‐are
on this side (observer-‐side) of the Pramanam. The Eyes can never come under the other side (observed
side) of the Pramanam and become the Pramatha. Only when the EYES comes on the other side of the
Pramanam, can it become a Prameyam. There is one thing that can never come on the other side of
Pramanam. That is THE SELF – The Pramatha.
You can extend this same example from Gross visual objects to subtle experiences also. Even here there
is the Triad of -‐ Experiencer, experiencing instrument and object of experience. If you make an
exhaus9ve list of experienced objects through various experiencing instruments, you will never find one
entry in that list-‐ That is the experiencer. If Brahman is the very experiencer, how can that Brahman be
ever experienced by anyone. Imagine a person who studies Upanishads for 25 years and sits in
medita9on and waits for the experience of Brahman-‐ will he ever get such an experience? He may get
some mysterious experience-‐ but that experience will come under Prameyam list only. Therefore
Pramatha can never be known through a Pramanam.
Now the ques9on will come in your minds, if Pramatha can never be known through a Pramanam what
is the proof for the existence of Pramatha? Or stated in other words, If Pramatha can never become
Prameyam what is the proof for the existence of Pramatha?
The answer given by the Upanishad is as follows-‐ Every knowledge of every Prameyam is possible ONLY
because of the Pramatha. Even though Pramatha is never known, everything is known only because of
the presence of Pramatha. Therefore Pramatha is evident in the knowledge of every object.
Let me give you an example. I cannot see my eyes at this moment. You agree? Have I got a mirror in front
of me to see my own eyes? No! Now suppose I get a doubt about whether I have eyes or not? What will
be your consola9on to me? What will you tell me? You will say that, ‘Swamiji, even though you don’t see
your own eyes, every visual percep9on that you have is a proof for the existence of eyes.’ I don’t require
a par9cular percep9on to prove that my eyes exist. Every percep9on is proof for my eyes. Similarly, I
don’t require a par9cular experience to know the Pramatha; in fact every experience is a proof for the
Pramatha. Prameyams keep on varying; the instruments or Pramanams keep on varying but the in and
through the varying Prameyams, in and through the varying Pramanams , one thing is evident -‐ The
presence of Pramatha.
Therefore the Upanishad says that Pramatha cannot be known. And at the same 9me, Pramatha need
not be known because it is ever evident.
That ever-‐evident knowing principle, that ever-‐evident experiencing principle is called Atma. In fact,
ATMA is the one that proves everything. And that which tries to prove everything need not be proved! It
has proved its existence in the very aèmpt of proving everything. Why should I prove the one who
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prooves everything? Here the teacher says that Pramatha is not known through the eyes. The eyes
themselves func9on because of Pramatha. The ears themselves func9on because of Pramatha. Similarly
Pramatha need not be experienced through the mind. The mind itself is experienced because of
Pramatha.
Thus, Self-‐Realiza.on is dropping the aeempt for self-‐realiza.on with the knowledge that self-‐
realiza.on is not required because the self is ever evident. Self-‐Realiza.on is dropping the desire for
self-‐realiza.on with the knowledge that self-‐need not be realized because it is ever evident in and
through every experience.
This is what is going to be said even ahead.
Yad Vacha Anabhudhitam It is never objec4fied by the speech. : -‐ If it is objec9fied through the Shadba
Pramanam, then Atma would have become a known object. It would have become a Prameyam of Vaag
(Speech) Pramanam. On the other hand it is said here, that -‐Yena Vaag abyudhyate. -‐ It is that because
of that which the very Speech is valid. These spectacles is valid as spectacles only when there is a
Pramatha. A Pramanam enjoys Pramanam status only because of the Pramatha. Because of the
Pramatha alone, vaag abyudhyate or the mouth is speaking. And the teacher concludes -‐ Tadeva
brahma vidhi. Oh student, you please understand that that knowing principle or knower principle alone
is called the Brahman.
Ok, here we have to make a note. I said earlier that the knower-‐principle is called the Atma or Brahman.
But for how long does the knower principle, the conscious principle, enjoy the status of ‘knower’? It
enjoys this status only as long as there is some object to be known. From the stand point of the
Prameyam, I am called the knower principle. Suppose I know something then I am called the “Knower”
or the Conscious knower principle. And suppose I stop the knowing opera9on? Suppose I close the eyes,
or I close the ears. In fact, let us suppose that I stop all the Pramanams. What will happen? Do I become
non-‐existant? I do not become non-‐existent. The knower principle drops the “knowerhood” status and it
will become the “knowledge or consciousness” principle. Therefore Pramatha in his original nature is
Consciousness. This Consciousness alone enjoys the Knower status when there is an object.
This is exactly like what I happening here. Here I enjoy the teacher status. Why? Solely Because of your
Grace!! ☺ The teacher enjoys the “teacherhood” because of the presence of the student. And when the
students are all gone; who is leh. The teacher minus the teacher hood.
Similarly, Atma has got two statuses. The intrinsic status is called Consciousness and the incidental status
is called Pramatha or Knower. Therefore, Atma is consciousness by itself and the very same Atma enjoys
the knower status during transac9on. In the waking state, I am a Knower of the waking world. In the
dream state, I am Knower of the dream world. In the sleep state, I am not a knower but I am pure
consciousness. If the world comes, I am called the knower of the world. If world goes, then I am the pure
consciousness principle. Therefore the teacher says, Tad Eva -‐that very consciousness which becomes
the knower with Pramanam and which is not a knower in the absence of Pramanam-‐ That very
consciousness alone is called Brahman. Tad eve brahma. This is a Maha-‐Vakyam (statement of great
import needing deep reflec9on).
(In fact Kena Upanishad is full of Maha-‐Vakyams or Statements for Deeper Reflec9on. The first mantra,
Shrotrasya Shrotram, is a Maha Vakya. The fourth mantra, Anya Deva tad viditaat, is also a Maha vakya.
And then 5, 6 7, are all Maha Vakyas. Here the teacher is revealing Brahman as the very Knower or the
Subject. Tadeve brahma tvam-‐you are that Brahman-‐i4 vidhi-‐may you know that.)
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You may ask here, ‘What about the God which I have been worshipping as the Ul9mate? I have been a
Shiva bhakta or I have been a Rama bhakta, Krishna bhakta etc. Are Krishna, Rama etc Brahman or not?
I have a counter ques9on for you: -‐ By Krishna, do you mean Krishna as on object of your experience? Or
do you mean Krishna as the very consciousness in you. If Krishna is a person in front of you, then that
Krishna will come under Viditam (Known). He will become a Prameya Vastu and the teacher has very
clearly said that Brahman is something other than known. Experienced Krishna is not Brahman;
experienced Rama is not Brahman n. You may doubt my words and so please listen to the Upanishad
Yad Idam Upasate. Tad na bramha…Whatever you have been worshipping now, that is not Brahman.
The Upanishad says WHATEVER you have been worshipping! So please do not ask me, is MY god
Brahman? Anything you have been worshipping is not Brahman. Brahman is the very Pramatha, the
consciousness principle. Therefore every Upasya devata is NOT the ul9mate reality. Then why should the
Upanishads or the Shastra introduce various Devatas. If these Gods are not the ul9mate truth then why
should the scriptures introduce various gods at all? The answer is-‐ These were introduced as a stepping
stone to Brahman. The various stepping stones are not the first floor of the Building, The staircase is not
the first floor-‐ But can you ask why do we need a stair case? Fool, the staircase may not be the first floor
but without a staircase you will not reach the first floor. All gods we worship are Mithya, but without
those gods you can never come to Satyam.
Therefore Krishna will become Satyam only when you understand Krishna as “ The Self or The
Pramatha”.Rama will be Satyam only on that day when you know that Rama is not different from Your
Self. This is true for any deity. Thus in the early stages of worship, Krishna is an object of knowledge.
However In the final stage, Krishna is the very Subject of knowledge. In the early stages of worship Rama
is an object of knowledge. In the final stage, Rama is the very Subject of knowledge. In the beginning
stage, bhak9 is called Dwaita bhak'. In the final stage bhak9 is Advaita Bhak'. In Advaita Bhak9 Alone
god is real; in all other Dwaita bhak9s God comes under non–real or Mithya only.
And who says this? Not me! You may doubt me! But the Upanishad itself says, Yad idam upasate,
whatever you are objec9fying -‐ It is not Brahman! Therefore in medita9on, you may extraordinary
visions-‐It is all very wonderful; instead of seeing Ghosts it is certainly beèr to see various dei9es in your
visions-‐ but always remember whatever Darshan (Vision) you have in your exalted medita9on (Some
people say that in their medita9on they are able to go to the Bhuvar loka, Suvar loka etc and they see
devatas coming) has nothing to do with the Ul9mate Reality. What is that Ul9mate Reality! It is Atma
Ok, so aher the whole class is finished someone is going to come to me and say, ‘Swamiji , When will I
see the Atma?’ I am going to take a coconut and break it on your head!!! ☺ ☺ ☺ Never ask this
ques9on-‐ When will I see the Atma! Fortunately or unfortunately, you are THAT ATMA.
Con9nuing….
6. That which cannot be known by the mind but by which the mind is known…know That alone to be
limitless Awareness and not that which people worship here.
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The teacher is applying the same logic to different Pramanams. You may change the Pramanam-‐As
discussed Pramanam is the instrument of knowledge or instrument of experience. You can make the
Pramanams more powerful. But even the most powerful instrument cannot objec9fy Brahman, because
Brahman is not on the other side (observed side) of pramana. If it is on the other side, it will be called
Prameya. It is on this side (observer side) and it is called Pramatha or Knower
To convey this Swami Chinmayananda would give a very nice example. Suppose a person was using a
torch light in a dark room and he found that the light was very powerful. The person wanted to know
what Baèry was used in the torch due it which it gave such a powerful light. He removed the baèry
and put it in front of the light bulb. ☺ Can you guess what happened? There was no light and so he
could not see the baèry! So this person quickly inserted the baèry back into the original slot. Now, the
Torch was lit but there was no baèry in front of the Bulb! He tried this opera9on many 9mes and with
great speed. Aher all, he wants to see the baèry!!! Do you think he would succeed? ☺
No Maèr HOW quickly he performs this opera9on, he is never going to see the Baèry? And Why-‐
Because Baèry is on this side of the light. It is because of the baèry that he is able to see the light.
Similarly, you can never objec9fy yourself. You cannot objec9fy Brahman with your mind-‐ it is on the
other side like the baèry. It is because of the presence of Brahman that the mind is able to objec9fy!
7. That which cannot be seen by the eye but by which the eye is seen…know that alone to be limitless
Awareness and not that which people worship here.
8. That which cannot he heard by the ear but by which sounds are known…know that alone to be
limitless Awareness and not that which people worship here.
9. That which the breath cannot smell but by which the breath smells objects…know that alone to be
limitless Awareness (Brahman) and not that which people worship here.
All these mantras are similar. The teacher takes three more instruments-‐ eyes, ears and Pranas.
Shankaracharya in his commentary takes the word Prana to mean the “organ as smell”. So three
jnanedriyams are taken. Through all these sense organs Atma cannot become a Prameyam.
This remind me -‐ In the Lalitha Sahasranam (Thousand names of the Goddess) one of the names of
Lalitha is Aprameya. The line goes…
Aprameya Svaprakasha Mano Vachama Gochara (Refer Lalitha Sahasranama)
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If Lalitha is Aprameya (beyond objec9fica9on) then what form will she have? If she has a form with a
beau9ful sari and ornaments then She is Prameyaa! Aprameyam cannot be conceived by us, because we
are in the first standard of Vedan9k School. And so Lalitha is given a form or Vishnu is given a form. Even
in Vishnu Sahasranama the name Aprameya appears. Aprameya means never an object of knowledge.
But the Lalitha Sahasranam does not want us to conclude that SHE does not exist-‐ The next word
informs us that Lalitha does exists! The verse con9nues by saying, she is Swaprakasha! Lalitha is Ever-‐
evident.
Some people commit a mistake here. They conclude that since the mind or senses cannot objec9fy the
Self or Lalitha, one should stop all the func9ons of the Mind and the sense organs. They believe that
when one suspends all the sense percep9ons and thoughts and sits in Nirvikalpaka Samadhi , then Atma
will reveal itself. It has been states that Atma is beyond mind and senses -‐We hope to get the Atma
Jnanam by suspending these!
Swaprakasha means, it is evident ALL the 9me! When is Pramatha not evident? Even now from 6:30 pm
to 7:30 pm while I was speaking, every moment Consciousness was evident. You were conscious of the
sound that this Swami was making. Therefore going to Samadhi for self-‐realiza9on is a misconcep9on.
The Upanishad says that the Self is evident during Jagrat, during Swapna and during Sushup9. And if
there is a 4th state -‐then Atma is evident in Samadhi also! Please Note this carefully: -‐ We do not say that
Brahman is NOT evident in Samadhi. We only say that Samadhi is not required for Consciousness to be
evident. It is ever evident; this ever evident consciousness is that Atma that the Student asked for. With
this verse the first chapter is complete.
Purnamadah
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Of the 4 chapters of the Kena Upanishad, we have completed the first chapter in which the first phase of
teaching has been completed. The student wanted to know about the Atma from the teacher and the
teacher has revealed the Atma. The teacher pointed out that Atma is neither a known object nor an
unknown object; in fact Atma is not an object at all. In Sanskrit we say that it is not a Prameyam at all
which can be revealed through a Pramanam. If Atma is not an object and it s9ll exists then there is only
one way that the Atma can exist. It has to be the very subject itself. Therefore the main revela9on of the
first chapter is that Atma is ever the subject and never an object.
• Atma is ever the seer, never the seen.
• Atma is Ever the knower, never the known.
• Atma is Ever the experiencer, never the experienced.
• Atma is nothing but the very Pramatha itself and never a Prameyam.
This is the first stage of understanding. Atma is Pramatha.
And thereaher, we have to go one more step further. Pramatha enjoy the status of Pramatha only in
rela9on to Prameyam. Subject enjoys the status of subject only in rela9on to objects. Therefore the
subject-‐status of the subject is also an incidental status. The intrinsic nature of Pramatha is nothing but
the Consciousness. Therefore we say that Atma is the content of the Pramatha; Atma is the content of
the “Knower”. The content of the “knower” is consciousness. This consciousness is called Atma with
reference to itself. And when there is an object of knowledge in front of it then from the stand point of
that object, Consciousness get elated to the status of the Knower. In the presence of objects, Atma is the
subject. From its own standpoint Atma is neither the subject not the object.
So we have to understand this teaching in three Stages.

• First we say Atma is not the object but it is the Very Subject.
• Then we say Atma is not the subject also but it is the very content of the subject.
• And what is that content? The consciousness principle.
And the teacher said this consciousness is the Atma or this Consciousness is also called Brahman. And
whatever has been taught with regard to Atma, the same should be extended with regard to Brahman
also.
• Brahman is never the experienced, it is the experiencer
• Brahman is never seen, it is the seer
• Brahman is never known, it is ever the knower.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says never aèmpt to experience Brahman. The basic mistake of every
seeker is aèmp9ng to experience Brahman. The moment you experience Brahman, it will come under
43
the “experienced” category. We have already said that Brahman is never experienced but it is the
experiencer. Brahman is not a maèr for experience. Brahman is a maèr for owning up as “AHAM
Brahma Asmi” or I am Brahman.
How do you own this up? You do it as below:-‐
• First you say, “I-‐The Knower”-‐am Brahman.
• Further you progress and say-‐“I -‐the Consciousness” am Brahman. I need not work for the
experience of Brahman since Brahman is experienced all the 9me as Consciousness.
If someone asks you, ‘When is Consciousness experienced by you?’, you should not answer this
ques9on. You should ask a counter ques9on instead-‐ ‘When is Brahman NOT experienced?’ It is
experienced at every moment. Every word of mine you are aware of because of Consciousness.
Therefore Brahman in the form of consciousness is always available. That Brahma Chaitanya I
am-‐ I am the Atma who is blessing the body and the sense organs. I am Shrotrasya shtrotram ,
manaso manaha, etc. This is the first phase of Vedan9k teaching.
Having taught this much the teacher wants to know whether the student has grasped the teaching.
Therefore the second chapter begins with the teacher tes9ng the student and the student passing the
test with flying colors
1. The teacher said: If you think you know Awareness well, then you only know a small por4on of its
limitless form. Therefore Brahman, limitless Awareness, is worthy of inquiry. The student said, “ I know
Brahman”
In this mantra, the first mantra of the second chapter, the teacher is tes9ng the student by giving him a
challenge. This is called the Mananam part of the teaching. The Vedan9k teaching has to go through
different stages.
• The first stage is Shravanam -‐ which is passive listening and trying to grasp what the teacher is
trying to convey. Even if you have any doubt while the teacher is conveying his message, you do
not ask the same during shravanam . You set aside all your doubts and your sole aim is trying to
understand what the teacher has to say.
• Having received the knowledge from the teacher in the Shravanam Stage, I should ask my own
intellect if I accept what the teacher has to communicate. Am I convinced about the teacher’s
communica9on? If I am not convinced, I can raise any number of ques9ons. Either I find the
answer within myself or I find the answer from my co-‐students via discussions or I go back to the
teacher and clarify. This is called Mananam. Vedanta is a maèr for knowing. As I have said, the
only subject maèr of Vedanta is Brahman. Brahman is already experienced by ME and I don’t
require any separate “experience” of Brahman. I experience Brahman all the 9me in the form of
Cosnsciousness-‐ Chaitanya Rupena or Chit Rupena. Therefore my effort is not in the field of
44
experience. My whole effort is in the field of Understanding Clearly or knowing clearly. Once
knowledge is my problem, then I have to use my intellect. I will Ques9on every statement un9l I
am thoroughly convinced. And this process of removing intellectual blocks is called Mananam.
The second Chapter of Kena Upanishad is the Manana Chapter. The first Chapter is called the Shravana
Chapter.
The teacher is tes9ng the student. “Oh Student, Have you now known Brahman now? I have taught the
en9re first chapter to you, I have taken so much pains for your sake. Now can you tell me whether you
Know Brahman?”
The student is in deep trouble! What can the student answer? Either way he will be trapped! If he says-‐“I
know Brahman”-‐Brahman will come under “Known” Category. If he says, “I don’t know Brahman”-‐
Brahman will come under “Unknown” Category. And in the first chapter Brahman has already been
defined as something other than “Known” and “Unknown”.
I hope all of you remember that sentence? It is a very important sentence in the en9re Vedan9k
literature. Anyateva Tat Vidhitaat Atho Avidaat Adhi. (Verse 4, Chapter 1)
Therefore the student cannot say, I know. The student cannot say -‐I don’t know. The student cannot keep
silent also. It will be construed as arrogance-‐ When the teacher is asking him a ques9on the student
cannot sit silent. He has to say something.
Thus we see that a mischievous ques9on is raised by the teacher. ☺ The student is going to be equally
mischievous. ☺ He gives an equally mischievous answer; thereby indirectly communica9ng, ‘Oh teacher,
you have communicated to me successfully’. This is the second por9on of the Upanishad
Three and a half lines of this first mantra-‐ Upto Mimansyemeva Te in the fourth line is Guru Uvacha or
spoken by the teacher . Then the final por9on i.e Manye Viditam (I KNOW) is Shishya Uvacha i.e spoken
by the student. Later the Shisya will clarify what he means by ‘I KNOW’ in the next Mantra.
Let us look at what the teacher say? Suveda is a VERB meaning ‘KNOW WELL’. The prefix Su indicates
‘Well’ or ‘Good’. The subject is hidden in this sentence and we have to supply it. This line should be read
as ‘Aham Brahma Suveda’ -‐ it should be read within quotes as ‘I Know Brahman Well’. I' Manyase Yadi –
i.e suppose you conclude.
“Oh Student, aher listening to the first chapter, suppose you conclude, ‘I know Brahman Well’
This mistake has been commièd by any number of students. I have told you about a book that I read
wherein somebody writes his auto-‐biography in which his “Experiences of Brahman” are brilliantly
wrièn! The en9re book is in Black ink. But the por9ons where he talks about his “Brahman Experience”
are all Red-‐leèred – He wants to say that it was a red-‐leèr Day in his life! And he says,’ I was silng
quietly in the morning. It was 4:27 AM. I was silng by the Window Sill. Then gradually I forgot the
surroundings-‐Consciousness of the surroundings was completely lost. And aher some9me SOMETHING
TOOK OVER!!! And a MILKY White Flash of Light gradually started engulfing ME. It approached me! And
it went around the Guru’s picture thrice! And went AWAY.’ He writes that -‐This was Brahman!! ☺
Do you understand what the mistake here is? This person has got some experience-‐We are not
ques9oning the validity of the experience. It is a mysterious one; normally we do not see such things-‐
We see only GHOSTS and Vampires, because that is what we think about! This person certainly is seeing
45
something extraordinary. It need not be Bluff. It may be a FACT. But what we want to say is this -‐Tadeva
Brahma Tad Vidhi Na Idam Yadidam Upasate i.e What appears and disappears for you comes under an
object of experience. And it came in front of you-‐ therefore it was Time Bound. And it went away also!
Vedan9c revela9on defines Brahman as THAT consciousness which was present before the Milky Light
came THAT consciousness was there while the Milky Light was there, and THAT Consciousness that
con9nued even aker the Milky Light leh. We are talking about the “witnessing Consciousness”, but the
person is carried away by the experiences – ordinary or extraordinary. And the experiences will s9ck! The
teacher expects EVERY STUDENT to COMMIT THIS MISTAKE. This is one Mistake WE ALL HAVE TO
COMMIT and grow out of!
And therefore the teacher says, “Suppose you had Some Such Great Experience and aherwards you
conclude, ‘NOW, I know Brahman’ then my response to you will be-‐Daharamevapi Nunam Tvam Vedha
YOU KNOW Very li`le of my teaching! You have not listened to my words carefully. I am showing you the
light which illumines the Mike and because of my finger poin9ng in that par9cular direc9on, you have
paid aèn9on to the Mike and not the light (It is like a finger poin9ng to the moon; do not look at the
finger! ☺ ). I was poin9ng to the LIGHT which exists before the Mike, which exists during the presence
of the Mike and which will con9nue to exist akerwards as Well.
Similarly I am talking about the Consciousness in the MIND. You are thinking about the Arriving and
Depar9ng Mental Phenomena. While I am talking about the NON-‐Arriving, Non-‐Depar9ng Consciousness
in the Mind, you are carried away by the Arriving and Depar9ng experiences in the mind. Therefore you
have not understood.
The teacher says, Asya Brahmana Rupam Manushyeshu (we have to add this word Manusheyu to the
sentence) you do not know the nature of Brahman, present in the Human beings.
Manushyeshu Asya Brahmanaha Rupam Yat Upalabhyate Tad Tvam Na Vedha – You do not know the
Nature of Brahman present in Manushya – Manushya represent Adhyatmika Upadhi or the Micro Upadhi
or Microcosm
Deveshu-‐ Nor do you know the Nature of Brahman Present in Devas (Adhi Davika Upadhi-‐ the Macro
Upadhi or Macrocosm)
Oh Student, You do not know the nature of Consciousness in the Individual or the Total. In short, if you
feel that you know then you do not know anything!!!
What should the student do if the teacher tells him this? ☺
Don’t get disappointed. Do not develop any inferiority complex. But don’t hold on to your wrong
conclusions. In fact the biggest tragedy that can happen for a Vedan9k student is for him to say,”I have
gathered Data about Brahman from the Upanishads. Now what is remaining for me is that, in my
medita9on the Brahman of the Upanishadic descrip9on will come one day. He will grace me! He will give
me a Darshan and tell me that I am pleased with your devo9on. And He will touch my head and bless
me!” Most of the people commit this mistake-‐they feel that scriptural study is a data-‐collec9on process.
They hope that one-‐day the Brahman of the above descrip9on will come and give them Darshan.
And they stop the scriptural Study and Start intense medita9on. One hour medita9on; Brahman does
not come. Therefore I must Increase the Dura9on…Make it two hours. Or perhaps I must make it four
hours. Some people even stop sleeping. They sit through the night in medita9on. And what is the benefit
of Medita9on-‐ HEADACHE!
46
You are looking for something which is never going to COME AT ALL. That Brahman happens to be YOU
WHO IS LOOKING. Doing Medita9on, looking for the arrival of Brahman is the biggest pitall most of the
people get into. Therefore the teacher tells the student, Mimansyameva Te. Don’t make such a
conclusion. Please inquire into your Understanding. Mimansa – Means Vichaar or Inquiry. Mimamsa
comes from ‘Man’-‐ Dhatu and means to analyze or to Inquire. Mimansyam – Poten9al Passive Par9ciple
form of Man-‐ Has to be enquired.
So the verse upto this part of the first verse is the challenge thrown by the Teacher.
Now the Student aher listening to this ques9on-‐ “Do you Know Brahman” responds i.e Shishya Uvacha.
Shankaracharya in his commentary says -‐The Shishya ROARED LIKE A LION. Why should he roar? -‐
Because his understanding what SO Clear. He was an UWama Adhikari. The first chapter is for UWama
Adhikaris. The second chapter is for Madhayama Adhikaris. The Third Chapter is for Manda Adhikaris.
The student being an UWama Adhikara i.e. well qualified roars like a lion and says, “Manye Viditam -‐I
KNOW Brahman! It is very clear to me! I consider that I KNOW Brahman.”
But we have seen that if the student says, I know Brahman, it is a wrong statement. Brahman becomes
‘Known’ and Brahman is something other than the ‘Known’. The teacher must have raised his eyebrows.
You have to imagine the scene! And therefore the student himself clarifies his understanding in the next
verse. The next mantra is a commentary on Manye Viditam (‘I know’-‐ last part of the first verse) uèred
by the student
The Shishya Con9nues the Mantra

