Kenopanishad : ( 18/01/2013. )

Chapter-3. Mantram-1. Brahma   ha   Devebhyo   vijigye, tasya   ha   brhmano   vijaye   Deva   amahiyanta. Ta   aiksant-asmakam-evayam    vijayah asmakam-evayam   mahimeti.   Meaning- It is said that Devas once won a war over Asuras. Though the victory was due to Brahmam, the Devas became elated by it, and celebrated their victory.

Chapter 3. ---------------------------/ This chapter consists of 12 mantras, and is about a story, which is the symbolic representation of the truths so far discussed in the scriptures. Essence of the story:- We have already discussed how from the Unmanifest, the Manifest world emerged out, in descending series of grosser and still grosser matter. Thus we had Akasa (Sky)/Space, Vayu (Air), Agni (Fire), Jala ( water ), and ultimately Prithvi ( Earth ), the Pancha Boodhas ( Five Elements) enumerated in order of grossness--the Earth, being the grossest. Special qualities of Elements:- 1. Akasa- has sound as its property; 2. Vayu - has besides the quality of Akasa, its own special quality of touch;  3. Agni- with sound and touch, special quality Form; 4. In Jala- besides the qualities of the previous three elements, added taste as its special quality; 5. Earth- finally possess all four preceding qualities with its special quality , the smell. The sense-organs:-

Chapter-2. Mantram-5.(last of this chapter). Iha   ced-avedid-atha   satyam-asti na   ced-thavedin-mahati   vinastih Bhutesu   bhutesu   vicitya   dhirah pretya-smallokad-amrta   bhavanti. Meaning:- "If one knows ( That Brahmam )  here, In this world, then the true end of all human aspirations is gained. If one knows not ( That/ Brahmam) here, great is the destruction. The wise, seeing the  ONE ATMA  IN ALL  BEINGS, rise from  sense-life and become immortal. " Explanation:- Without renunciation, no enduring successes  can ever be gained by anyone, at any time, in the annals of human endeavour. Examples:- Nature herself is roaring this Truth. 1. The fish must renounce their capacity to swim if they were to gain the greater glory of gliding through the space on their wings as birds. The birds must surrender their power of flying if they were to rise higher in evolution and reach the instincts of animals. The animals must slowly  give up their hardn

Chapter-2. Mantram-4. Pratibodha-viditam   matam   amrtatvam   hi   vindate, Atmana   vindate   viryam   vidyaya   vindate mrtam. Meaning:- "Indeed, he attains immortality, who intuits it in and through every modification of the mind. Through the Atma he obtains real strength, and through knowledge, immortality." Explanation:- A dynamic witness- A Absolute Truth presiding in us as the Self is 'known well' only when it is knowingly understood as the witness of the three states of Consciousness. " A witness is one who is standing apart from the incident and who witnesses and views   the incident without in any sense taking part in it. The witness has not even any interest in the incident nor has any prejudice against it. Unmoved and uninterested, a witness beams on the passing panorama in front of him." Similarly  if Truth, the Self, were to retain Its status as the Eternal, the Immortal, the All-pervading. It has to be a non-doer

Chapter-2. Mantram-3. Yasyamatam   tasyamatam   matam   yasya   na   veda   sah; Avynatam   vyanatam   vynatam-avyanatam. Meaning- "He understands It who comprehends It not;  and he understands It not, who feels he has comprehended It. It is the unknown to the Master of True Knowledge but to the ignorant It is the known." Explanation- This is the reply  of Guru to the Disciple's reaction in the mantram-2. Here the Teacher endorses that what was stated by the pupile  is quite acceptable and that it is the only way in which the transcendal experience can be expressed. The Self which is Knowledge Absolute cannot be known by another knower other than Itself. The sun never illuminates Itself since it is light itself.      