2. The disciple said: I think I know Awareness. (Last part of previous verse). I don't think I know It well,
but I don't think I don't know It either. The one who says, ‘neither do I know nor do I not know It,
knows It.
So the student clarifies the statement. “I know Brahman” that he made in the first verse. This involves a
mistake-‐Brahman becomes an object of knowledge. Therefore the student himself clarifies by giving a
Second Statement.
And the student’s next statement is, “Not that I know Brahman”.
“Oh does this mean that you don’t know?” Because, if the student says I don’t know Brahman, it will
come under ‘UNKNOWN’.
The student says, “Not that I DON’T Know Brahman.” And the teacher will again raise his eyebrow.
(Imagine this scenen – ‘OH! So you don’t know Brahman.’ ‘I know!’ ‘Oh, so you know?’ ‘I don’t know!’ ☺
)
We have seen that the student makes these statement:-‐

• I know Brahman,
• Not that I don’t know Brahman,
• I know, I don’t know!
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What is the essence of this statement? Brahman does not come under ‘Known’ category or ‘Unknown’
category. Brahman is not an object at all. And since Brahman is never an object, you should never use a
transi.ve VERB with regard to Brahman.
DO you remember transi9ve verb and intransi9ve verb which we studied in school? What is a transi9ve
verb? – A verb which has got an object is called a transi9ve Verb. When you say, I EAT, it is a transi9ve
verb because it has an object implied i.e. I eat a mango or apple etc. When you say, I Smell, an object is
implied.
Suppose you say, I “smiled”-‐ What is the Object here? There is none and such verbs are called
Intransi9ve verbs. With regard to Brahman, NEVER use a transi9ve VERB because if you use any
transi9ve verb, Brahman will become an Object.
If you say, I experience Brahman then Brahman will become an Object of the transi9ve verb
“experience”.
If you say, I know Brahman then Brahman will become an Object of the transi9ve verb “know”.
Similarly -‐ I meet Brahman, I see Brahman, I touch Brahman, I merge into Brahman-‐ people want to
merge into Brahman! – All these verbs are transi9ve verbs. You can use ONLY one verb with regard to
Brahman. What is that? I “AM” Brahman. Therefore the student wants to say, “Oh teacher, don’t put
such inconvenient ques9ons. If you put an inconvenient ques9ons my answer will be an inconvenient
answer. I am going to reply like this -‐I know Brahman, Not that I Know Brahman. Not that I don’t know
Brahman Know I don’t know’.
Brahma Suveda I' Na Manye – I don’t consider that I know Brahman Well
Na Veda I' No Manye – I don’t consider that I don’t know Brahman
Veda-‐ I know. Here you have to add (Na Veda) -‐ I don’t know
The commentator says here that the student is confident that he has understood Vedanta correctly. He
looks around to see what the response of other students are. Some of the other students may have been
silng there and observing this interac9on. A few of them appreciated our student -‐ Shabash!Well
Answered!!! And a few others kept Blinking -‐What is all this! ‘Not that I know; Not that I don’t know! I
know I don’t know’-‐ It all sounds crazy. Why is this person quibbling with words?
(People say, Vedanta is looking for a Black Cat in a Dark Room where it is not there. It looks as though
they are quibbling with words. ☺)
And here out student makes a comment that, ‘Among other students, whoever has understood my
statement, those students also have understood or have grasped Vedanta!’ Look at his confidence! That
is Why Shankara used the word Garja (He ROARS). ‘Among the other students whoever has grasped my
answer, all those students have grasped the Vedan9c teaching.’
Let us look at what he says,
Yo Na Tad Veda tad Veda-‐ Which ever student has grasped my statement, Saha Veha – He has
understood Brahman. And what is my Statement-‐ the Student reminds them of HIS statement once again
No Na Veda Vedacha – You should Read this within quota9on. This statement of mine -‐ No Na Veda
Vedacha -‐ Whoever has understood, they have grasped Brahman.
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(Ok, I know that we should not say ‘Grasped’ here ☺ .Why-‐ Grasping is also a Transi9ve Verb. What we
mean is that we have grasped the fact that Brahman Cannot be grasped. The un-‐graspability of Brahman
has been grasped)
3. The one who doesn't know It, knows It: the one who knows It, knows It not..
With the previous mantra the students answer is complete. The teacher is sa9sfied. You have to imagine
so many things here-‐ the Upanishad does not say all this. The teacher says, ‘Wonderful, Shabash. You are
my dear student. Our communica9on has fruc9fied. Now you are free.’ Then you have to imagine that
the student has Leh. Not only this par9cular student, but along with him, all the other students who
understood his answer have also leh.
Some of our students are s9ll silng there-‐ it seems like nothing got started at all! And people have
already LEFT! The teacher is saying it is all over. These other students are s9ll wondering what is going
on.
However here, in between, the Upanishad wants to come and glorify this teaching. It wants to glorify
this wonderful communica9on that took place between the teacher and student. The following verses
i.e. 3,4 and 5 are the Upanishadic glorifica9on of the teaching. How does Upanishad Glorify this
teaching. It says
Brahman is NEVER known to a person who says Brahman is KNOWN by me. Brahman is NEVER known to
a person, for whom Brahman is ‘KNOWN’. Known -‐> Object. Known is the past par9ciple; past par9ciple
always refers to the object. The Upanishad says,
Yasya Amatam Tasya Matam – One who says “Brahman is Known’ (matam – known), for him Brahman is
not known at all.
The same thing can be seen in another way also.
Yasya Amatam-‐ Yasya Purushasya Brahma Amatam -‐ For that person for whom Brahman is not an
Object of Knowledge.( A-‐Matam – Not an Object of Knowledge); Tasya Matam-‐ For that alone person
Brahman is known.
Yasya Matam Saha Na Veda – For that person for whom Brahman is an Object of Knowledge Saha Na
Veda-‐ he does not know.
Further the Upanishad says, Avijnaatam Vijaanataam. Vijnaatam Avijaanatam. The Upanishad is
enjoying this play of words; this quibbling!! It says for the KNOWERS of Brahman, Brahman is not known-‐
you have to understand this to mean that it is not an Object of knowledge. For the Non-‐ KNOWERS it is
Brahman, it is Known-‐ For these non-‐knowing people Brahman becomes mistaken as an object of
knowledge
Ignorant people consider It is Known. Wise People never consider it is known. The essence of ALL this is
simple– Brahman is the KNOWER. Or to be More precise the very content of the Knower; the
Consciousness Principle.
Further….
49

4. To say you know it you must know it in every state of mind. To know it is to realize that you are
immortal. By virtue of Awareness one gains life but one gains immortality by knowing It .
A very important Mantra in the en9re Vedan9k Literature. And especially the FIRST Line.
Pra'Bodha Viditam Matam – We said that one should not work for the experience of Brahman. What is
the reason? Not because Brahman experience is ‘NOT REQUIRED’ or Brahman experience is ‘NOT
POSSIBLE’. We say one should not work for Brahman experience because the required Brahman
experience is ALWAYS available for everyone. One need not work for Brahma Anubhava because,
Bramha Anubhava is the only thing which is all the 9me present for all the people. Why? Because
Brahman happens to be the Chaitanyam which is self-‐evidently experienced by all the people all the
9me.
When you listen to me speaking you are experiencing two things simultaneously; one is the sentence
and the second thing is the awareness that “I am conscious of this sentence”. So when you are conscious
of the sentence two things are evident-‐ the sentence is evident and also the consciousness is also
evident. When the Second sentence comes from my mouth, the first sentence goes away but what
remains? Consciousness is there when you experience the second sentence. Consciousness is there
when you experience the third sentence or fourth sentence. Experiences come and experiences go – the
one thing which never comes and goes is the consciousness because of which I am aware of the arriving
and depar9ng experiences. In the waking state we have waking 9me, waking space and waking objects.
Consciousness is also present. The en9re Waking state goes away when we sleep.
Dream 9me, Dream Space, Dream Objects arise-‐ But what con9nues? The same consciousness con9nues
which is evident in an through the dream experiences is present here.
And do you know the greatest wonder! IN SLEEP even when NO experience is there is s9ll SOMETHING
present! What do you know during sleep? You know that there is ABSENCE OF EXPERIENCES; but to talk
about the absence of Experiences you require the same consciousness.
Again Consciousness -‐> illuminess the absence of experiences in sleep. So never ask when Consciousness
is eveident; the ques9on should be When is Consciousness NOT evident! It is always evident.
jAgrat svapna suShup'Shu sphuTatarA yA samvid ujjRimbhate
yA brahmAdi pipIlikAntatanuShu protA jagatsAkShiNI |
saivAham na ca dRishyavastvi' dRiDhaprajnApi yasyAs' cet
cANDAlo’stu sa tu dvijo’stu gururityeShA manIShA mama ||1||
Shankaracharya in his first line if Manisha Panchakam says Consciousness is one thing for whose
evidence you need not work for any9me. Everything else becomes evident because of Consciousness.
And this Consciousness being Brahman, Brahman is evident in ALL the three Avasthas (states). And
therefore there is no 9me when Brahman is not evident. Therefore for Brahma Anubhava nobody
NEEDs to do any work.
Then what are we studying scriptures for?
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The study of scriptures is NOT for Brahma Anubhava. But the study of Scriptures is for Knowing that this
SELF-‐EVIDENT consciousness IS Brahman!!
In the case of Brahman, Anubhava is First. Jnanam is Later.
In all other cases, you KNOW something first and experience it later.
• You know Badrinath first and you experience Badrinath later.
• You know Rasagulla first and you experience it later.
• The normal order is Jnanam first and aher that Anubhava.
But in our case Brahman, Anubhava is always there but our problem is that we don’t know that this ever
experiences consciousness is Brahman-‐ because nobody has introduced that fact to me.
This is like the example that Swami Dayanandaji usually gives. Dayananda Swamiji was flying to Delhi.
Somebody was silng next to Swamiji and was talking to Swamiji all the 9me. Aher some9me this person
asked Swamiji where he was going. Swamiji said, ‘I am going to Rishikesh’. The person said that he too
was going to Rishikesh and he wanted to meet a par9cular Swami. He asked Swamiji if Swamiji knew that
person. Swamiji said, ‘Give me the name and address and I will try to find out’. And this person gives an
address which says “Swami Dayananda Saraswa9”.
What was the problem of this person-‐ It was not the Experience of Swamiji. He had been experiencing
Swamiji all that 9me. But he did not know that the person whom he wanted to Experience in Rishikesh
was ALL the 9me right in front of him. If Swamiji had been in Rishikesh, the person would have to go to
Rishikesh and experience him. If Brahman is in Rishikesh or the Himalayas, then you have to Study and
wait un9l someone takes you there. Upanishad does not Describe Brahman. Upanishad introduces
Brahman as something that we in9mately experience. Upanishads are not words or descrip9on.
Upanishads are words of introduc9on. And what introduc9on does Upanishad give us-‐ That which is ever
experienced by you. That is Brahman. That is going to be brilliantly pointed out in this important Mantra
the detail of which we will take up in the next class.
Purna Madah
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To find out whether the student has grasped the teaching, the teacher asked a ques9on to the student.
‘Do you know Brahman now aher listening to my teaching?’ The student cannot answer this ques9on
directly because if he says, ‘I know Brahman’ then Brahman will become ‘Known’. And if he says I don’t
know Brahman, then Brahman will become ‘Unknown’. The teacher has clearly indicated previously that
Brahman cannot come under either of these categories -‐ ‘Known’ or ‘Unknown’. Therefore the student
also gives the answer in a peculiar form. He says, ‘I know Brahman. Truly speaking, I don’t consider I
know Brahman. Not that I don’t know Brahman. I know, I don’t know’. It appears to be a quibbling in
words but what the student wants to convey is, “I cannot answer the ques9on directly. I cannot say I
know. I cannot say I don’t know. And this is because I happen to be Brahman!” Brahman is neither
“known” nor “Unknown”; it happens to be the very knower -‐the Pramatha. Pramatha can never become
Prameyam. Knower can never become the known.
Having grasped this much, we have to go one step further. The knower is Brahman; but the Knower-‐
Status also is only from the standpoint of the objects. When there are NO object, the Knower remains
without the Status of being the knower. And Knower minus the knower-‐status is the very Consciousness.
And therefore Brahman is the content of the knower; Brahman is the very Consciousness which is the
content of the Knower. And therefore the ul9mate understanding is, I -‐Consciousness -‐AM Brahman.
Pragnyanam Brahma
I do not have a Knower Status intrinsically. When there is an object in front of me, then in the presence
of the Consciousness the object become known. And From the standpoint of the Known objects, I
temporarily enjoy the knower status. Minus the known objects, I remain without the Knower Status. And
that is the Pure Consciousness. Therefore the consciousness – I – AM Brahman. This is what the student
communicated.
The student later said, ‘Whoever has understood my statement, he also knows what Brahman is’. With
the first couple of Mantras, the student completes his statement and the dialogue is over. The Upanishad
comes and talks about the successful communica9on that has taken place. The Upanishad says the same
thing in its own language. The Upanishad says, ‘Whoever says I know Brahman, he does not KNOW
Brahman (Brahman is not an object of knowledge!). For whomever Brahman is not KNOWN, that person
knows Brahman.
Aher this the Upanishad talks a li`le bit more about the nature of Brahman. In this important Mantra
4. To say you know it you must know it in every state of mind. To know it is to realize that you are
immortal. By virtue of Awareness one gains life but one gains immortality by knowing It .
Pra'bodha Viditam Matam :-‐ This is a very important defini9on of Brahman. If we really understand this
defini9on, then Vedanta is clear. Otherwise Vedanta can be eternally confusing. So to understand this
52
you should know some basic things about the Words. Aher all Vedanta is teaching something through
words alone.
Words can be broadly classified into two types.

• One is the words of introduc9on-‐ Introducing something or someone.
• And the second type is words of descrip9on.
We should clearly know the difference between words of introduc9on and words of descrip9on.
Words of Introduc4on
Let us take the first case. A person is standing in front of me in the temple. The person comes over and
offers prostra9ons to me. He then gets up and stands in front of me. I am seeing this person all the 9me.
I am “experiencing” the person all the 9me. But I don’t know who this person is. One of my students
comes near me and tells me, ‘Swamiji, this person who is doing Namaskar is my uncle. He happens to be
the secretary of this temple. He is very happy to have you here in the temple.’ And my student proceeds
to give me some more informa9on about this person.
What type of words are these-‐ These are words of Introduc9on. These words of Introduc9on do not give
me any experience of this person. Words can NEVER give any experience. Words can give only
informa9on. These introductory words also do not give me any experience of the person. The
introductory words only give me informa9on about the person. But the peculiar thing is that once this
person is introduced to me, I don’t want to experience this person separately because the experience of
the person is ALREADY THERE even before the words of introduc9on. Even as he was doing the
Namaskar, I was experiencing his height and experiencing his complexion! So the Experience is already
there; what was lacking was informa9on about the already experienced person. And these words have
given me that informa9on. Only Words can give informa9on; eyes can only give the experience of the
person. Eyes can never give me the informa9on about the person. My eyes will never tell me that this
person is the secretary of the temple. This dis9nc9on must be clearly understood. My eyes give only
experience; no informa9on. Words give only informa9on; no experience. Therefore words give me the
knowledge; eyes give me the experience.
The experience was already acquired even before the Introduc9on was given. And when I get the
introduc9on, I have got the knowledge which was missing previously. So tell me-‐ Aher gelng the
knowledge, will I work for an experience of this person? The introduc9on is of an already experienced
and “being experienced” person. Once I get the knowledge the desire for experience drops off. The
words of introduc9on give me knowledge. And aher the gelng knowledge, I will never have desire for
experience. Why is there no desire for experience-‐Not because the words gave me experience. Words
did not give me experience. Words gave me only knowledge. But s9ll I don’t have a desire for experience
because the words were talking about a person who is already being experienced by me. To Summarize,
Words of introduc9on will not generate a desire for experience.
Words of Descrip4on
There are another set of words called the words of descrip9on. There is a descrip9on of Amarnath-‐
People tell me about the Shivalinga there which is so wonderful and they describe to me that it is made
53
of Ice. When somebody gives me the words of descrip9on. I get the knowledge of Amarnath Shivalinga.
Knowledge was not there because Shivalinga was not already experienced. If Shivalinga was experienced
it would have become words of Introduc9on. But in Madras when someone describes Amarnath
Shivalinga to me, it will be words of Descrip9on. As soon as I hear these words, a desire to experience
the Shivalinga is generated in my mind. Words of descrip9on will generate a desire for experience.
Words of introduc9on will not generate a desire for experience.
Brahman-‐ Introduced or Described
Now the ques9on we need to ask is what about the word “Consciousness”? Whenever there is a
descrip9on of consciousness is this a word of descrip9on or is this a word of introduc9on. There are
words in the scriptures dealing with Chaitanyam– Are these words of introduc9on or descrip9on.
Is Consciousness is already experienced or is Consciousness TO BE experienced by you? Consciousness
happens to be the only thing that is already experienced. In fact everything else is experienced only
because of the Self-‐Evident consciousness. Throughout the class, you are conscious of every word of
mine only because of Consciousness. You are conscious of this sentence. Then you are conscious of the
silence between two sentences. And you are conscious of the next sentence.
Consciousness is never absent. Consciousness comes under always experienced. Scripture calls it
SwayamPrakasha or Nityasiddha. So when the scriptures talk about Consciousness, are these words of
Introduc9on or are these words of descrip9on? -‐ It has to be necessarily words of introduc9on alone.
These words give me the knowledge of something that is experienced all the 9me. It is just like the
experience of the person in front of me at the temple. I need not get an experience since I see this fat or
thin fellow all the 9me standing in front of me. I only need knowledge. The scriptural words give us the
knowledge.
What kind of knowledge will the Scriptures give? Will it be a knowledge which generates a desire for
experience? If you have carefully listened to you will understand that The Guru is giving me the
knowledge of an ever experienced consciousness. The knowledge is an end in itself and it need not be
followed by an experience. If the words are descrip9ve words then it should be followed by experience.
Since these are introductory words, knowledge is the purpose of Guru’s communica9on. Informa9on is
the purpose of Guru’s communica9on. And informa9on or knowledge is enough. The words need not
give Experience, The Guru need not give experience, and You need not work for experience. Even before
Vedanta Class started Consciousness was always experienced.
Only knowledge is given by Shastra. What informa9on is given by Shastra-‐ Shastra says that the ever
experienced consciousness is Brahman. It is exactly like saying this experienced person in front of me is
the secretary of the temple.
I hope you remember what we mean by Brahman? It is an independent en9ty. Please recollect the
points we discussed earlier. What were they:-‐
• It is not part, property and product of the body.
• It is an independent en9ty which pervades and enlivens the body
• It is not limited by the body
• It con9nues to exist even aher the fall of the body
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This knowledge alone is given by scripture.
If there is some doubt in the knowledge then what should I do? Suppose this person says that he is the
secretary of the temple. But I have a doubt that I was introduced to somebody else as the secretary.
What should I do? Let us say I ask this person to sit in front of me and I stare at him; because I have a
doubt whether this person is secretary or not. I ask all the other people to go away out of the room. And
I ask this fellow to sit right in front of me. I stare at him. ☺
By experiencing him more and more the confusion regarding this person will not go away. What is
required is not more seeing. I have to inquire into his words and verify if they are correct. What is
required is more inquiry un9l my knowledge is clear.
More experience will not remove doubt. More inquiry alone will remove doubt. So Shastra has to give
knowledge and the knowledge should be doubtless. And if there are doubts what we require is NOT
experience. IF there are doubts what is required is more inquiry of Shastric words
So is you have a doubt you can inquire -‐ Can Consciousness really be independent as Shastra says? Can
Consciousness be all-‐pervading? Can it be eternal as stated?
What is required is more and more inquiry based on Shru'’s words. And therefore in this Mantra the
Upanishad says that Brahman has to be known as the ever experienced consciousness. Brahman has to
be known as the ever experienced consciousness; that knowledge alone is the right knowledge.
Upanishad says Pra'bodh Viditam Matam Brahman is never known through a par9cular experience. It is
discerned through every experience. Pra'Bodha means every experience. It is not a par9cular
experience in a par9cular state called Samadhi-‐ Savikalpa or Nirvikalpa. Brahman is to be understood as
the consciousness available in every experience.
Let us say, I have to see a par9cular person. And so I turn in this direc9on. And when I am turning in this
direc9on, I will get the experience of this person. It is a 9me bound experience. And suppose I turn in the
other direc9on, I will get a new experience of a new person. And when the new experience comes-‐ what
happens to the old person? That old person disappears. I recognize the person through a par9cular
experiences.
But when I have to recognize the light, which person should I choose? In fact I recognize the light not
through a par9cular person but I can recognize the light in and through the experience of every person.
When I am looking at you, I know that it is the Light because of which you are experienced. Even when I
look away in the other direc9on, the light is experienced. The experience of light is not in a par9cular
percep9on. The experience of light is in and through every percep9on.
Similarly the experience of consciousness is not in any par9cular experience. The experience of
consciousness is in and through every experience. Even when you don’t have any experience then also
you are experiencing Consciousness. Because of the consciousness alone you are able to say that -‐ I
don’t experience anything. And therefore how should you recognize Brahman. It is to be recognized as
the consciousness in and through every percep9on. Pra'Bodha Viditam Brahman. That Brahman alone is
Matam really know. If anybody says that I have got the descrip9on of Brahman through this study of
Vedanta and I am wai9ng for the experience of Brahman -‐What does it show? It means the teacher has
not communicated properly. As I said during Buddha Purnima, if at all you want any experience aher
knowledge; If at all you want any experience you can work for the experience of Jnana Phalam. Never
work for the experience of Brahman. Right knowledge is understanging that ‘Aher knowledge I won’t
55
work for the experience of Brahman. But I can work for the experience of Jnana Phalam.’ The Jnana
Phalam requires some Sadhana because between knowledge and the Phalam there are lot of obstacles
like habitual concep9ons etc. This Sadhana is called Nidhidhyasana sadhana about which we will discuss
later.
Remember that All the medita9ons prescribed in the scriptures AFTER Vedan9k study, are NOT for
Brahma Anubhava (experience of Brahman). All the medita9ons are for Jnana Phala Anubhava (to gain
the fruit of this knowledge). Our habitual problems like Deha Abhimana etc and the consequent anxiety,
security issues are all deeply ingrained. They have to go away. But this is not achieved by any other new
experience. This is done by applica9on of knowledge.
Amratatvam Vindhate. A person aàins immortality by knowing that the Consciousness is myself and
that Consciousness is Brahman. These are the two basic pieces of informa9on that Shastra gives
1. Consciousness is Myself
2. Consciousness is Brahman
What will happen when I understand this? My very vision changes. I am not a ‘Body with Consciousness’.
I am ‘Consciousness with the body’. This looks like a small change in language; but it is huge difference.
When I say, I am a body with Consciousness – This means that I am mortal. The body will go away and so
will I.
If I am Consciousness with the body-‐ then I am immortal.The body which is with me will have to go away.
But “I-‐Consciousness-‐AM immortal”. Therefore Amrutatvam hi vindhate. There is no more fear of death.
Whatever happens to the hand, light will not get affected at all. You can pour water on the hand, burn
the hand, or cut the hand…whatever you want to do. Even an Atom Bomb; cannot destroy the light.
Similarly I am the eternal consciousness.
To come to this knowledge what all things are required? Atamanaha Vindyate Veeryam. Atma here
means qualified mind or prepared mind.
Sadhana Chatushchaya Sampanna Antahkarna is called the Atma in this context. Not the Self. Mind is
called ATMA here.
Through the prepared mind -‐Veeryam. Veeryam means Jnana Yogyata. And once the mind is disciplined
what is the next stage. Vidyaya Vindate Amrutam Immortality is aWained through knowledge. Note the
words -‐Through knowledge. Upanishad does not say experience. Through knowledge which is born out
of the introductory words of the scripture Amrutam Vindhate One aàins immortality. One aàins
Moksha. To summarize the first stage is Jnana Yogyata Prap'hi and the second stage is Jnana Prap'.
Jnana Yogyata means gain eligibility for knowledge. Second stage is Jnana prap'. Eligibility is through
religion. Knowledge is through Vedanta. Veda Purva gives Jnana Yogyata. Vedanata Gives Jnanam. Thus
the en9re Veda is relevant for us. Some people require Jnana Yogayata. Why do they require Yogyata?
Because they are now, Ayogya. Ayogya should become Jnana Yogya. Jnana Yogya should be Jnaninaha.
Con9nuing the same
56