Chapter-2. Mantram-2. Naham   manye   suvedeti   no  na   vedeti   veda   ca yo   nastad   veda   tad   no   na   vedeti   veda   ca. Meaning:- "I do not think that 'I know it well.' But not that I do not know;  I know too. Who amongst us comprehends It both as the Not Known and as the Known--- He comprehends It." Explanation:- Guru's(Teacher) warning to Disciple:-(mantram-1.) The Guru's kind and critical warning was that  the Self is not known as an object other than the knower himself, and that all such understandings are but the comprehensions of the Intellect and Mind and not the true Experience of Truth through the 'Divine-Eye,' the Intuition. The disciple's answer as contained in this mantram is quite revealing and expressive. Disciple's reaction to Guru's warning:- There is an entire drama packed in this mantram : a drama of the student's inner mind. In utter obedience to his teacher, he fi

Chapter:-2. Mantram:-1. Yadi   manyase   suvedeti   dabhramevapi nunam   tvam   vettha   Brahmano   rupam; yadasya   tvam   yadasya   devesvatha  nu mimamsyameva   te   manye   viditam. Meaning of the Mantram- The preceptor here hastens to warn his disciple: "If you think, 'I knew well.' it is certainly but little- the form of the Brahmam you have known is also the form of the Devas. T herefore, I think that what what you think is still to be ascertained."  Explanation:- Fool:- The teacher reads the face of the disciple and gives a timely warning : "If you think that you know the Atma well, you are indeed a fool. I have said that the Atma is the Eye of the Eye etc , and the same is the Chaithanya(Power) in heavenly forms of the Devas also. But because of these statements in the last chapter  if you conclude that you have 'realised' Atma, you are sadly mistaken.   Conditioned Truths:- Conditional Truths, Delve deeper

Chapter:-1. Mantram-7. Yacchrotrena   na srnoti-yena   srotram-idam   srutam; tadeva   Brahma   tvam   viddhi   nedam   yadidam-upasate. "What cannot be heard by the ear, but by which the ears are able to hear ..........know That as Brahmam and not this, which people here do worship." The same idea in the previous mantram once again repeated with another sense organ the Ear. Here  the emphasis is on that behind the finite organs of the body, mind and intellect, there is a Conscious Principle (Tattvam), has been more and more brought  home to the student's intellectual appreciation by yet another analogy. Brahmam directs the ear towards its object, the sound. A dead man's ear cannot register any of the finite sounds. Since the ear in itself   is not   the hearer.  Example- A gramophone in itself can enjoy no music!

Chapter-1. Mantram-6. Yaccaksusa   na  pasyati   yena  caksugmsi    pasyati; tadeva   Brahma  tvam   viddhi   nedam   yad-idam-upasate. 'What cannot be seen by the eye, but by which the eyes are able to see.........Know That alone as Brahmam and not this, which people do worship here.'   The idea expressed in the previous mantram is again repeated here taking the example of the eye perceiving its forms and colours in the outer world of objects. The eyes do not see: the eye is only the instrument of seeing. The chaithanyam in us works behind and make possible to see.     

Chapter:-1. Mantram:-5. Yan-manasa-na  manute  yena  hur  mano  matam tadeva  Brahma  tvam  viddhi  nedam  yad-idam-upasate. What one cannot feel with the mind, but because of which they say that the mind feels............know That alone as Brahmam and not this, which people do worship here. TheTeacher in Kenopanisad prevents the disciples attention from its usual channels of superstitious beliefs and directs it towards nobler line of thinking by which he could independently become aware of his own Real Nature. Thus, here, in this mantram, the Master says  that the principle of Reality cannot be cognized by the perceptions  of the mind but, at the same time, all the mind's  'capacities to perceive things' can function only when the mind is presided over by the 'Life Aspect' in it. Example:-1. ---------------------/ A bulb has no light of its own but it become incandescent when it is energised by electric current. Thus, the current is that

Chapter:-1. Mantra:4. Yad  vaca  nabhyuditam  yena  vagabhyudyate; Tadeva  Brahma  tvam  viddi  nedam  yad-idam-upasate. What speech cannot reveal, but what reveals speech, know THAT alone as Brahmam and not this, that people worship here.  The Atma-Chaithanyam (Dynamic life center  within us):- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------/  The power of speech is not in the words or in the instrument of utterance. It is a manifestation of the Eternal Self, "THE ATMA-CHAITHANYA" in us--the dynamic Life-Center in us, because of which speech is being uttered while we are 'alive' and in the absence of which ends, is the Atma. Again though words are uttered because of the Chaithanyam, words cannot themselves explain it. Example- Just as fire can burn and illuminate other things, but does not consume or lit up itself, so too, speech uttered as a manifestation of Truth, cannot itself illuminate Truth. 'Tat