5. If a person knows the Self, eternal Awareness, the true goal of life is achieved. Suffering awaits
those who do not know. Knowing It the wise let go of worldly things and claim their deathless status.
The Upanishad says that many people have followed these two Sadhanas and aàined libera9on. It is
not a new Project or new Venture! It is a 9me tested wisdom.
That is given in the 3rd and 4th line. Dheeraha (or Jnana Yogyaha as we discussed) refers to those wise
people who have followed a religious life. En9re Karma Yoga is leading a Religious life. All the Upasanas
come under leading a Religious life. All types of Services that you do will come under leading a Religious
life. Everything that you do as prescribed in the scriptures, will not make you a Jnani, but will make you
Dheeraha. Dheeraha does not mean courageous here. Here it means the discrimina9ve one or the one
for whom priori9es in life are clear.
By Jnana yoga they aàin self knowledge. They discern. They get the discrimina9ve knowledge. And
what is the discrimina9ve knowledge.
• Previously I said I am the body with consciousness.
• The next stage is I am the Consciousness IN the Body. This reversal itself is a BIG step.
• Then the next stage is –it is not enough that I know that I am Consciousness IN this Body-‐ I
should also understand that I am the Consciousness in every body.
The bodies differ. But the Consciousness does not differ. The light over this mike and the light over the
other mike is one con9nuous light. In between objects there may be a gap; there is only object missing
but the light is there in between also. Therefore there is ONLY one undivided light in the divided object.
Thus divisions belong to the body but not to the consciousness. Consciousness is Akhanda Chaitanya.
When I say I am the Consciousness -‐ In the body then it means that there is One Consciousness here and
there is another consciousness over there. Consciousness will become limited. I should know that
Consciousness is undivided. That knowledge is called Sarva Bhutastham Aatmanam Pashya'. They see
themselves i.e. Consciousness in Every living being.
I am the consciousness behind my body. You are the consciousness being your body. I and YOU are ONE
and the SAME. We have got different names; not because Consciousness is different. We have different
names because our bodies are different. Plurality belongs to the body. Differences belong to the body.
Not Consciousness.
Asmat Lokat Pretya – It has got two meanings. Once I know I am the Consciousness with the body I have
to ask myself the Ques9on, Is the body my intrinsic nature or an incidental medium. Is this body an
integral part of me or an incidental medium that I use. If I take the body as an integral part of me, then I
will hold on to the body. I would want to keep the body eternal. I will say, ‘Let everyone else die but not
me.’ We are all great philosophers when someone else dies. But we don’t want death to come anywhere
near us. And some people say that , ‘Swamiji, I don’t mind dying but I don’t want to see the near and
57
dear ones dying.’ This is all because of one small mistake we have commièd. We have taken this body
as an integral part of ourself. What do the wise people do -‐ they understand that the body is like a dress
that I as consciousness am wearing. And it will be useful for some 9me. Aherwards it will wear out. And
when it wears out there should be another dress. Therefore Asmat Lokat pretya means giving up the
Abhimanam of the body (Iden9fica9on with the body).Looking at the body objec9vely. I see millions of
bodies coming and millions of bodies regularly going. This body does not have any specialty at all.
Bratrihari in his Vairagyam Shatakam offers his final prayer. At the 9me of death, he addresses all the five
elements. He calls each element his father, brother, friend etc. Oh Five elements , you have been very
kind to me. You have gihed a body to me for my temporary use. Because of your Grace, no charge was
applied. And with the help of the gih, Bratrihari says I was able to gain this knowledge. I u9lized this
body very well and I have aàined the knowledge with the help of the body. To know I am consciousness
I need a body. To study Aham Brahmasmi -‐requires this medium. With the gih that you have made to
me, I have made my life and now it is 9me to return this body to you with a note of Thanks!
I am able to return the body to the five elements with thanks only if I am detached from the body. I use
this body as an instrument. And such people are called Asmat Lokat Pretya i.e having giving up the
Abhimaana with the world. Having given up the Abhimaana, Amruta Bhavan' they con9nue to live un9l
the Prarabdha is exhausted. The dura9on of the body’s life is not determined by my will. The dura9on is
determined by the Prarabdha oil. And when this Prarabdha oil is exhausted, the flame will naturally go
away. So therefore at the 9me of death or at the end of Prarabdha, Amrutaha Bhavan'…we become
immortal. They become one with the immortal Brahman. W
Why do they say they become one with Brahman-‐ Does it mean that they were away from the Immortal
Brahman? No! They were already immortal Brahman; but now they merge into immortal Brahman as
though – when the pot is broken the pot space merges into total space without mo9on. This is a unique
merger in which there is no mo9on at all. Space does not gradually travel and merge. The word ‘merger’
is used because before the pot is broken the name pot-‐space was there and aher the pot is broken the
name pot space is not used. Similarly as long as the body is there the name Jivatma is retained. When
the body is not there the name Jivatma is meaningless. Paramatma is the name. That is called Videha
Muk'. Asman lokat pretya means aher aàining Jivan Muk' they will aàin Videha muk' also. This is
the first meaning
The second meaning is – Asmat Lokat pretya-‐ can be also taken as Death itself. Instead of Abhimana
Tyaga it can be read as Sharira Tyaga itself. In the first interpreta9on it was Sharira Abhimana tyagaand
in the second interpreta9on it is Sharira Tyaga. Either way he is one with Brahman.
Having talked about many people who have aàined Moksha the Upanishad says, therefore a human
being should not waste his life. Human birth is a very rare opportunity to aàin this Moksha. Jnanam is
possible only for the human beings. Animals only have to exhaust Prarabdha. In fact they cannot acquire
even punyam; so there is not ques9on of acquiring Jnanam.
To acquire Karma also free will is required. To acquire Jnanam also free will is required. You cannot say a
cow which gives milk for Abhishekam in Shiva temple is gelng Punyam. No! The cow does not get any
Punyam. But the owner, instead of selling the milk and making more money, thought of dona9ng it to
the temple. The owner gets Punyam. The Cow never gets Punyam or papam because deliberate thinking
is required to acquire Punyam or Paapam.
58
In Manushya Loka alone Karma is possible. In Manushya Janma alone Jnanam is possible. And therefore
the Upanishad says, since you have got Manushya Janma beèr make use of this Janma and aàin
knowledge.
Suppose a person says, I will see this in the next birth. The Upanishad replies, next birth what type of
body you will get is knows. We do not believe in linear Janma. It is not a gradual evolu9on. According to
Shastra, an animal can become a human being. And if Human being does not u9lize the life properly a
human being can become animal also. If the government puts you into jail , it is because once outside
you are a threat to the society. You know what is God’s imprisionment? Animal body is Ishwara’s
imprisonment. In the animal body the Jiva cannot do much damage. A 9ger can maximum kill a few
people. But a Hitler can kill millions of Jews. So therefore animal shariram is a form of imprisonment. We
have all come out temporarily for some 9me. Bhagawan is watching; should I put these people back or
should I release them. If you live properly permanent release is possible ; otherwise again back to Animal
Sharira. So either become GOD or become DOG. It is your Choice.
Upanishad says, iha ched avedi. Suppose a person gains knowledge in this life. Iha means in this life. Atha
Satyam As' then alone the manushya janma is valid. It is meaningful, it is purposeful.
You may ask-‐What about accomplishing all other things. Isn’t it purposeful? Vedanta does not accept
that because anything you accomplish is a finite goal. You may become Bill Gates. Let us assume your
wealth is 100 Billion. Even 100 Billion is finite. So all accomplishments being finite you have to travel
from finitude to finitude. Finitude to Finitude means No progress at all. And therefore Vedanta doesn’t
consider it a Real Accomplishment at all.
So Yaha Aatmanam Aviditva asmad Lokaat prai' saha kripanaha. He is an unfortunate person who dies
without gaining this knowledge.
Yaha Aatman Viditva asmat Lokat Prai' saha Brahmana. One who gains this knowledge he alone
deserves the 9tle Brahmin. (According to Vedanta, Jnani alone is a Brahmin. All others are either A-‐
Brahman or pseudo-‐brahmana )
Atah Satyam As' Na ched Iha Avedi. So if one does not gain this knowledge in this Janma then Maha'
Vinash'hi or the loss is immense loss. You are missing the INFINITE. Brahman being the infinite it is the
greatest loss. Therefore may you know the value of human life and start your Sadhana either for Jnana
Yogyata prap' or Jnana Prap'.
Don’t say, ‘Swamiji why can I not start aher re9rement?’ Please don’t misunderstand me. But who told
you that you are going to survive aher re9rement. Who knows that you are going to survive even
tomorrow? No Body knows when death is going to come. And therefore when you are facul9es are in
good condi9on and when the life is available now, may you make use of the human life and aàin
Moksha! The Upanishad concludes the sec9on by glorifying the human Janma as a means of brahma
Jnanam.
More in the next class
Purna Madah
59
Talk 8:-‐ Khanda 3: Mantras 1
We have completed the first two chapters of the Kena Upanishad in which the central teaching of
Vedanta was given i.e. Jivatma – Paramatma Aikyam. In these two Chapters almost every mantra was a
Maha Vakyam by which the Upanishad pointed out that that ‘Consciousness-‐The very subject which
experiences everything-‐ is nothing other than Brahman.
Tadeva brahma tvam viddhi nedam yadidam upasate. That Very consciousness which experiences
everything and it is not any object of experience is Brahman
And also the Upanishad concluded the teaching in this well-‐known mantra
Pra'bodha vidhitam matam amrutatvam hi vindhate etc
Since Brahman happens to be the Consciousness itself, it is experienced self-‐evidently by everyone. Any
separate effort for Brahman Experience is not required. In fact every other experience is possible only
because of the ever experienced Brahman. We don’t say Brahman experience is not required. We don’t
even say Brahman experience is NOT possible. We only say Brahman experience is ALWAYS AVAILABLE in
the form of the Consciousness because of which ALL OTHER experiences are possible.
There is the eternal experience of Brahman in the form of (I-‐ness)Aham , Aham Aham i'. In the eternal
experience of Brahman everything else is experienced. All the other experiences come and go. We also
saw that if Brahman experience is always present then the purpose of the Vedanta Shastra is not to give
the experience of Brahman. Vedanta wants to give the knowledge of Brahman. Hence we said that the
Upanishadic words are not words of descrip9on but words of Introduc9on. We employ words of
introduc9on to give the knowledge of something which is already experienced. Upanishadic words are
words of Introduc9on since they give the knowledge of the ever experienced Brahman. What is that
knowledge given by the Upanishad? The knowledge is –‘BRAHMAN IS THE CONSCIOUSNESS. THAT
CONSCIOUSNESS IS YOU. THEREFORE YOU ARE BRAHMAN’
Once I learn to own up this ever evident Consciousness as myself, I have aàined Brahma Jnanam. It is
purely a job of the intellect. The Intellect cannot give the experience of Brahman and Intellect NEED NOT
give the experience of Brahman because Brahman is ever experienced. But intellect is required to gain
the KNOWLEDGE about the ever experienced Brahman. Through the words of the Upanishad we are
gelng the knowledge in the intellect. The knowledge which takes place in the intellect is that-‐ The ever
evident Consciousness -‐ I WAS, I AM and I EVER WILL BE. This body which I mistook as myself is really a
medium through which I – the Consciousness – am interac9ng. Once I shih this “I” from the body to
Consciousness then there is a transforma9on.
Previously I was the body and I had the consciousness. Now I AM the consciousness and I have an
incidental body which arrived on a par9cular date and which will certainly depart on a date. Between
the arrival and the departure of the body, I transact through this body. When the body has departed I
stop my transac9on. BUT I certainly do not stop exis9ng! So the cessa9on of transac9on is not a
cessa9on of my existence. Therefore Geeta says
Na jayate Mriyate Vaa kadachit etc (It is not born etc)
60
I EVER AM; some9mes transac9ng; and at other 9mes without transac9ons. This owning up which
requires the intellect is called Bramha Jnanam. And this Bramha Jnanam is also called Jivan Muk'
because in this knowledge I drop all my sense of limita9on. I know that all the limita9ons belong to the
body alone and “I-‐Consciousness” cannot claim the limita9ons of the body. And therefore A-‐Purnatvam
goes away and Purnatvam is owned up. This owning up alone is called Moksha. And I con9nue to
transact as a Jivan Mukta .When this body falls at the end of the Prarabdha, my transac9on through this
par9cular body stops. Then I am called Videha Mukta. There is no difference in ME-‐ Consciousness in
these two states. The difference is only with respect to the transac9on through the body. When I
transact it is called Jivan Muk'. When the transac9on is not present it is Videha Muk'.
In fact every day during sleep you have the experience of Videha Muk'. In the Swayam Jyo'h Brahmana,
the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad gives Sleep as an example of Videha Muk' where the duality is not at all
experienced.
Having explained this wisdom comprehensively the Upanishad concludes the second chapter with the
verse
Iha Ched Avedi Ata Satyam As'…etc
It states that if we own up this fact, life is fruitul. If we do not gain this knowledge then life is a great
loss. In all other accomplishments I would have only travelled from finitude to finitude which is not
progress at all.
Thus the actual Kena Upanishad is complete with the second chapter. Now we have got two more
chapters in which the Upanishad wants to communicate the same wisdom for those people who could
not understand the previous two chapters. Those who have the necessary qualifica9ons i.e. Adhikaris
will enjoy the first two chapters. It is a walk over for them. But for the unprepared ones, the first two
chapters are too subtle and therefore the teaching will go above the head of these students. For such
unprepared seekers the Upanishad says, ‘Don’t worry. I will give the same teaching in a diluted manner.’
What is this diluted manner employed over here? The Upanishad teaches through a story. Once you give
the teaching through a story, people can enjoy the story and through the story the values or the
teachings can be given.
For e.g. take the story of Lord Shiva burning Manmatha through the third eye. Manmatha disturbs Lord
Shiva. Lord Shiva opens his third eye. If you watch one of those movies based on these epics, they
invariably show some laser beams coming out from Lord Shiva’s eye! These beams spreads over
Manmatha. And aher two minutes Manmatha disappears into this air! This is a simple story which even
a child can understand.
The philosophical significance is like this: -‐ The third eye represents wisdom. And Manmatha is the
symbol of our desire. Another name for Manmatha is Kaama. He is called Manmatha because Kaama
churns the mind and intellect. Churning is called Mathanam. The Churning Rod also is called Matha.
(Nowadays you may not be aware of this with your modern electric mixers!). Mathanadi means to
churn. Kaama is called Manmatha because he churns and disturbs the mind. And Shiva burning Kaama is
nothing but Knowledge destroying our desires. Thus the story above conveys the philosophical idea very
nicely.
61
Similarly the philosophical meaning of Kena Upanishad teaching is going to be concre9zed through a
story in the third sec9on. Some of you may have heard this story. I will just give you a small summary and
also the significance of the story and we can go look at the Mantras later. It will be easier that way.
In this story, Devas and Asuras go through one of their regular ba`les; they are the arch rivals. The Devas
win the ba`le. Aher the victory they want to celebrate and so they have a party. Each Deva is talking
about his own personal glory; about how he deserves Param Veer chakra , Maha Veer Chakra etc for his
prowess on the ba`lefield. Unfortunately the Devas became very arrogant. No doubt, they were great
and powerful. And No doubt they played their role in accomplishing this victory. But they forgot the fact
that any success is not only the result of individual effort but also the result of Ishwara Anugraha(grace).
The victory goes into their head and the Devas became arrogant. The Lord recognized their arrogance.
He decided to teach them a lesson and remove their arrogance.
The Lord appears in the form of a Bright Yaksha. Yaksha means a celes9al being.
Yajana Yogyaha Yakshaha -‐ A sacred being; a Brilliant being
The Lord appeared in such a way that he was neither too far away nor too close to the Devas. If the Lord
had appeared too far away, the Devas would not have no9ced HIM. If the Lord had appeared too close,
then the Devas would have recognized who he was. So HE maintained a sufficient distance. The Devas
were distracted by a bright being about whom they did not know. They decided to send a messenger to
find out who the Yaksha was.
Agni Devata (Fire God) is the messenger of Gods.
(That is why whenever we want to offer anything to the Gods we hand it over to Agni in the Agni
Kundam (Fire Pit). When we say Agnaye Svaha (To Agni) the obla9on is offered into the fire. Even when
you say Prajapataye Svaha (To the Creator) the obla9on is offered again to Agni only.
Do you know that story? One gentleman who was se`led in America came here. When he heard Agnaye
Svaha he saw the offering being made to the fire. Then he heard Vayave Svaha and he put the offering
into his mouth (Vaay is mouth in Tamil)! Then the priest said, No it has to be offered into the fire. So he
spat it out into the fire. ☺
Vayave Svaha also is offered to Agni. How can we do that; you may say that address is different. We offer
offerings into the Fire because fire happens to be the courier service of the Gods. Agni Devata knows the
address of all the Devatas and before long the offering will reach the Devatas. Therefore
Agnim Dutam Vrinimahe (Vedic Mantra sung here))
Agni goes to find out about the Yaksha. The Lord wanted to remove the arrogance of Agni. Therefore he
asks Agni a ques9on, ‘Who are you?’ Agni feels very insulted, ‘I should be asking him who he is. And
before I can put a ques9on, he is asking me who I am. It is an insult. I am well known in the en9re world.
Who does not know Agni?’
He says, ‘I am Agni Devata. I am the Omniscient Lord. I can destroy everything in the crea9on. I have so
much power.’ The Yaksha says, ‘You need not burn everything. I will give you a dried blade of grass. You
only burn that.’ Agni Devata feels insulted as this is not a sufficiently strong challenge for his ability.
However He tries burning the blade of glass and he struggles with it for quite some 9me. Agni is not able
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to burn it. Completely humiliated, Agni comes back and says, ‘I don’t know, who that person is.’ But Agni
certainly knew one thing, without the grace of that Yaksha he could not burn anything.
Then Vayu said, ‘I will go. Agni does not know much. I am really THE ONE! Among the Pancha Bhutas,
Vayu is the second son and Agni is the third. So Vayu Devata is elder to Agni.’ And you know all know
Vayu; he has lot of airs. ☺ He is the Air Devata aher all!! He goes to find out about the Yaksha. Again
Yaksha asks him the same ques9on, ‘Who are you?’ Vayu feels insulted. He says, ‘I am the great Vayu
Devata capable of lihing everything in crea9on.’ The Yaksha says, ‘You need not perform such great
things. That old blade of grass which Agni could not touch is s9ll with me. Can you lih the same blade of
grass?’ Vayu tries his best with his cyclones and typhoons but nothing happens. He is not able to lih the
blade of grass. Vayu also returns back humiliated.
So we have seen that both Agni and Vayu failed.
Then Indra, the lord of the Devas says, ‘You are all useless fellows. You cannot accomplish anything on
your own. I gave you such a small task of enquiring who the person was and you even failed at this. I will
personally go now.’ Indra goes with his extra arrogance; aher all he is the Lord of all the devatas. He has
more vanity. When Indra goes near the Yaksha, the Yaksha disappears. Indra feels even more humiliated
than either Agni or Vayu. At least Agni and Vayu could have some conversa9on with this Yaksha. But
Indra did not even get the opportunity for conversa9on. However here is the greatness of Indra; He
understood that he has a problem. Agni and Vayu did not realize anything. Indra had more arrogance
than either of them but he also had more discrimina9on. Immediately he recognized that it was his
vanity that was the cause of all this. At once, he becomes humble.
You remember the story of Anjaneya (Hanuman) who went in search of Sita. He was so successful in
crossing the ocean and figh9ng with demons on the way. However on reaching Lanka, he searched all
over and he could not find Sita. Suddenly he realized, ‘I have a thought inside me that I am doing all this.
I have crossed the Ocean. I have fought with so many demons. I think it has gone into my head.
Therefore the Lord is tes9ng me. Let me pray to the Lord.’ This is the famous prayer in the Ramayana
which you all know.
Namostu raamaya salakshmanaaya. Devyai cha tasmyai Janakaatmajaayai.
Namostu rudrendra yamaanilebhyo. Namostu chandraarka marudganebhyaha.
Where humility is not there success cannot come. Even if success comes before long Bhagwan will also
give a lesson! In the Geeta when Krishna enumerates the values for a spiritual seeker, the first value he
says is Amanitvam Adhambhitvam (lack of vanity). In the 15th chapter again, Krishna reminds Nirmana
Mohaha Jita sangha dosha. Manitvam or arrogance in the worst enemy in any pursuit and especially the
spiritual pursuit.
Indra discovered humility and he prays to the Lord. And when he prays, Parva9 Devi or Uma Devi
appears in front of him. And Indra asks her the ques9on, ‘Who was the Yaksha?’ This is the part of the
story occurring in the third chapter.
In the fourth Chapter the story con9nues a li`le bit more. When Indira Asks Uma Devi who this Yaksha
was, Uma Devi teaches Indra. She accepts him as her disciple. When vanity goes, disciple hood comes.
Arjuna the arrogant one got converted to Arjuna the Shishya in the Geeta. Similarly Indira the arrogant
one became Indra the Shishya. Naturally Indra got the knowledge taught by Uma Devi.
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And what was the knowledge Uma Devi gave –The first two chapters of Kena Upanishad! Uma Devi did
not teach anything new. She taught Indra – Shrotrasya Shrotram .., Anya Deva Tad Viditaat.., Pra'bodha
Viditam Matam… etc. The same teaching, Uma Devi gave Indira and Indra became a Jnani. Having
aàined Jnanam, Indra goes back to the Devatas and tells them all that transpired. Indira is glorified by
all the Devatas. ‘What we could not accomplish, India you accomplished. Therefore you are great.’ Indra
becomes the glorious one. And then Indra says, ‘I would like to share this knowledge with you also.’
Finally, Agni and Vayu also get Brahma Vidya. And the story is over. ☺
Thus the story is in the third sec9on or the third chapter and in the first few mantras of the fourth
chapter as well. Through the story symbolically the Upanishad wants to convey certain important aspects
of Vedan9c teaching. The story is simple and anybody can read and understand. But what is conveyed
indirectly is important. Let us look at that
1. The first thing is, Yaksha appears in front of the Devatas indica9ng the existence of God or the
existence of Brahman. Therefore the first significance of the story is Brahma As'tvam.Brahman
of the Upanishad or the philosophy represents the Yaksha of the story. The Nirguna Brahman of
the first two chapters is the Saguna Yaksha of the third chapter. Why should we prove the
existence of Brahman through the story? This is because in the first two chapters it was
men9oned that Brahman is not available for any organ. Na Tatra Chakshur Gacha' Na Vaag
Cahagha' Na Vidmaha etc. You cannot see, hear it, touch it, taste it, and think of it. It cannot be
even described by the words. And it is something other than the even the known and the
unknown. When we hear such a descrip9on of Brahman, our minds tend to conclude that such a
Brahman cannot exist. It is very difficult to accept that existence of Nirguna Brahman. Not only
lay people, even philosophers do not accept Nirguna Brahman. Dwai's do not accept this.
VishisthAdvai's do not accept this. Sankhya, Yoga and many other schools do not accept
Nirguna Brahman because it is impossible to conceive of. Hence the Upanishad through the
Yaksha story tells us that Nirguna Brahma Exists. Have faith in that. Believe in Nirguna Brahma
un9l you understand. Thus the first lesson is Brahma As'
2. The second lesson that is given is: -‐ All the glory that a person claims really does not belong to
that individual. Any pride is meaningless. Any Abhimanam is Mithya. Agni thought that the
victory was because of himself, Vayu thought that the victory was because of himself. But they
both realized that they got all their power from this Brahman. Never have pride; be humble.
Abhimanam MithyaTvam is the second lesson that is indicated.
3. The Third lesson: -‐ Agni, Vayu and Indra could not know who the Yaksha is. Here, Yaksha
represents Brahman. Agni and Vayu represent the sense Organs. In fact in the Shastra, the word
Deva is used for the Gods also as well as the Sense organs also. ‘Agni & Vayu could not know the
Yaksha’ indicates that the sense organs cannot know Brahman. And similarly Indra also could not
know the Yaksha. Who is Indra? The Lord the Sense organs i.e the Mind. The Mind alone can
make every sense organ func9on. Therefore ‘Indira could not know the Yaksha’ means that the
Mind also cannot know Brahman. Brahman is beyond the senses and the mind. It is inaccessible
to the senses and the mind. All these significance are brought out by Shankaracharya in his
commentary. We don’t have to do any work; everything is ready for us. We only have to read it
☺. Brahmanaha Durvigneyatvam is the third lesson.
4. The fourth lesson: -‐ Agni and Vayu could not gain this knowledge. They had to return
disappointed. Whereas Indra gained the knowledge. How did Indra gain the knowledge?
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Because he became humble. The arrogance went away. He bowed down. Arrogance makes our
bodies s9ff. We will not BEND down. ‘Why should I bend in front of someone’? That arrogance is
the cause of all obstacles. Indra was not an ordinary person-‐we are arrogant for no
accomplishment but Indra had many achievements to his credit. There are two types of
arrogance; some are arrogant with some accomplishment. But generally we are arrogant with
No accomplishment. This is the different between pride and vanity. Indra had all the
accomplishments but s9ll he was humble. Amanitvam was present. He surrendered to the Lord.
Bhak' also was there. That is why Krishna says at the end of the Geeta that the Geeta must be
taught only to the humble devotees of the Lord. Humility and devo9on should be the hallmark
of a seeker. Indra became humble and a devotee also. When he invoked these virtues called
Sadhana Chatustaya sampad or daivi sampad or satvika sampad then knowledge did not
automa9cally dawn upon him. Uma Devi or the Guru appeared. Humility doesn’t give
knowledge-‐Humility gives you a Guru. When I develop all the virtues of a student, I need not go
in search of a Guru. The Guru will be around. Just as when a flower fully blossoms, the honey
bee naturally comes. The flower does not have to send an invita9on leèr. Therefore Never ask
the ques9on, “Who is my guru? When will the guru come? How to test whether this Guru is the
correct Guru?” There is no need for all this. You acquire the qualifica9ons. The Guru will be
helplessly drawn to you. Krishna was there right in front of Arjuna when he needed. Uma Devi
represents the Bramha Vidya Guru or Saraswa' Devi.Thus the qualifica9ons or humility, bhak9
and the necessity of Guru are indicated. Or we can say that the condi9ons for self-‐knowledge are
indicated.
5. The fihh significance -‐ Aher gaining this self-‐knowledge, Indra became the greatest among Gods.
Though already he was great-‐ he was the Lord of Devas-‐Indra became more glorious and
everybody worshipped him for his knowledge. Therefore Bramha Vidya also gives glory, or
Vibhu' to a person. The glory of any Jnani does not belong to the Jnani. The Glory belongs to
the Jnanam. Before he gained knowledge we did not respect the person. Aher he has become a
Jnani we do Namaskara to him. The Namaskara is Not for the person-‐ the Namaskara goes to the
Jnanam which is Bramha Vidya. The glory of Bramha Vidya is indicated by glorifying Indra. Indra
Mahima is Jnana Mahima.
6. The final significance: -‐ The story serves as a means for prac9cing certain Upasanas. We will be
studying those Upasanas in the fourth Chapter. One such Upasana is Lightning Upasana. The
Yaksha was brilliant; and he appeared very briefly. He a`racted the aèn9on of the Gods and
disappeared. The poor gods were just celebra9ng their victory. Suddenly a brilliant thing
appeared and before they could know what it is it disappeared. This reminds you of something-‐
Yes, like lightning. Lightning also appears in a flash. It is brilliant and it a`racts our aèn9on and
disappears. The Upanishad is going to prescribe a Lightning Upasana. Please note, Lightning
Upasana does not mean that you do your Upasana with lightning speed; like some of you do
your SandhyaVandhanam ☺. This is not that kind of lightning Upasana. It is the Upasana of
‘Lightning’. Upasana Sheshatavam. The story has a link with the Upasana in the fourth Chapter.
With This background we will read the Mantra. We can easily understand
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According to an ancient story Brahman obtained a victory for the gods.
They became elated and said, “ The glory is ours alone.”
The Upanishad introduces the story. It says that in one of the many ba`les between the Devas and the
Asuras, the LORD got victory for the Devas. The Upanishad is very careful in using the language. It does
not say that the Devas got Victory. It says -‐The Lord got victory on behalf of the Devas. Why did the Lord
support the Devas? Because Devas represent Dharmic Forces or Saatvik Forces. And Asuras represent
Adharmic or Rajasic and Tamasic forces. As the Geeta says in the last chapter
Yatra Yogeshwara Krishna...
Wherever Dharma is there, the Lord will ensure victory. The lord is impar9al. Lord supports Dharma;
wherever it is. The Upanishad says that the Lord got victory for the Devas.
Note :-‐In the first two chapters Brahman is Nirgunam. In the next two, it is Sagunam. Because the first
two chapters are for UWama Adhikaris who can comprehend Nirgunam. The third chapter is for
Madhyama Adhikaris. Therefore Saguna Ishwara is introduced.
Now what was the problem with this victory? The Devas did not acknowledge that it was due to the
Lord. That simple acknowledgement is called Bhak9. It is also called Nivedanam. Don’t we all offer
Naivedyam ? All of you think that preparing any dish that you like, keeping in front of the Lord and taking
it away at the earliest to eat it up is Naivedyam. No! Nivedanam does not mean preparing eatables and
ea9ng. Nivedanam means acknowledgement or informing. It is not just in the case of ea9ng food alone.
It is in the case of every ac9on. Before ea9ng we talk of Nivedanam saying, ‘Oh Lord, this food is yours.
The possibility of genera9ng food is yours. The seed has been given by you. If I could 9ll the land and
produce the crops, that capacity of mine is also your gih. I want to enjoy my food remembering your
blessings with gra9tude.’ Thus Nivedanam means, informing the Lord that whatever I have is your glory.
But Devas forgot that.
Tasyaha Brahmanaha Vijaye In the victory of Devas-‐ it was not really their victory-‐ but they got the glory
of it. The Devas received the glorifica9on. Remember -‐Society will glorify me when I accomplish
something –Well done! You have passed in the exam. Well done! You have built a fine house. Society will
glorify because that is the nature of Society. But the scripture says, ‘Let the society glorify you. In your
own mind you silently hand over the glory to the Lord. It is all the grace of the Lord.’ You need not say
anything outside but in your mind you should know this. Our problem is that we some9mes say this to
people outside but inside we are all puffed up! Whether you tell outside or not is not important. In your
mind, not even an iota of arrogance need come. Let people glorify you. You receive the Mala from them;
there is no problem. When you receive it; just say Shiva Shiva or Narayana Narayana or some such thing
mentally and hand it over to the Lord. Devas did not do this. They received the glory and did not hand it
over to God.
Everything belongs to the Lord. People ask me some9mes, ‘Swamiji, Your classes are being recorded.
Suppose someone sells these recordings then what will happen to you? Isn’t it your Intellectual
property?” What Intellectual Property!!! I got it from my Guru Parampara. Every point that I have stated,
has been beau9fully presented by Shankaracharya in his Bhasyas. Where is the ques9on of claiming any
Intellectual property? Otherwise Shankaracharya himself would have done this. If he started claiming
Intellectual property, the all of us will have to just shut up!!However whatever was given, Shankara never
claimed as his own. He offers Namaskara to all the Acharyas. In his Tailriya Bhasyam he says, “In future
66
society may glorify all these brilliant commentaries” And indeed Shankara’s commentaries are brilliant.
People even call it Shankara Vedanta as if this is some NEW Vedanta. But Shankara himself says, it is not
MY Vedanta
Ehi Eme Gurubhihi Purvam “ These have all been coming down from our Acharyas.” All our Acharyas
were the embodiments of humility. Only empty vessels make noise. The really knowledgeable ones keep
quiet.
The Devas temporarily became haughty. Aikshanta-‐They thought to themselves, “Asmakam Evayam
Vijaya.All this victory belongs to us. Therefore the credit also should come to us.” You see, generally this
is our tendency. Whenever any undertaking goes bad, you are quick to point out who was responsible.
But whenever any undertaking goes well, we are quick to take responsibility. The Lord decided to teach
them a lesson. How did he do this? We shall see…
Purna Madah
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In the third chapter the Upanishad wants to convey the same idea which has been revealed in the
previous two sec9ons. It was presented in an abstract manner in the previous two sec9ons. Now the
same teaching is concre9zed through this story. What was presented as Nirguna Brahman in the
previous two chapters is being presented as Saguna Brahman in this chapter. To know the Nirguna
Bramha we have to take the help of the tradi9onal teaching. E' Sushruma Purvesham The Sampradaya
Vakyam is the only means of Knowing Brahman. In this story that same Upanishad Vakyam is
represented by Uma Devi. Thus Uma represent the Upanishad. Someone nicely pointed out that
AumKara has three leèrs viz. A U M. And Uma also has three leèrs...U M A. Uma re-‐arranged is AUM.
Aumkara represents the Upanishadic teaching. Aumkar is supposed to be the essence of the Vedas.
When the Vedas are churned, Aumkara was produced according to a famous Mantra. Thus Aumkara or
Umadevi represent scriptural knowledge.
(Similarly, Godess Saraswa9 also represents only the knowledge revealed or churned out of the
Upanishads. The words Saras means the Lake of Waters. And Va' means the one who resides in the Lake
upon the lotus. This Lake represents the Vedic words. Veda Shastram is the Lake. This is similar to the
phrase we use -‐Mahabharatha Pankajam etc. Saraswa9 is the wisdom born out of the lake of Veda. And
when we say Saraswa9 illumines Brahman, it means that wisdom illumines Brahman)
Thus Uma Devi or Saraswa9 represent the scriptural wisdom and through the scriptural wisdom alone
can Brahman be understood. The story is a symbolic representa9on of the teaching of the first two
chapters.
We have already seen the story briefly. In the first Mantra, we saw that the Devas and Asuras had one of
their regular ba`les and the Devas were victorious. In general, the Devas are Satvik and humble. They do
not have the problems of arrogance and vanity. Somehow in a week moment the Devas also became
arrogant. From this it is clear that even the most Satvik or humble person may at a certain moment
succumb to weaknesses.
This is why you will find that in all the Puranas, even the greatest Devotees faced some weaknesses.
Anjaneya who is the very symbol of humility also faced the problem of Garva (pride). Anjaneya Garva
Bhanga-‐ is a famous story. Similarly there is Narada Garva Bhanga, Garuda Garva Bhanga, Rukmini
Garva Bhanga etc. We have several Garva Bhanga stories in the Puranas. Garva means arrogance and
Bhanga means destric9on. If devotees like Narada and Anjaneya were gripped in Garva then how about
the ordinary Devatas! They also had the same problem. Instead of expressing their gra9tude to the Lord
they took all the glory for their victory. They thought Asmakam Eva Ayam Vijaya. To us is this victory.
When this happened Bhagwan thought that the 9me is ripe for the Devas to receive some "correc9on".
Brahman, the Great Spirit, who understood their arrogance, appeared before the gods. But they did
not know who He was
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Tat Vijagnyou-‐ Here Brahman represents Ishwara. He is Saguna Brahman or Maya Sahitam Brahman or
Married Brahman. Only with this marriage is an Avatar possible. Nirgunam Brahma can never take an
Avatar. Nirguna Brahma cannot create, sustain or destroy the world. Crea9on requires Rajo Guna.
Sustenance requires SaWva Guna. Destruc9on requires Tamo Guna. All these three basic acts require the
three Gunas. And Nirguna Brahma as his very name indicates does not have these Gunas. Therefore He
cannot do Shristhi, Sthithi , Laya. Nirgunam Brahma cannot take an Avatar as Yaksha. Yaksha is a form of
Avatar.
The word Taddhaisham is to be split as Tad Ha Eshaam. Ha indicates that it is a real story; that it
happened. The Upanishad wants to say that this indeed did happen.
Tad Brahma Vijagnyou-‐ That Saguna Brahma knew the thinking of the Devatas. Bhagwan tells us in the
Geeta, ‘Do not think I am silng up above. I am in your own heart knowing all that you are thinking.’
Hence the Lord is called Hrishikesha i.e Hrishikanaam Isha or The Lord of the Organs. Ishwara need not
enquire what the Devas were thinking. Ishwara has got ESP! Through his ESP,Saguna Brahman knew the
unhealthy thought paèrns of the Devas. He decided to teach them a lesson.
The Devas are not incorrigible. Bhagwan does not correct the Asuras because there is no point telling
them what is right. We should also know whom to advice and whom not to. Bhagwan knew that Devas
are available for correc9on. Therefore he appeared before them.
Tebhyaha Pradur bhabhuva -‐He took an Avatar for their benefit. There are certain Avataras which are of
long dura9on. Some others are of a Short dura9on. Narasimha Avatar is a very short one. Similarly this
Yaksha Avatara is also a short one just taken for the benefit of those Devas.
Now where did HE appear-‐ He appeared neither too far away nor too close to the Devas. He was close
enough for them to know that somebody very brilliant has arrived. But he was far enough for them to
not know what it is. Thus Devas had Samanya Jnanam but there is no Vishesha Jnanam.
Tad Na Vyajanata – Devas-‐ you have to supply this subject here-‐ did not know what that Saguna Brahma
in the Yaksha form was. Kim Idam Yaksham i'? What is this Adorable Form? They started looking at each
other and raising their eyebrows etc.
They said to Agni(fire), “O thou that knowest all things born, learn of this thing, what may be this
mighty Yaksha,” and he said, “So be it.” (Transla4on taken from Aurobindo)
They decided to send someone to find out who that Yaksha is. They first chose Agni. As I said, Agni
Devata is the messenger of the Devas. The very word Agni itself means Agram naya' i' Agni i.e the one
who goes in front. Agni is like a pilot. The Devatas call Agni and address him as Jataveda(One who knows
everything that is born in this crea9on). This address also is a very significant address. The Devas call
Agni Omniscient. They are almost taun9ng him, ‘Hey Agni! You are supposed to be Omniscient!
According to the 9tle that you hold, everything that is born is known to you. Here a Yaksha is born in
front of us. And you do not seem to know about that Yaksha. Therefore your 9tle does not seem valid. If
you have to defend your 9tle, you beèr go and find out who that Yaksha is.’
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Another thing is that when you want to get something done from someone, you have to glorify that
person. So Devas also used the method of flaèry here. ‘Oh Omniscient One! There is nothing that you
cannot accomplish. You go and Etat vijaanihi may you know this fact i.e. who the Yaksha is.’
Agni felt very happy. He is wanted. The need to feel wanted is the biggest need of every human being.
‘All the Devas need me.’ Agni said, ‘Tathasthu. I will certainly accomplish this. Dont worry…’
He rushed towards the Yaksha and the Yaksha said to him, “Who art thou?” “I am Agni,” he said, “I am
he that knows all things born.”
Tad Abhyadravata (Agni is hidden) approached that Saguna Brahma. He wanted to directly ask him who
he was. But the moment he went near, the Yaksha's presence was so overwhelming that Agni was
dumbfounded. He was tongue 9ed and could not uèr a single word. (This is like a person who is making
his first public speech. Everything has been prac9ced very well in front of the mirror. But when he sees
the audience-‐ All that is prac9ced is gone! Someone once defined the Brain as-‐ Brain is that which works
un9l you start your first public speech) Agni Devata also felt the same thing. He could not speak. So
Instead of Agni Devata addressing the Yaksha, the Yaksha decided to break the ice. The Yaksha started
the conversa9on Tam Abhyavadata. ‘Please tell me who you are?’ Agni Devata was insulted. He is the
most famous person in the world. How can there be someone who does not know who Agni is? Agni
introduces himself, ‘Don’t you know you me. I am the Agni Devata who is worshipped in the very first
line of the Rig Veda (Agnimeede). I am the very Fire in the Sun. In fact -‐ Jaatavedaha aham asmi-‐I am
known as JaataVeda ; the omniscient one who knows all things.’
“And what do you do, by what power are you known?” replied Brahman? “I can burn anything on
earth,” he said.
The Yakhsa asks Agni,”Tell Me what can you do?” This reminds me of people who seek employment
going to some industry and the Boss asking them what they can do. “What skill do you have? Kim
veeryam...what power or what skill or what talent you possess.” Agni feels further insulted. He says, “I
am so powerful that I can burn down everything in front. And I mean ABSOLUTELY everything. Whatever
is there on the earth; be it mul9 storied buildings or huge forests. You name it; I will burn it down the
Ashes.” Agni wanted to frighten Yaksha and hence he is talking about his destruc9ve power. Agni has
both crea9ve power and destruc9ve power. Life comes about only where there is heat or Agi. Within the
womb of the mother, there has to be an appropriate temperature for the growth of the child. If there is
some problem in the womb, then the baby has to be kept outside within an incubator. This is because
life is possible only with appropriate heat. Life is possible because of Agni Tatvam. Death is also due to
Agni Ta`vam. Agni is the life giver and the life taker. What did the Yaksha do? Here is the next insult…
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“Burn that!” said Brahman pupng a small thin straw before him.Agni generated an immense heat
that blackened the whole universe but he could not ignite the straw. Dejected, he returned to the
Gods.“I could not find out who that Great Spirit is,” he said.
What did the Yaksha do? He took a small dry blade of grass. Now don’t ask me where did he get it? He
must have had it around him somewhere ☺ . Even if there is no grass around, remember that Bhagwan
is the one who is crea9ng the en9re universe. How difficult for him to materialize a blade of grass by his
Yoga Maaya Shak'? So the Yaksha materialized a dry blade of grass and placed it in front. ‘I do not want
you to destroy the whole world. That is all too big. I just will give you this blade of grass. You burn this.’
This is like, a typist who comes to you for a job. You will ask him to type a small page so that you can
judge his typing.
(This reminds me of something that happened to me. A typist had typed out my speech. And wherever I
spoke about invoking the Lord, he has wrièn invoicing the Lord! I guess aher taking notes about
invoices in his company, he can only think of Invoices even in his Vedanta class.)
Agni Devata was given a simple job. “Just burn this blade of grass Tasmai Trinam Nidhadhou”. Agni
thought that this is too simple an affair and he will not have to put any effort. He just tried to burn it and
faile! He kept increasing the temperature but the blade of grass remained the same. Tad Upapreyaya
indicates that Agni was first standing far away. Then he came closer to that blade of grass. Even this did
not work. He used all his powers. Tat Dadhum Na shashaka. If anyone else had been present there, they
would have been completely burnt to ashes. They say that the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
generated a few million degrees of temperature and for several kilometers everything was burnt down.
And they also say that the Hiroshima atom bomb is one of the smaller ones! It seems that now we have
much more powerful ones! Agni Devata must have increased the temperature to match the Atom Bomb
or Hydrogen Bomb or Neutron Bomb etc-‐ whichever ones you know you can supply here. And what was
the result? Everything was burnt down except two things -‐The Yaksha and the blade of grass.
Agni knew that something was radically wrong. There was some mystery. Tat eva Nivavrute. He accepted
defeat. “My burning power really does not belong to me. This Yaksha seems to have some power to
Block my burning power.” You see, without that Yaksha's blessing, Agni is not Agni. That which is not the
ear but because of which the ear func'ons….etc. You have to connect this with the earlier por9on of the
text. Eyes cannot see that Brahman. But eyes are capable of seeing everything else only because of that
Brahman alone. Similarly Agni cannot burn the Yaksha but Agni is capable of burning because of the
Yaksha alone. When the Yaksha withdrew the blessings, Agni lost its Agnitvam. Just like Brahman is
Shotrasya Shrotram (Ear of the ear) he is also Agnehe Agni (Fire or the fire). When the Yaksha is gone,
Agni loses his Agni status. Agni felt insulted and came back to the Devas camp. He was out in the first
ball. He came back without scoring. But he did not want to accept that in front of the Devas. He casually
said,”Etat Yaksam Vijnatum na Ashakam. I was not able to find out who this yaksha is.” HE said this
casually and he went away from there!
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Then they said to Vayu (Air), “O Vayu, this discern, what is this mighty Daemon.” He said, “So be it.”
Atha .Aher Agni's defeat, all the Devas approached Vayu. Vayu is the elder brother of Agni. First Akasha
(Space) is born. The second child is Vayu and later Agni. Vayu is more powerful. “Oh Vayu, Agni could not
score any runs. At least you should hit a century. May you find out who this Yaksha is.” Vayu says, “I know
that Agni cannot do anything. I will have to do it.” He goes to the Yaksha. The rest of the story is exactly
the same as what happened in the case of Agni. The Mantras are also is almost exactly like the previous
ones
He rushed to the Yaksha; The Yaksha said to him, “Who art thou?” “I am Vayu,” he said, “and I am he
that moves freely.”
Vayu also with extreme pride went in front of Yaksha. As with Agni, he was also dumbfounded. Instead of
Vayu talking, the Yaksha himself asked Vayu who he was. The First Insult!
As before, Vayu introduces himself. “I am Vayu-‐ the one who moves everywhere giving Prana to
everyone. Such a popular Vayu Tatvam I am. I have a special 9tle Matarishwa”.(Agni was called
Jaataveda) Maatarishwa means the one who moves about in the sky freely. No passport, No visa, No
9cket can restrict Vayu. What did the Yaksha do? The Same thing…
“And what do you do, by what power are you known?” replied Brahman? “I can carry away anything
that is on the earth,” Air replied haugh4ly.
The Yaksha asked him the same ques9on. “What power do you have? What func9on do you have?” Vayu
said, “Sarvam Adariya.” Both the Devatas have both construc9ve as well as destruc9ve powers. Agni has
got construc9ve power because everything is born in heat alone. Vayu also has construc9ve power; the
construc9ve power of Vayu is well known as Prana Shak'. Imagine that there is a Vacuum here. We will
all be dead! If the scien9st have to go to the moon, they have to take Vayu along with them. We do not
know the value of Vayu because it is freely available. Our Very life is possible because of Vayu. But Vayu
does not claim the construc9ve power. He talks about his destruc9ve power. “I can lih anything from the
ground; cars can be lihed, trees can be uprooted by me.” I heard that some scien9sts wanted to measure
the speed of the cyclone. In America there are certain places where you can predict each year the
possibility of a cyclone. These cyclones can be very destruc9ve. The scien9sts apparently wanted to do
some research. Huge machines were installed to measure the velocity of the winds. Aher the cyclone it
seems that the machine itself was not to be found! Such is the power of Vayu. What did Yaksha do?
Same thing...
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“Blow that away!” said Brahman pupng a small thin straw before him.Air generate an intense gale
but he could not move the straw.Dejected, he returned to the Gods. “I could not find out who that
Great Spirit is,” he said.
The same blade of grass was placed by the Yaksha in front of Vayu. “You just lih this blade of grass.”
Again Vayu felt insulted since this was not a big enough challenge. But when Vayu tries, the grass is not
uprooted. Sarva Javena He increased his speed and became a huge cyclone. Everything else around him
gets uprooted except these two-‐ the Yaksha and the blade of grass. Vayu was also humiliated. He put his
head down. The second batsman is also out for 0. He went to the Devatas and said, “I could not find out
who that Yaksha is.” And he winked at Agni! Only those two knew what happened. Later Indra decided,
there is no use sending these Devatas. I am the Captain. Let me go and score the winning runs.
Finally, the gods told the Mind to find out who the Great Spirit was.“I will” he said and hastened
toward it. But when he got quite close, the Spirit disappeared.
Indra Went. “Hey Maghawan-‐ one who is more powerful than all the other Devatas-‐ you go and find out.
Indra says, “You need not tell me. I have myself decided to go. You are all useless.” Indra went near
Yaksha with more pride. Tasmaat Tirodhata.The Yaksha itself disappeared from that place. At least Agni
and Vayu got some opportunity for conversa9on. Indra was so arrogant that the Yaksha thought that he
does not deserve even a close Darshan. He disappeared. When this happened, Indra realized his folly.
Indra is more Saatvik and more informed than either Agni or Vayu. He knew that the problem is due to
his ego or vanity. Agni and Vayu returned from that place. But Indra because of his Jignyasa stayed there.
All these points are very important. Some people aènd Upanishad Classes. If they do not understand
anything in the first two classes, they leave. But if there is a real Jignyasu, he con9nues undaunted. Agni
and Vayu aèmpted to know the Yaksha and withdrew. Indra was not willing to withdraw. This indicates
Teevra Jignyasa. Teevra mumukshutvam is indicated. And he knew that the problem was arrogance. And
therefore...
Then he looked up in the sky and saw the daughter of the Himalayas . He approached her and asked,
‘Who is that Great Spirit?
Indra discovered that his problem was lack of humility. When he understood that his arrogance went
away. Standing in that very place he prayed to the Lord. Not only he developed Vinaya (humility) but also
he developed bhak9(devo9on).Apprecia9ng this Vinaya and Bhak' of Indra there appeared a beau9ful
woman Tasmin Eva Aakashe in the very same place or space.
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Yaksha represents Brahman. The beau9ful lady represents Shastra. First you think of Brahma Vichara. It
will never work. You can never do Brahman inquiry. Brahman inquiry is always in the form of Shastra
inquiry. Whoever makes self-‐inquiry will never succeed. Whoever makes Shastra inquiry will succeed.
Brahman the Yaksha was replaced by Shastra or Brahma Vidya in the form of Uma devi. Striyam
Aajagama
How was she?Bahu Shobhamanam This has a two-‐fold meaning. As a woman, she was brilliant and
a`rac9ve. Self-‐Knowledge is also brilliant and a`rac9ve. She gives happiness to the devotee.
Haimava'..One meaning is the one who is Himavat putri or daughter of Himavan. Hema also means
gold;so it could mean that She was with golden ornaments. Indra put the ques9on to Her.  
“Oh Mother!Oh Devi!Oh Shastra!Oh Saraswa9! I knew so many other things in this world. But I did not
know about this Yaksha. Please tell me who that Yaksha is.”
Now the stage is ready. Uma Devi-‐The Guru is present .Uma Devi-‐ The Shastra is Present. A Qualified
student is present. The teaching takes place. Indra understands that the Yaksha is none other than
Nirguna Brahma.
And what was the teaching of Uma Devi. Chapter 1 and 2 of Kena Upanishad. So go back and read these
two chapters.
Purna Madah,,
(Begins with Invoca9on i.e Shan9 Patha)
We have completed the third chapter of the Kena Upanishad. In the third chapter the Upanishad
conveyed the same idea that was expressed in the previous two chapters; but in the form of a story. The
same ideas were symbolically presented. In this story, Indra got the self-‐knowledge aher acquiring the
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necessary qualifica9ons, the main qualifica9on’s being Bhak' (devo9on) and Amanitvam (Egolessness).
To gain this knowledge, Indra required the help of Uma Devi who represents Brahma Vidya Or Shastra.
Thus through this story, we know that one requires a qualified mind and the guidance of Shastra for
gaining self-‐knowledge. If any one of these two are missing, then Jnanam is not possible.
A famous Shloka says
Yasya nas' svayam prajna sastram tasya karo' kim
locanabhyam vihinasya darpanah kim karisya'
(Rough Transla9on -‐ Scriptures cannot help someone who does not have an insight of his own, just as a
mirror cannot reveal the face to a man devoid of vision.)
If I have to see my own face, two factors are important.
• I should have a mirror which will reveal my face.
• In addi9on to a mirror, I should also have a healthy pair of eyes without which the mirror is
useless. Both are equally important.
Eyes may be useful for seeing the external world but if I have to see my own face then eyes alone are not
sufficient. A mirror alone is also not enough to reveal my face. I should also have a working pair of eyes.
In order to understand the meaning of the Shloka, replace the eyes with “Qualified Antahkarana”. For
self-‐knowledge, we require a qualified AntahKarana, the qualifica9ons being Shraddha, Bhak',
Vinaya ,Shushrusha etc. However, merely a qualified mind is not enough. The mirror called
“Shastra” (scripture) or the Mirror called Guru is also required. In Vedanta we do not differen9ate
between the Guru and the Shastra because the Guru speaks only the words of the Shastra. There is no
difference at all between the words of the Shastra and the words of the Guru. This Shastra-‐Guru
combina9on represent the mirror.
In our story, the Guru-‐Shastra combina9on is represented by Uma Devi. A shining Uma Devi appeared in
front of Indra. Indra with humility asked Uma Devi-‐ This is also an important qualifica9on. One should
ASK for this knowledge-‐ Kim Etad Brahma i.e what/who that Brahman/Yaksha is? And Indra got the
knowledge from Uma Devi.
Now we are entering the fourth Chapter.
In the fourth Chapter, the Upanishad will talk about the glory of Brahma Vidya in the first few mantras by
poin9ng out that Indra became the most glorious being, aher gelng Brahma Vidya. Note that before
Indra had the Vidya he did not have this glory. But aher gelng the Brahma Vidya, Indra is described as
glorious. And therefore the glory should belong to Brahma Vidya alone.
Aher glorifying Brahma Vidya in the first few mantras, the Upanishads will talk about Sadhanas (means)
which the Upanishad has not men9oned un9l now. In the first three chapters the Upanishad has
highlighted only Jnana Yoga. But Jnana Yoga can work only for a qualified mind. If I do not have a
qualified mind, then Kena Upanishad will not work for me. Especially verses like Naham Manye Suvede'
No na vede' etc. (I know Brahman. Not that I don’t know, I know I don’t know etc). All these seemingly
quibbling statements become extremely meaningful to me only when I have a subtle intellect.
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Suppose a student feels that he does not have a subtle intellect, then there is no need to develop any
sort of inferiority complex . The Upanishad says, "I will give you the method of making the mind subtle."
Bramha Vidya by itself is neither easy nor difficult. Whether it is easy or difficult depends upon the state
of prepara9on of the Student. For a prepared mind, Brahma Vidya is the simplest teaching. But for an
unprepared mind, it can be the toughest thing to grasp.
In the scriptures itself you will find both these diametrically opposite statements regarding Brahma
Vidya. For e.g. in the 9th Chapter of the Geeta, Krishna Says that Sukham Kartum Avyayam i.e Self
Knowledge is the easiest. But in the Kathopanishad the teacher says, Shurasya Dhaaraan Nichita etc i.e
Following Self Knowledge is like walking on the Razor's edge. It is extremely difficult.
So in one mantra it is said that Self Knowledge is very difficult. And in another mantra it is said that it is
extremely easy. What am I to understand by these statements? The understanding is that; if you are
prepared it is very easy. And if you are not prepared it is indeed very difficult to grasp. ☺
So, if I am not prepared what should I do? The answer is -‐ Prepare! Please don’t say I will go to other
easy paths like Bhak9 Yoga since this path does not suit me! At least my students should not commit
such mistakes. There is no ques9on of other easy or alternate paths to libera9on. Jnana Yoga is the only
path. If you feel that Jnana Yoga is difficult then make it easy for yourself by preparing your mind.
For prepara9on of the mind, two types of Sadhanas are specified in this Upanishad.
• If our state prepara9on is very low then we have to start with Karma Yoga. This is like Star9ng
from A B C.
• But If I have some prepara9on, then the Upanishad gives the next higher level of prepara9on
called Upasana (medita9on).
Karma Yoga and Upasana are going to be talked about in the fourth chapter, not as a means to
libera9on, but as a means to prepare the mind. Along with Karma Yoga and Upasana, the Upanishad
also talks about living a life of Values or a life full ethics and morality.
Thus Karma Yoga, Upasana and Daivi Sampat (morals) are going to be highlighted in the fourth chapter.
If we follow these three Sadhanas according to our own level of understanding, we will gradually get a
prepared mind.
And what should be done aher preparing the mind? Go back to the first two chapters and listen to it
once again!! ☺ Make a Second Aèmpt. And what if you do not understand? There is No Problem-‐ Keep
Listening!!! Aher the third or fourth listening, you will find that you will start understanding. You will say
to me, "Swamiji, you are teaching beèr now! :)" It is ok-‐I may have improved as you say. As long as the
NET result is that communica9on has taken place, I have no problem!
So keep on doing Karma Yoga and Upasana. And in parallel, keep on listening to Vedanta. Just as the
qualifica9ons gets more and more refined within your Antahkarna, the impact of scripture will become
more and more pronounced.
I am going repeat the very same statements that I said in my very first class of TaWva Bodha, in the class
on the Mandukya Upanishad. But you will say, "Swamiji, I GET it now!" This is very normal. KEEP on
listening! As you keep listening, the impact becomes more and more pregnant. This is why we have
several Upanishads. The topic of every Upanishad is the same-‐ Brahma Vidya. We are just changing the
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melody a li`le bit! If I stand here and repeat the Kena Upanishad every day you will say, "Swamiji we
have already studied all this".
So I give the topic a new name, there are some mantras, there will be a new Guru-‐Shishya Dialogue and
you will feel some enthusiasm about learning a new Upanishad!! The language is different, the angle of
presenta9on is different. But the idea is that knowledge somehow takes place.
To summarize what we discussed so far, the fourth chapter has the following topics
• Glorifica9on of Brahma Vidya
• Karma Yoga Sadhana
• Upasana sadhana
• And Values
With this background let us read the first mantra
It is Brahman, limitless Awareness" she said. Through the victory of Brahman alone have you aPained
glory," she replied. Then the Mind understood that It was Brahman.
At the end of the story, Indra has been converted into a Shisya (disciple). Unless one becomes a Shishya
knowledge cannot take place. For e.g for the en9re dura9on of the first chapter of the Bhagwat Geeta ,
Arjuna was not a Shishya. Even during the first 10 verses of the second Chapter, Arjuna was not a
Shishya. Only when Arjuna became a Shishya, could Krishna become a Guru. Similarly Indra became a
Shishya and Parva9 Devi became a Guru. Parva9 taught Indira. Sa i.e Umadevi Brahma I' Hovacha said
that, ‘ The mysterious Yaksha was none other than Brahman. The only difference is that the original
Brahman is Nirgunam (formless) but to teach you a lesson, Nirguna Brahman took form and became
Saguna. Therefore the Yaksha is Brahman.’ Then Parva9 said that Indra had no right to claim any glory. ‘If
you had any victory the primary credit goes to Ishwara alone.’
Why do we say so? Philosophically speaking, every Jnanendriya or Karmendriya func9ons because of
Consciousness. Without Chaitanya of Consciousness, every sense organ is but an inert bundle of maèr.
If the Devas could use their hands in ba`le then Brahman was the Hand of the hand. Therefore Parva9
Devi said that this victory of yours really belongs to Brahman alone.
And Who is this Brahman? ‘He is the burning power of Agni, the lihing power of Vayu etc.
What mistake did you make, Indra? Manitvam or Pride. You glorified yourself even though the real glory
belongs to Brahman. Let society commit the mistake of glorifying the wrong person. But at least you
should have known that the glory belonged to Brahman. Let other people garland you. But when you
receive the garland, you must mentally offer that glory to Brahman.Krishna says in the Vibhu9 Yoga,
‘Whatever glory you see anywhere that you hand over to me.’ But you claimed this as your own. Etad
Vijaye Mahiyatvami' , thus Parva9 Devi taught indra.
(Please do not think that Saraswa' and Parva' and Uma are different. In Lalitha Sahasranam, also one
of her names is Saraswa' Shastramayi Guhamba guhya Rupini i.e one of the names of Parva9 Devi is
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Saraswa9. And who does Saraswa9 represent? She is the embodyment of Shastra.Shankaracharya in his
commentary also calls her Brahmamayi).
Tatoha Eva Vidhanchakara i.e From Parva9 Devi alone Indra knew. Thus through Guru’s words alone one
can know Brahman. So Guru is not Op9onal! Guru is compulsory! ONLY from a Guru can this be
understood. When Indra himself requires a Guru, what is the ques9on of us mortals? Without a Guru we
can never understand.
Since they approached very near and were the first to know that It was Brahman they excelled the
other gods.
Now the Brahma Vidya Mahima (glory) is going to be talked out. The Upanishad indicates that later the
following development took place-‐It is not directly wrièn in the mantra but we have to supply this
interpreta9on. Indra Got the knowledge and Indra came back to the Devas Camp. Agni and Vayu were
very curious to know what Indra found out. They rushed and asked him. Indra said, ‘I could find out who
the Yaksha was’. Naturally they were curious to know who He was. Indra then proceeds to teach Agni
and Vayu and these Gods become Jnanis. You have to understand all this indirectly. We now have three
Jnanis among the Gods i.e. Indra, Agni and Vayu and hence these three are superior to all the other
Gods.
These Goda have two glories. Firstly mee9ng Yaksha is one glory common to all the three. (Indra also
briefly met the Yaksha -‐though not for a long 9me) Not only that, these three also got the knowledge of
Brahman before all the other Gods. Because of these two feathers in their cap they became the most
glorious among the Gods.
We will study the middle por9on of the mantra first. Those three Gods-‐ Agni, Vayu and Indra-‐ Yenata
Nedishtam pasparshute i.e they contacted the Yaksha very closely. Indra did not have conversa9on but
all had some closeness to the Yaksha. That is the first glory.
Te Hyenata prathama vidhanchakara-‐ Those three Devas were the first to know Yaksha as Brahma.
Yenata means Yaksha here. Later other Gods also knew Brahman. Even Yama also came to know about
Brahman later. In Kathopanishad, Yama is going to become to Guru! But these three were the first to
know and this is their glory.
Tasmat i.e Because of these two unique virtues listed above-‐ Ete Devaha A'taramiva i.e these three
Gods excelled or became superior to Anyan Devan i.e all the other Gods.
From this discussion, we come to know that these Devas are superior because of Knowledge. Therefore
the superiority belongs to the Knowledge. Brahma Vidya makes a human being superior to all the other
human beings just as it made these three Gods superior to all the other Gods.
Through Jnana you will become Manushya Shreshtaha. Why does the Upanishad say this-‐ So that at least
for the sake of becoming Superior to others you may study the Upanishad! ☺ ☺
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Because it got nearest to the Self, Indra (the Mind) excelled the others.
In the previous mantra it was said that these three Gods are superior to all the other Gods. Who
amongst these three Gods who is superior most? Of course, Indra alone is superior because all the three
went near Yaksha; but Indra was the first to get Knowledge of the Yaksha. Agni and Vayu only got this
later from Indra. And therefore the Upanishad says that Indra is the greatest among Gods.
Let us look at the Mantra. We will again look at the middle por9on first.
Sa Hi Yenata Nedishtam pasparsha i.e Indra alone contacted the Yaksha. Sa hi Yenata Prathama
Vidhanchakara -‐Indra alone knew this Yaksha first; even before Agni and Vayu. What is the result of this?
Tasmat i.e Because of this extra glory Indra Adhitaraam eva i.e is certainly superior to Anyaan Devaan or
other Gods. Once again remember that Indra got this glory through this knowledge and therefore this
knowledge is the one that is being glorified knowledge in the Mantra. Con9nuing
This is the instruc4on about Awareness with regard to the powers in the mind: It is like a flash of
lightning; It is like a wink of the eye.
With the previous Mantra the glorifica9on of Brahma Vidya is over. You may think that the Upanishad
has glorified Indra. But by glorifying Indra, the Upanishad is indirectly glorifying Brahma Vidya. Indra was
glorious only aher acquiring this knowledge.
From this mantra onwards, we are gelng into Sadhanani (means). I had said previously that there are
three levels of Sadhana i.e Karma, Upasana and Values. Of these three, the Upanishad is first going to
talk about Upasana Saadhanani.
Upasanas(medita9ons) are talked about in the following mantras. The Upanishad talks about four
different Sadhanas in this por9on i.e. up to Mantra 6. Mantra 4, 5 and 6 -‐ these three Mantras talk about
Upasanani.
Upasana is defined as Saguna Brahma Dhyanam i.e medita9on on Brahman with a`ributes. Of the four
different types of Upasana , two are Adhi-‐Daiva Upasanani , one is Adhyatma Upasanam and the last
one is Guna Vishista Upasanam.
• Adhi-‐Daiva Upasana is medita9ng upon Brahman or Iswara by superimposing this idea on the
external Alambana (substrate or prop).Medita9ng on the Lord with the help of an external
symbol is called Adhi-‐Daiva Upasanam.
• Adyatma Upasana means medita9ng on the Lord with our own body or a part of your body as a
symbol. You invoke the Lord upon your own body. In every Anga Nyasa and Kara Nyasa (parts of
most vedic and tantric rituals), this is what you actually do! You are invoking the God or various
aspects of God on your thumb, index finger etc. Here the subject itself becomes the symbol.
• The third type one is Guna Vishesha Upasana i.e medita9ng upon a par9cular glory of the Lord.
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For all these Upasanas, the Upanishad is going to keep the story in the background. Based on the story
the Upanishad is going to prescribe four Upasanas.
In the story we found that Yaksha, or the Lord, appeared very briefly. Everything happened within a trice.
Also, the Lord is brilliant and a`rac9ve; he draws your aèn9on. (In fact Krishna is called as ‘Krishna’
because of this a`ribute; he is a`rac9ve. ‘Krishna’ is derived from the root Krish i.e to draw or to a`ract.
Krishna is the one who draws the mind of every person towards himself not only because of his physical
beauty but also because of his Ananda svarupa(Blissful Nature). Similarly the Yaksha was
Manohar(a`rac9ve). And Yaksha was Prakasha Svarupa(effulgent). Keeping all these in mind the
Upasanas are prescribed.
In this par9cular Mantra, two Upasanas are prescribed. The first Upasana is ‘Lightning Upasana’. I have
already told you this does not mean that you are supposed to do your media9on in lightning speed and
get up as soon as possible☺. It is the Upasana of Lightning. We are taking Lightning as a symbol of
Yaksha or Ishwara. Why do we choose lightning? Because it resembles the features of the Yaksha that we
discussed. Yaksha was Brilliant; Lightning is brilliant. Yaksha was a`rac9ve; and wherever ligh9ng occurs,
our tendency is to look at it. Similarly, Yaksha appeared very briefly and Lightning also is very brief. Due
to these common features lightning is taken to represent God.
Just Tell me, in which religion can you do all these wonderful things!! You can Take ANYTHING and you
can make it a symbol of God. We have rivers as symbols of God; trees as symbol of God, Elephants as a
symbols of God and here we even have ‘lightning’ as a symbol of God. Since the lightning is an external
force it is called Adhi-‐Daiva Upasana.
Let us now look at the Mantra.
Tasya Esha Aadesha.Aadesha means Upama Upadesha i.e The following is the compara9ve teaching of
the Yaksha and lightning. There is an Upama (comparison) between lightning and the Yaksha.
Yad etat Vidyutaha Vyadyutada This Yaksha is like the flash (Vyadutah) of lightning(Vidyuta). ( Sanskrit
Grammar :-‐ The ‘3’ wrièn over here symbolize the elonga9on of the vowel. The Long ‘A’ is represented
by an "S” character and has a dura9on of two short A's. But if the numeral ‘3’ is wrièn over here then it
means that the elonga9on should consist of three short "A". This elonga9on of the vowel is called
Plutam. Plutam indicates that the vowel is longer than the two units. Anything more than two units i.e 3
units , 4 units , 5 units etc is called Plutam. Two units is called Deergham. And one unit is called
Hraswam. What is the significance of the Plutam here-‐the Plutam will have significance depending upon
the context. In this context Shankaracharya writes in his commentary that this Plutam indicates
comparison).
This is the Medita9on Number 1; Lightning medita9on
Let us go to medita9on number two. The second medita9on is ‘Winking Medita9on’. Closing and
Opening of the Eye is called Nimesha. We have to meditate upon the Yaksha superimposing him on the
act of winking! Why does the Upanishad choose this ‘Winking Medita9on’? In "winking" also, what
happens is exactly the same as what happens during lightning! Can you guess how?
The whole area is originally covered with darkness and is invisible and when the lightning strikes the
whole place becomes visible. And when the lightning goes away the whole place is again immersed in
darkness. Therefore there was darkness before; then there is a brief interlude of brightness and again
there is darkness. Now, Just Wink your eyes. Is this not similar? The only difference is that the light does
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not come from the lightning in the case of winking. The light comes from the very eye itself. This act of
winking of the eye is taken as the Alambana (prop or symbol) for the second Upasana.
Therefore the Upanishad says, Nyami mishadaa..here again ‘3 A’s are used’ indica9ng comparison. In the
first instance the world is bathed in the light of the lightning and in the second medita9on it is bathed in
the light of your own eyes.
I' Adhi Daivatam. Both of these come under Adhi Daivata Upasana. In both of these we are using the
external world as props; either the external world illumined by the lightning or illumined by our own
eyes.
Now we have to study the third medita9on which is called Adhyatma Upasana. Here we are not going to
take the external world as a prop but we are going to take something within ourselves. We need to
choose something similar to the lightning or winking or to the Yaksha i.e it must be appearing and
disappearing and it must be brief and bright.
Can you guess what is that in you which comes very briefly, very brightly and disappears? There is only
one suitable candidate-‐your own thoughts. ☺ Thus we are going to our own thoughts as a symbol for
the Yaksha. Since the thought belongs to the Individual, it is called Adhyatma Upasana. We are going to
enter into ‘ Thought’ Medita9on.
Note that, Every Medita9on is a Thought! But here the Medita9on is Upon the Very ‘ Thought’ itself!
How do we do that? Let us discuss in the next class...
Purna Madah...
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In this fourth and the final Chapter of the Kena Upanishad, the teacher is presen9ng three topics.
1. Brahma Vidya Stu' or glorifica9on of this knowledge.
2. Upasana sadhanam or Medita9on as a means to prepare the mind.
3. Karma Sadhanam i.e Karma Yoga and other values as means for this knowledge.
Of these three topics we have already seen the first topic in the first three Mantras. The Upanishad
glorified Brahma Vidya by glorifying Indra, Agni and Vayu. These dei9es got the glory because of Brahma
Vidya and hence the glory belongs to Brahma Vidya alone.
From the fourth Mantra onwards we have entered the second topic namely Upasanam. Four Upasanas
are being presented here. All the Upasanas are closely connected to the story in the third chapter. The
first two Upasanas are called Adhi-‐Daiva Upasana. The third one is called Adhyatma Upasana and the
fourth one is called Guna Visishta Upasana. Of these, we have seen the two Adhi-‐Daiva Upasanas
wherein Brahman is meditated as ligh9ng (Vidyuta) or Brahman is compared to the Winking of the eye
(Nimesha).
What is the uniqueness of these Upasanas? In both these, lightning and winking, the whole world is
illumined very briefly. For e.g. when lightning comes, the whole world is illumined briefly and it draws
the aèn9on of everyone -‐but even before we know what it is, the lightning disappears.In this story
Yaksha also was exactly like this. Therefore one should meditate upon lightning as Brahman or the Lord
himself. The second Upasana was the winking Upasana. Here the whole world gets brightened because
of the light coming to our eyes. Therefore Nimesha is compared to Yaksha. Both these Upasanas are
called Adhi Daiva Upasanani. The Mantra was thus concluded I' Adhi Daivatam.
Now we are going to enter Adyatma Upasana in the next mantra.
Now the instruc4on about Awareness with regard to the individual self: The mind should go to it. By
means of the mind the seeker communes with it in4mately again and again. This should be the mind's
mo4va4on.
In the Tai'riya Upanishad also we will be studying similar medita9ons in the third chapter. Trip'h I'
vristou etc...Even in that Upanishad a “Lightning Upasana” is prescribed.
Superimposed upon the Lightning, the Lord is meditated as Balam( the “power” quality). And you all
know that according to science, one streak of lightning has enormous power .If only we had the
technology of taping the power in one flash of lightning, the scien9sts say that you can light up the
whole world for one year (or something like that). This is the power present in lightning. Unfortunately
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we do not know how to tap it. Even before we no9ce it, it is gone. Therefore the Tai'riya Upanishad says
that the power contained in the lightning is Bhagawan.
However in this Upanishad we are medita9ng upon the “brightness” aspect in the lightning.
Having spoken about Adhi Daivam we are coming to Adyatma Upasana. In both of the previous
Upasanas the external world was considered as an object for medita9on. Here we are taking some
quality in the individual himself as an object of medita9on.
We have to find out which a`ribute of the individual is comparable to Yaksha? The Upanishad
ingeniously presents our very own “ Thoughts” as comparable to the Yaksha. And what is the basis of
this comparison?
1) Thought is also Kshanikam (instantaneous). -‐ That is the main problem, isn’t it. ☺ Thought changes
violently without any connec9on. Suddenly in the middle of the class, your mind goes to DMK or
AIDMK(Tamil Nadu poli9cal par9es) .We do not have any helmet to retain or restrain the thought -‐the
thought briefly appears and disappears like the lightning.
2) Every thought illumines a corresponding object. Any thought is like a streak of lightning. (Sanskrit
shloka read by Swamiji to indicate that “ Tree Thought” immediately illumines an object called Tree in our
head).
Each though is bright like the Yaksha because it is capable of illumining an object. If my words are known
by you then it is illumined by what faculty??-‐You may say that it is illumined by the ears. But how do the
Ears itself illumine sound? When you receive these words, then corresponding to every word that I uèr,
your mind forms a relavant shabdha vrid. (Sound thought)
Suppose I say one thing and in your mind there is some other thought at this moment-‐ Then even
though YOU ARE HERE, YOU DON’T HEAR! ☺
(This reminds me-‐I once saw an adver9sement for Earrings. The adver9ser had wrièn: -‐ “Ears are not
for Hearing. They are for Earrings! ☺ If you are silng here and your thoughts are elsewhere, then my
words have no connec9on with what is happening within you. So in this case, I would also say -‐ “Yes,
your ears are only for ear-‐rings just like the adver9sement says.”)
Always remember that it is the Vrid that illumines the objects. Therefore the Upanishad takes the mind
or the thought to represent the Yaksha.
This is a very subtle Upasana. The Upanishad says, “Every thought is going near or contac9ng Brahman
as it were. And not only does every thought contact Brahman, every thought is as though revealing
Brahman! “
How can we say that? You know that Bramhan is in the form of Chaitanyam (consciousness). Every
thought is capable of reflec9ng consciousness just as a mirror has the capacity to reflect the sunlight.
Every thought serves as a mirror as it were,reflec9ng the consciousness and forming "reflected
consciousness" which is called ChidABhasa or Pra'bimba Chaitanya. Since the ‘ Thought’ forms the
“Reflec9on of Consciousness” we can say that thought is contac9ng Brahman.
Not only do Thoughts indirectly reveal Brahman by forming this reflec9on. Thoughts help in our
recogni9on of Brahman as it were. This is a very subtle idea. You have to understand this carefully. This
Mike or this paper Clip is present here in front of us. Now we can say that the clip is known because it is
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illumined by the light. Anybody can understand this statement. But let us state another fact. When the
clip is not here, even though the light is present here, you are not able to recognize or feel the presence
of the light. So when I place the clip here, because of the clip the presence of the light is reflected and
the clip indirectly makes the light manifest! In the absence of the clip, light is present but in an un-‐
manifest form. But when the clip is here the light is manifested.
Let me make two statements. You should note the subtle difference between the two
1. Clip is illumined by the light
2. The light is manifested by the clip.
The first statement is called Prakashanam. The second statement is called Abhi-‐Vyak'hi.
The clip helps in the manifesta9on of the light as it were. And the light helps in the illumina9on of the
clip. Now if you understood this example then replace the ‘light’ with ‘Consciousness’. And replace the
‘clip’ with ‘ Thoughts’.
Every thought is illumined by the consciousness and the Consciousness becomes manifest because of
thought. Thought helps in the manifesta9on of consciousness and therefore we can say that thought
reveals the consciousness as it were.
When I am looking at every one of you, you are all illumined by the light. But simultaneously, the
presence of light is apparent, because of each one of you reflects the light.
Therefore we can say "Thought Reveals Consciousness". But we must always state this within quotes
(qualify it). “Reveals” here means manifests. When a person is in Coma, the thoughts are not there, and
hence the consciousness is un-‐manifest! But how do we normally describe such a person? We say that
the person is Un-‐Conscious! The person is NOT Un-‐Conscious! Even in the so called un-‐conscious person,
consciousness is present but the Consciousness is not manifest because the mind is not func9oning or
manifes9ng consciousness.
Even in this inert table, consciousness is present. But the table cannot entertain thoughts to help
manifest consciousness. Hence we call it Jadam or inert. Jadam means that in which the consciousness
in un-‐manifest and NOT that in which consciousness is absent as is commonly understood!
Do you know why we are all conscious? Because consciousness is manifest; and why is it manifested in
us? Because of Thoughts! Therefore thoughts ‘reveal’ Consciousness.
Look at this mantra.
Yad Etat gacha' Vacha Manaha i.e Mind goes to Brahman as it were. Like Indra, Vayu or Agni. Not only
that Anena cha Upasmara' i.e a person remembers Brahman through the mind because the mind helps
in revealing Brahman. And Abhikshnagum sankalpaha..he visualized Brahman through every thought as
it were. Whenever I am contac9ng a thought, I am contac9ng Brahman. It is just that I am only not
no9cing it! Just like whenever I am looking at each one of you , simultaneously I am contac9ng the light
in every one of you. But generally I only no9ce the people, I do not no9ce the light because of which you
are seen. T
So everyone is medita9ng on Brahman. Through every thought each person is contac9ng Brahman only.
Abhishna means repeatedly. Repeatedly one is contac9ng Brahman via thoughts. Thought can be taken
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as Brahma Upasana or Yaksha Upasana. And thought is also brilliant like Yaksha. Every thought reveals
the external world. During deep sleep also the external world is not revealed because thoughts are
absent. When Thoughts are present then world is revealed; thoughts are absent then the world is not
revealed. Therefore thoughts are all bright en99es like Yaksha-‐ appearing, illumining and disappearing.
Therefore meditate on your thoughts. This is Adhyatma Upasana is Mind Medita9on or Thought
Medita9on. It is a very subtle medita9on. You should meditate on your own thoughts.
Atha Adhyatmam i.e this is Adyatma Upasana. With this the third medita9on is over. Now we come to
the fourth medita9on.
That Awareness is adorable; it should be worshipped. All creatures desire the one who worships the
Self.
Three Upasanas are over:-‐ Vidyut Upasana, Nimesha Upasana and Mana Upasana. Two of these were
adhi daviam and one was adyatmama. Now we are entering the fourth medita9on which is Guna
vishista Upasana or medita9on upon the lord as endowed with Glories.
Guna means virtues or Vibuthis or Glories. Anantha Kalyana guna Sampanna Ishawara. And how do you
know that Ishwara is glorious? You have to go back to the story. From the Story, we understood that
Agni's burning power did not belong to Agni. Agni thought the burning glory belong to him. But in front
of the Yaksha, Agni understood, ‘I cannot burn as per my wish. I always thought that I had the switch for
Burning. But though I kept pulng the switch ON, nothing seems to work. It now seems like the Main
switch is elsewhere and someone has switched the mains off!’
What is that Main Switch? -‐ Ishwara! When Yaksha-‐ Ishwara -‐switched off the mains-‐ Agni’s repeated
aèmpts failed. So Agni's burning power really belonged to the Yaksha. Similarly Vayu's Adana Shak9 -‐
lihing capacity-‐ belonged to Yaksha. You have to extend this to everything in the crea9on. Here you have
to remember the tenth chapter of the Geeta.(Vibhu9 Yoga or Glories of the Lord)
In daily Sandhyavandanam, while chan9ng the Gayatri mantra we say , tat Savitur varenyam Bhragaha
or that brilliant effulgence of the Sun. The Brilliance in the SUN belongs to Bhagawan and not to the Sun.
In the form of Savituha Bhargaha or Solar Effulgence we are worshipping the Lord! You have to extend
this to everything in crea9on.
In the tenth chapter of the Geeta , Bhagawan says that, ‘If I have to keep on enumera9ng everything
then Class will never get over. So he finally says Yad Yad Urjita ...tad tad Eva Anything Glorious
anywhere , belongs to me. For that the Upanishad uses the word, Tad vanam. Vanam means Poojyatvam
or adorability. The General meaning of Vanam is forest. Here you should not take this meaning of the
word. The root Van means ‘to worship’. So Vanam means vananiyam or Poojyam or that which can be
worshipped.
Tad Vanam is Tesham Devatanam Vanam; the worship ability of every Devata is due to Bhagawan. Even
among Humans this is so. You meditate upon this Fact!
Now we are giving the Lord a new 9tle i.e Tadvanam or Adorable in All. One should meditate upon
Bhagawan as the glory in everyone. This is the fourth Upasana called Guna vishista Upasana. For the
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Guna Vishista Upasana , the Upanishad also gives the Phalam or benefit. The Upanishad says that you
have to apply the general rule -‐ In whatever form you worship God, in that form you will get the benefit.
If you worship the lord as Omniscient, the benefit that you will get is Jnanam. Because you are
medita9ng upon the Lord as endowed with all-‐knowledge.
f you meditate upon God as Omnipotent, you will get All-‐Shak9. If you going to meditate upon God as
the wealthiest one possessing all the wealth in the crea9on-‐ you will get Money! If you going to
meditate upon God as the most a`rac9ve one; you can become Mr. or Mrs. Universe! If you meditate
upon the Lord as the glorious one, you will become adorable in your group.
Yaha Etad Evam Veda…i.e whoever meditates upon Yaksha as the a`rac9ve one (Yaksha a`racted Agni,
vayu, Indra etc), the Phalam is sarvani Bhutani samvangchan' all other people will be interested in this
person. They will Love your company.
I remember that someone said, “ There are those that give happiness wherever they go. The other type-‐
they give happiness whenever they go! ☺ If you want to be the first type, do Tad Vana Upasana.
Con9nuing…
The disciple said; 'Teach me, sir, the Upanishad."The preceptor replied: "I have already told you the
Upanishad. I have certainly told you the Upanishad about limitless Awareness, your own Self."
So the teacher has completed the first range of Sadhanas consis9ng of four types of Upasanas. These
Upasanas are meant for Madhyama Adhikari's. UWama Adhikari's do not require any Upasana at all.
They will directly understand Brahma Vidya. The en9re discussion is over with the first two chapters
itself. If people are not able to follow Brahma-‐Vidya, then the sadhana is Upasana.
If a person is not even a Madhyama Adhikari -‐ even to prac9ce medita9on one requires some quietude;
at least he needs to sit down quietly in one place!-‐ If a person is extremely extroverted then he is not
even a Madhyama Adhikari. He comes under Manda Adhikari. For such a person, even Upasanas will not
work. And therefore we should prescribe Karma Yoga.
You are extrovert-‐ So you may stay busy. But Instead of being selfishly busy, you be selflessly busy. That
Karma Yoga Sadhana is going to be discussed here.
Before that one of the students stands up and says, ‘Sir, I have a ques9on. Please teach me Upanishad'.
Ok! ☺ So what was going on un9l now? ☺ ShankarAcharya gives some other interpreta9on. He gives a
technical interpreta9on. I don’t want to go into that right now. You can understand it like this.
The teacher without gelng angry or frustrated says, ‘I have already taught the Upanishad. In the first
two chapters itself I have explained it. Aherwards the story and the Upasana were also explained.
Therefore the Upanishad is completed.’ And what type of Upanishad… Brahmi Upanishadam abruma i.e
‘I have taught that Upanishad which deals with Brahman’. The word Upanishad means Secret teaching.
Some of the Upasanas or Medita9ons are also called Upanishad because some of these are considered
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Secret. For e.g. Sri Vidya and other medita9ons are generally not taught in public. Even though they are
forms of Upasana, they are secret teachings. Even many of the Tantra Shastra's are kept secret.
So the word Upanishad means any secret teaching. Here the teacher specifies, ‘I have given you that
secret teaching which is dealing with Brahman or the ul9mate truth. If you feel that you have not
understood the Upanishad, you need not feel bad at all.’ If a par9cular student understands the
Upanishad then it does not mean that he is "special" or has “horns on his head” or any such thing. He
has just done the preparatory Sadhanas in his previous Janma. And therefore for such a person, the
Upanishad is a walk over even though he or she may be young in age.
The only difference is that some have prepared in the previous Janma and some have to prepare in this
Janma. As far as prepara9on goes, there is no difference at all. ‘You need not feel bad. I will give you
further Sadhanas.’ What are these? These will be enumerated.
Austeri4es, self-‐restraint, and sacrificial rites are Its feet, and the Vedas are Its many limbs. Truth is Its
home
The teacher says, ‘if the Upanishad building has to be constructed then like any other building it requires
a good founda9on. Without a founda9on, the building cannot be constructed. Even if the building is
constructed, it will collapse like a pack of cards. The same is true with regard to Brahma vidya also.
Hence in the Veda, Upanishad comes at the end alone. Veda Anta is Upanishad indica9ng that the Veda
Purva (ini9al por9on) gives the founda9on for Vedanta (concluding por9on).
What does the founda9on consist of? A few key bricks are men9oned
Tapaha, Damaha , Karmaha...
Tapaha-‐ A life of Modera9on or discipline. A life in which one avoids all excesses. One in which a person
is not given to indulgences. Not a licen9ous life. Krishna will say in the sixth chapter," Yuktahara
Viharasya...". Everything should be in modera9on-‐ ea9ng should be in modera9on as also fas9ng.
Sleeping should be in modera9on as also waking. Talking and Silence also should be in modera9on.
Everything is like this. Ac9on is also important and rest is also equally important. The Golden Mean. I
have defined Tapas previously as willful self-‐denial to establish my mastery over my own organs. Willful
self-‐denial...Say NO to everything once in a while. Do it willfully...if you keep on ea9ng then fast once in a
while. If you do not do it willfully then you will get agitated during your fast. What is the purpose of
Tapaha? To establish mastery over my own sense organs.
Damaha-‐ Sense Control, which is men9oned in the Geeta very ohen. Sensory Discipline does NOT mean
suppression. Waywardness is not correct and suppression is also not correct. Managing Sense Organs
such that I AM THE MASTER of my organs.
Karma-‐ Performance of one's own du9es. Swadharma Anusthanam. Or it could also mean Performance
of those ac9ons which are meant for spiritual growth. Shastra has prescribed many religious ac9ons
meant for inner growth. Those ac9ons will not give you money. They will not give you name or fame. For
e.g. by doing Sandhya Vandhanam daily in the morning you will not get an increment in your office☺.
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We tend to renounce these ac9ons at the first instance since we do not see any physical benefits! We are
ready to do any ac9on which will give me tangible material benefit and all these religious ac9ons do not
give such benefits. So I will define spiritual ac9ons or Karma as -‐ WHAT YOU GENERALLY GIVE UP
WHENEVER THERE IS SOME PRESSURE☺.
Vedaha-‐ Vedic study. Vedic study includes parayanam (reading and studying the meaning).
Satyam-‐ Truthfulness or Honesty. Integrity. We have seen in Mundakopanishad "Satyameva
Jayate..." (Truth shall triumph).So Satyam has been emphasized in almost every Upanishad.
Here the Upanishad is comparing the Self Knowledge to a cow. If Self-‐knowledge has to be compared to
a cow, it requires Legs. These Sadhanas (prac'ces) are compared to the Legs of the Brahma Vidya Cow.
Tapaha is one leg, Damaha is another leg etc .
The body of the cow is Vedaha Sarva Angani; i.e all the other limbs are the Vedas.
And what is the cow shed in which the cow is well protected? For the Brahma Vidya cow the shed is
Satyam Ayatanam i.e Truthfulness alone is the shed in which self-‐knowledge is well protected. What
does this mean? Once truthfulness goes away, this teaching is not protected. This knowledge will also
run away from you if you discard truthfulness! Just as the cow will run away if the shed is not there.
Always remember Satyameva Jayate. (truth alone Truimphs)
With this the sadhanas are presribed for manda adhikari's also.
I hope you understand and remember the three levels?

• Manda Adhikai needs Karma Yoga
• Madyama Adhikari needs Upasana
• and Uàma Adhikari needs Jnana Yoga.
This is the en9re teaching. And now the Upanishad is going to be concluded in the last mantra
The one who knows this Upanishad shakes off all sin and becomes firmly established in the Infinite, the
highest heaven.
And so what should I do?? The Upanishad does not have a uniform advice. All people are not of the
same level of preparedness. Since the Adhikaris are different, the teaching also will have to be different
in keeping with the Adhikari's.
People some9mes get confused. They say, ‘Why cannot the Vedas give a simple set of commandments
like the 10 or 20 commandments. This will make the whole teaching simple.’ Some9mes the Vedas also
give opposing advice. For e.g. the Mantra Prajacha Swadhyaya etc in the Vedas say ‘You should get
married, You should beget children, You should make sure your children are also married and they beget
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children.’ etc . And in another place the Vedas say, ‘Na Karmana Na Prajaya’ etc meaning ‘What is the
use of children? Leave them all’. How are we to understand the meaning of all this? Veda is the most
confusing book if we do not know the audience for whom the teaching is prescribed.
Here the advice is very clear. If I cannot do Upasana and Vedanta does not mean anything to me then I
should predominantly take to Karma Yoga. Not that Vedanta should be given up. One can keep listening
to Vedanta and one can keep trying Upasana. Unless you try it how will you know whether you are ready
for this or not. But one should predominantly prac9ce Karma Yoga.
Suppose one is queit enough to meditate or perform Upasana then he can do this.
Note that even at the Ashrama Level,
1. Grihasthasrama is Karma Pradhanam. (Karma dominant)
2. Vanaprastha ashama is Upasana Pradhana (Media9on Dominant)and
3. Sanyasa Ashrama is Jnana Pradhana. (Knowledge dominant)
I am using the word Pradhanam indica9ng that all three are present in all the Ashramas, but the
propor9on goes on increasing from Ac9on to Knowledge.
Suppose one does all this what will happen? The Upanishad says...Yaha Evam Etam Veda.i.e Suppose a
person receives this teaching Evam i.e in this manner. This word – In this manener-‐ is important.
Aher listening to Upanishad you should not say things like Brahman is somewhere far away and you have
to come across Brahman and you have to meditate on Brahman to reach Brahman. It should be
understood that I AM BRAHMAN who is ever evident in the form of consciousness in and through every
thought. Brahman is neither a known object nor is it an unknown object. It is NOT an object at all. It is
the Very subject -‐ I -‐ which is ever evident. Evam-‐ in this manner-‐ if a person receives this teaching, then
paapmanam Apahadya...He will destroy all his sins or Paapam.
All the Paapams (sins) consis9ng of three categories.
1. One is well known Paapam which is result of bad ac9ons.
2. The second is Punyam (merits) which is a result of good ac9ons. Punyam is also a Paapam from
the Vedan9c angle because punyam leads to Punarapi Jananam. (one more life)
3. And the third sin is Ignorance. This ignorance is the ORIGINAL Sin. According to Vedanta that is
the fundamental Paapam. All these three will be destroyed by self knowledge.
Swarge loke pra''shta' i.e He will be established in Swarga loka. What does this mean? The Upanishad
is contradic9ng its own statement -‐Swaarga is supposed to be Punya Phalam(result of meritorious
ac'on). Aher Punyams are destroyed where is the ques9on of Swarga or heaven.
So Shankaracharya says that in this context Swarga Loka means Param Brahma. It is not HEAVEN but
Brahman itself. Brahman is qualified here as Jeya i.e the greatest thing or the ul9mate. If Swarga loka is
taken as one of the heavens then the adjec9ve Jeye cannot be used. Jeye means the greatest one and
Swarga Loka cannot be the greatest. The greatest can be Brahman alone.
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Pra' 'shtha'...he is well established in Brahman. Be careful. Please do not think that established in
Brahman means that he goes and sits on top of Brahman. It just means that He knows...I AM NEVER
AWAY FROM BRAHMAN. He becomes Brahman. Pra' Tishtha'. This is repeated again to indicate that the
phalam is guaranteed. He will become one with Brahman! HE will definitely become one with Brahman.
Also in the olden days the Upanishad was not in wrièn form. If it was wrièn then you can underline a
word or highlight it etc. But when it is purely spoken, the end is indicated by the repe99on of the LAST
word. With this the fourth chapter is over and the Kena Upanishad is also over.
PurnaMadaha
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Talk 12:-‐ Summary
I will give you a summary of the Kena Upanishad. This is a short Upanishad belonging to the Sama Veda.
Like most of the other Upanishads, this Upanishad is also in the form of a dialogue. The dialogue format
is for convenience of understanding and also to show that this knowledge has to be gained from a Guru
only. In this Upanishad we do not get the name of the student and the teacher and therefore we have to
assume that a qualified student approached a qualified teacher. Qualified student means Sadhana
Chatushtaya Sampanaha i.e. the one who has got discrimina9on between eternal and ephemeral,
dispassion towards the ephemeral, discipline and desire for the eternal. These four qualifica9ons of the
student are assumed. Similar the teacher's qualifica9on is Shrotriya and Brahma Nishtaha i.e the one
who has the knowledge of reality and the one who has the methodology of communica9ng the
knowledge to others. The one who has both the knowledge and the skill of communica9on is said to be a
qualified teacher.
So we have to assume that a qualified student approached a qualified teacher and gained this
knowledge. This is the background of this Upanishad. This Upanishad is 9tled Kena Upanishad because it
begins with the word Kenashitam Pata' etc and based on the first word the Upanishad has been named.
It consists of four chapters and we will briefly see the essence of each chapter.
The first chapter has four Topics.
1. Atma Prashna (Ques9on about reality) -‐ The student asked a ques9on based on his knowledge
that the body and the mind are inert by themselves. The student already knew this fact that the
body is made up of maèr and the mind is also made up of maèr. They are intrinsically
insen9ent. If they are sen9ent now then it must be because of the blessing of something else.
Just like the Fan is func9oning because of the blessing of something other than the fan
(electricity). By itself the fan cannot rotate.
The student asks the ques9on -‐ What is that external principle because of which the inert body
and the inert organs are sen9ent. That unseen principle he calls Deva. What is that Atma
because of which the inert body-‐mind complex is ac9ng as if it is Sen9ent?
2. Atma Lakshanam(Indica'on of reality) -‐ The next topic is the teachers defini9on of Atma. The
teacher gives two important defini9ons. The first defin9on is Shrotrasya Shrotram...upto
Chakshuhu in the first mantra. The literal meaning sounds funny-‐ Atma is the Eye of the eye, the
Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind and the Speech of the speech. I told you the significance of
this defini9on.Atma is the Ear of the ear means that Atma is that consciousness which is
different from the ear, which pervades the ear and because of which alone the ear func9ons as
the ear. Similarly you have to extend to Eye, Speech, mind etc.
91
If you take the essence of this defini9on then this is really the five points that we have discussed
1) Consciousness is not a Part, product or property of the body
2) Consciousness is an independent en9ty which pervades and enlivens the body
3) Consciousness is not bound by the boundaries or limita9ons of the body
4) Consciousness survives even aher the fall of the body
5) The surviving Consciousness does not transact but con9nues to exist.
Such a consciousness principle is called Ear of the Ear etc. This is the first defini9on
Later the teacher gives another important defini9on for the same Atma. That is in verse number 4. ( The
First defini9on was in Mantra2; 2nd and 4th mantras are very important in the first chapter). The
teacher says that Atma is something other than the Known and the Unknown. That means it is un-‐
Knowable. Why do we say this? Every knowable object, prior to knowledge was Unknown. Aher
knowing, it becomes known. By saying Atma is other than the known and the unknown the Upanishad
says that Atma is un-‐Knowable.
That means it is not possible to objec9fy it. It is something other than objects. And through the second
defini9on the teacher conveys indirectly-‐ If Atma can never be an object then by elimina9on we know
that Atma has to be the very subject principle. The only thing other than Known and Unknown is the
Knower. The only thing other than the object is the Subject.
The en9re crea9on can be divided only into two principles -‐Subject and Object. If you have eliminated
the objects then the only thing that is leh out is the subject. Atma is ever the Subject and never the
object; ever the knower never the known; ever the experiencer and never the experienced; ever the
seer and never the seen. This is the second defini9on worth remembering. Anyateva Tad Viditaat....
3. Atma Jnanam (Knowledge of Reality) -‐ What can be Atma Jnanam or Knowledge of Atma. If Atma
is never knowable and it is never an object , then how can we talk about Atma Jnanam? The very
word Atma Jnanam is a contradic9on in terms because if I talk about Atma Jnanam then it
becomes an object of knowledge.
Atma Jnanam can only be in one way and that is owning up the fact that I am the ATMA. There is
no other knowledge other than this ‘Owning Up’. This owning up automa9cally supposes
another thing-‐ When I own up the ‘Consciousness’ as myself then automa9cally the body mind
complex gets disowned as Not-‐Atma.(not me) Owning up the Atma involves disowning the body-‐
mind complex which the Upanishad calls as transcending the body mind complex. Adhi muchya
Dheeraha. Transcending is not a physical act. It is purely a mental Act. When I use the word "I",
instead of claiming the body or mind as "I", I claim the consciousness as "I". This inner
transforma9on or inner shih of the "I" from the body-‐mind complex is called Atma jnanam. From
Deha to Dehi. Shariram to Shariri. Anatma to Atma. This is the third topic.
4. Atma Jnana Phalam (Fruit of this knowledge)-‐ What is the benefit of this knowledge? The
moment I dis-‐iden9fy from the body-‐mind complex, I look upon the body as one of the objects
in the world. Before I looked upon the body as myself. Body was not included in the World!
When I said "world", I would include everything except the body. Here what happens is when I
92
use the word "I", the Consciousness alone is considered. The body-‐mind complex is included in
the Material universe.
The moment I look upon the body objec9vely, the greatest benefit is acceptance of the
condi9ons of the body without resistance. I look upon it as if it is belongs to somebody. Just like
you read the obituary column without any reac9on because that is somebody else. But 'this one'
is also "Some"-‐"Body". Jnana Phalam is objec9vity. Objec9vity means acceptance of
Prarabdham; remember that body has Prarabdham.
Acceptance means No resistance. No resistance means I am always cool ☺ . You would have
studied in physics, the greater the resistance in the wire the more it gets heated up. My head is
also 'wired' like that; the more the resistance the more it gets heated up. Sorrow is the
indica9on of resistance. Resistance is the indica9on of subjec9vity. And subjec9vity is indica9on
of "Solid Ignorance". So the first benefit is objec9vity. Objec9vity was indicated by Adhimuchya
Dheeraha i.e. transcending of BMI
The second benefit was presented as the accomplishment of immortality. What do we
mean by this? We have to be very careful. Anatma cannot become immortal. Body cannot
become immortal.
Now Can Atma become immortal? ☺ Atma need not "become immortal" because it
already is. Then who gets immortality? What do you mean by "gelng immortality"? Gelng
immortality means shihing the "I" from the mortal body to the immortal Atma. In Ignorance I
said 'I am mortal'. Now iden9fying with Atma I say, "I am immortal". Gelng immortal is a pure
'shih' of iden9fica9on-‐“I”-‐in the mind. It is a clean intellectual process. There is no Event of
conver9ng a Mortal into immortal. Even omnipotent God cannot do this; God cannot do certain
things. That is why you will find in all Puranas (Indian Mythology) these Rakshasas (demons) will
perform Tapas (austeri9es) and Brahma , Vishnu or Siva will appear in front of them-‐ ‘Child, I am
happy with your Tapas. What do you want?’ And invariably, he will say, ‘I do not want to die.’
And invariably the answer will be -‐Not possible! Choose another boon.Whether it is
Hiranyakashipu or Hiranyaksha or Ravana Or any other Puranic character-‐ you will see the same
sequence. The ques9on will come up-‐ If Lord is omnipotent, how can you say that Lord cannot
convert Mortal into immortal.
The defini9on of Omni potence is -‐ Doing everything possible. It is Not Doing the
Impossible! One of the impossibles is the conversion of the Mortal into immortal. Even
Bhagawan cannot make an immortal body. Bhagawan's body itself will end. So aàinment of
immortality is owning up the essence of Atma as My own essence. With this the fourth topic is
also over. This is the essence of the first chapter. In this the 2nd and 4th mantras are important.
The second chapter again highlights two topics -‐ Atma Jnanam and Atma Jnana Phalam. They have been
already discussed in the first chapter. But being important topics they are re-‐emphasized in the second
chapter. Instead of pulng Atma Jnanam in the mouth of the teacher, the very same idea is put in the
mouth of the student.
The teacher said, Atma is other than the known and the unknown. We already know how the teacher
has presented this topic. Suppose the teacher asks, ‘Oh student, you have been aènding these classes
very aèn9vely. Now do you know Atma.’ How should the student answer?
93
If the student says, ‘I know Atma’, Atma will become Known. If he says, ‘I do not know Atma’, Atma will
become Unknown. The teacher has already defined Atma as that which does not come either under
known or unknown. Therefore the student uses a peculiar language. "Oh teacher, I know Atma. I do not
think I don’t know the Atma.I know that I don’t know." This quibbling of words indicates that I cannot say
either I know or I don’t know. Both statements are wrong with regard to Atma.
So which statement is right? I have already told you -‐ NEVER use a transi9ve verb. A verb which has an
object is called a transi9ve verb. If you use a transi9ve verb then Brahman will become an object of the
transi9ve verb. If you say, ‘I Know Atma’ then Atma becomes the object here.
If you say, ‘I experienced Atma in Nirvikalpa samadhi’ then for gelng Atma you have to keep going aher
your Samadhi's. If you say, I saw the Atma or I contacted the Atma or I realized the Atma (people use this
word ‘realized’ if they want to give this a slightly mys9cal touch ☺ ) -‐ Any word you use will make the
Atma an object. The only verb you can use is "AM"-‐ I AM ATMA. Aham Brahma Asmi.
The Upanishad then makes this knowledge more clearly in a later Mantra which is an important one.
Pra'bodha Viditam Matam i.e. Mantra 4 in the second Chapter. This mantra is very significant. We do
not have any parallel to this mantra in any other Upanishad. This is a significant mantra because many
confusions regarding Atma Jnanam will go away if this mantra is properly understood.
In the previous por9ons we have said that Atma can never be known. It is never Knowable; it can never
be experienced.
And when we make this statement very strongly then a student will conclude that Atma is a maèr of
belief. ‘Swamiji says you can never experience it, and you can never know it. If Atma can never be known
or experienced then how do I accept that there is such a thing called Atma. And without knowing if I
have to accept something then it is only a belief. This is exactly like "Heaven". I accept "heaven" but I
have never experienced Heaven. Without experiencing Heaven if I accept it, then it is a belief. All these
days I was thinking that if I keep on medita9ng then one day I will experience Atma. Swamiji you have
demolished my hopes by saying that Atma experience is never possible. I have to accept the Atma and if
I have to accept this without an experiece then it becomes a maèr of belief. ‘
Are we to believe the Atma? For this our reply is-‐ Atma cannot be Known. And Atma need not be known.
Because even without your effort, Atma is ever evident. Atma is evident as the consciousness principle.
The consciousness is evident even before the opera9on of the sense organs. When you do not operate
your sense organs, then you do not have any sensory experience but even the absence of sensory
experience is evident because of Consciousness. Therefore Consciousness is evident even before the
sense opera9ons begin.
Similarly even before your mental opera9on, when the mind is blank m that blank state is evident
because of consciousness. Therefore the evidence of consciousness is present even without the
opera9on of any organ. This is the difference between the Atma and the world. Every object in the world
is evident because of the opera9on of the Sense organs. Whereas consciousness is evident even without
the opera9on of the organs. Therefore Atma cannot be known and Atma need not be known. Because
Atma is ever evident.
Then people will come and ask some ques9ons like -‐ If Atma is ever evident, when is the Atma evident?
When is the ever-‐evident Atma evident? Etc. ☺
94
All nonsensical ques9ons! The very word ‘ever-‐evident’ means you need not work for the evidence of
Atma. Consciousness is evident in waking, sleep, dream or samadhi states. When experiences are there,
Atma is evident. When experiences are not there also, Atma is evident. How do we say this? When the
experiences are not there then the absence of experiences in Known because of the ever evident Atma.
So tell me what Sadhana (prac9ce) you should do to know the Atma? The Upanishad says that doing the
Sadhana is denial of Atma. The very doing is the denial of myself. It is like me looking for light here and
there. The very search for the light is denial of the light that is present here. The very searching is
possible because of light alone. That because of which everything is searched need not be searched at
all!
Too many people think that Atma is known in Nirvikalpa samadhi. This is one of the worst and biggest
misconcep9ons in the Vedan9c field. This misconcep9on can be negated in this mantra-‐ Pra'bodha
Viditam Matam. In and through every experience Atma is evident and not in a par'cular experience.
Note :-‐Atma is not evident in a par9cular experience. Owning up this ever evident consciousness as "I" is
called "Atma Jnanam". This owning up requires a ‘thought’ in the mind. The evidence of Atma does not
require a thought. But that "owning up" requires a thought. The thought is "This ever evident is Atma is
me'. This is Atma Jnana presented in the fourth mantra.
And Atma Jnana phalam is talked about later. Atma Jnana phalam is Sarvatra Atma Darshanam and
Amtritatva prap'.
Sarvatra Atma Darshanam means recognizing myself in everyone. When the wave takes itself as a wave,
it is located at a par9cular place. But when the wave understands, that it is water, then it sees itself
everywhere. When I take myself as the body, I am located at a par9cular place, but when i know myself
as Consciousness then where am I? -‐ Bhuteshu Bhuteshu etc i.e. I am the Consciousness in everybody.
This is what is called as Universal Love. When I see everyone as myself, then just as I love myself, I will
love everyone because everyone happens to be MY-‐SELF. In fact, this is the ONLY way Universal Love is
possible. Of course, this last statement is not said in the Upanishad but it is a corollary! ☺
Jnanam Phalam #2 is repe99on of what was discussed in the previous chapter i.e Amritasya Prap'hi or
immortality or freedom from fear of death. So note the important Mantra in this chapter i.e. the fourth
mantra.
We now come to the third chapter which is only a symbolic presenta9on of the same teaching in the
form of a story. Through the story we come to know that Indra, Agni, Vayu are not able to know the
Yaksha who appeared before them i.e. the mind and the sense organs cannot know Brahman. The
second significance is Brahma As'tvam. We have a doubt regarding Brahman's existence because it is
not available or objec9fica9on. Through the Yaksha’s existence the existence of Brahman is proved.
The third significance is the necessity of qualifica9on for Bramha Jnanam. Qualifica9ons like humility -‐
When the devas were arrogant, they could not get the knowledge; Indra could not even meet the
Yaksha. But when he became humble he was able to know this knowledge -‐the necessity of Guru etc
(Indra could gain the knowledge only with the help of Uma Devi.)
The fourth Significance is that all glories belong to Brahman alone just like the hearing power of the ear,
seeing power of the Eye, the thinking power of the mind etc. which was indicated through the story -‐
Agni's burning power, Vayu’s lihing power etc belonged to Brahman. So nobody has any glory of his own.
Claiming the glory is vanity. Mithya Abhimanam i.e. every pride is illusory.
95
The next significance is that self-‐knowledge makes a person great in the world. Indra became glorious
aher he obtained this knowledge. Whoever gets this knowledge becomes "great". And finally the story
becomes useful for prac9cing variety of Upasanas which will be given through the fourth chapter. Thus
through the story the Upanishad conveys several ideas; this is the essence of the third chapter.
And then comes the fourth chapter and final chapter. Three topics are discussed. The first topic is glory
of Brahma Vidya i.e every Jnani becomes an adorable person. All the glories of a Guru do not belong to
the Guru himself. They belongs to the Knowledge that he possesses. Glory of self-‐knowledge was thus
revealed.
Thereaher, two types of Sadhanas are prescribed for those who are not able to grasp the Upanishad
teaching or for those who are able to grasp but not able to retain.
The first class of Sadhana is Upasana. Four Upasanas are prescribed viz lightning upasana, winking
Upasana, thought Upasana and TadVana Upasana. Medita9ng upon Brahman as lightning or winking or
thought brings out the flee9ng nature of Brahman because in the story the Yaksha appeared briefly and
disappeared. The fourth Upasana is called TadVana Upasana; the Lord is adorable to all. Brahman alone
is the adorable thing in the world.
These four Upasanas are for Madhyama Adhikari's . And suppose there are people who cannot grasp the
teaching at all-‐ the Madhyama Adhikari’s could grasp but could not retain. This type of person cannot
even understand. For such people the Upanishad prescribes Karma Yoga and a life of values -‐ a religious
life based on performance of duty and values like Satyam, Dama , Tapa etc. When a person follows these
values he will be able to grasp the teaching.
Then the Upanishad concludes by saying that whoever follows Karma Yoga and then Upasana and finally
Jnana Yoga and gains this knowledge and such a person anante swarge loke jeye pra''shtha' i.e aàins
moksha. With this the fourth chapter is over and the Kena Upanishad is also over.
Purna Madah...

96

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Kena

Talks on Kena Upanishad

Shruyate i' Shru' :-­‐ The heard Wisdom is Shru9

These Vedas are broadly classiﬁed into two por9ons.

Veda Purva (Ini.al Por.on)

THAT I DESIRE… Con9nues. WHAT I DESIRE… varies.

Dharmarthi prapnuyaat Dharma….etc (Refer Vishnu Sahasranama)

For e.g Shirodhanva….( Verse describing Vishnu Refer Vishnu Sahasranama)

Pashu Kamashchinvita….(Vedic Mantra Sung here)

Balastavat Kreedasaktaha… (Shankaracharya Bhaja Govindam)

So to summarize, you have to remember these nine Terms

You know what Nachiketas, said?

Pariskya Lokan parishkritan etc….(Refer Mundaka Upanishad)

Purna Madah Purnamidam …..(upanishad invoca'on)

Guru Shishya Samvaadaha.

Let us read the Shan' Patha now

Refer h`p://sanskritdocuments.org/all_pdf/kena.pdf for original sanskrit)

Om. Peace! Peace! Peace!

Therefore look at the second line of this mantra.

When you see, Rupa is a prameyam,

Aprameya Svaprakasha Mano Vachama Gochara (Refer Lalitha Sahasranama)

So we have to understand this teaching in three Stages.

The Shishya Con9nues the Mantra

We have seen that the student makes these statement:-­‐

Let us look at what he says,

jAgrat svapna suShup'Shu sphuTatarA yA samvid ujjRimbhate

yA brahmAdi pipIlikAntatanuShu protA jagatsAkShiNI |

saivAham na ca dRishyavastvi' dRiDhaprajnApi yasyAs' cet

cANDAlo’stu sa tu dvijo’stu gururityeShA manIShA mama ||1||

Then what are we studying scriptures for?

Words can be broadly classiﬁed into two types.

Words of Introduc4on

Words of Descrip4on

Brahman-­‐ Introduced or Described

1. Consciousness is Myself

2. Consciousness is Brahman

Con9nuing the same

More in the next class

Pra'bodha vidhitam matam amrutatvam hi vindhate etc

Iha Ched Avedi Ata Satyam As'…etc

Yajana Yogyaha Yakshaha -­‐ A sacred being; a Brilliant being

Agni Devata (Fire God) is the messenger of Gods.

Agnim Dutam Vrinimahe (Vedic Mantra sung here))

So we have seen that both Agni and Vayu failed.

Yatra Yogeshwara Krishna...

Talk 10:-­‐ Khanda 5: Mantras 1 to 4

(Begins with Invoca9on i.e Shan9 Patha)

A famous Shloka says

Yasya nas' svayam prajna sastram tasya karo' kim

locanabhyam vihinasya darpanah kim karisya'

Now we are entering the fourth Chapter.

With this background let us read the ﬁrst mantra

Let us now look at the Mantra.

This is the Medita9on Number 1; Lightning medita9on

1. Brahma Vidya Stu' or gloriﬁca9on of this knowledge.

1. Clip is illumined by the light

2. The light is manifested by the clip.

Look at this mantra.

Tapaha, Damaha , Karmaha...

Shruyate i' Shru' :-‐ The heard Wisdom is Shru9

We have seen that the student makes these statement:-‐

Brahman-‐ Introduced or Described

Yajana Yogyaha Yakshaha -‐ A sacred being; a Brilliant being

Talk 10:-‐ Khanda 5: Mantras 1 to 4