The Kenopanishad is ascribed to Sama Veda and its Thalavakara
branch and hence it is also referred to as the
Thalavakaropanishad. The name Kena is derived from the first word
of the stanza of the first section of the Upanishad:
"Keneshitham pathathi preshitham manah, Kena praanah
prathamah Praithiyuktah, keneshithaam vaacham imaam vadanthi,
chakshuhsrothram kaudevo yunakthi?"
"Who impels the mind to alight on its object? Enjoined by
whom does the vital force proceed to function? At whose behest
do men utter speech? What Intelligence, indeed, directs the eyes
and ears?"
The ear, skin, eye, tongue, nose - these five senses are able
to cognise sound, touch, form, taste and smell respectively;
objects of knowledge are cognised through these five only. The
world is experienced through these instruments, which stand
intermediate between the knower and the knowable. The inner
capacity to understand objects is named mind, or Manas. The Manas
moves out through the Jnanendriyas aforesaid and attaches itself
to objects and at that time, by that very occurrence, the manas
assumes the form of that object; this is called a vritti or
function. The manas is achethana and so, its transformations and
manipulations or vikaaras are also achethana, non-intelligent,
non-vital. A wooden doll has only the property of wood; a sugar
doll has just the property of sugar. The a-chethana manas cannot
achieve the knowledge of Chethana or of the Supreme Intelligence
that pervades the Universe.
Just as the unintelligent chariot is directed by a charioteer,
there must be a Charioteer who directs the unintelligent Manas,
seated in it and having it as His vehicle. The Motive Force that
activates the Inner Instruments, the Senses of Action, the Senses
of Knowledge, the Five Pranas, that Force is God. The question
quoted above implies that this Force is distinct from the Senses.
Naturally, therefore, the Motivator of the entire group of senses
must be distinct from the Manas too, is it not? Those who seek to
know the Eternal, convinced that all acts and activities are
ephemeral will not worry about the Eternal.
That Eternal Entity is agitation-less and so it is not moved by
the Three-fold urge. It does not order the senses about for this
purpose or that. Then the question arises: "Do the Manas, the
Prana, the Vaak, the Eye, the Ear etc., carry out their respective
functions, prompted by the Law of Cause and Effect? Or, do they
act so, moved by the wish of a conscious force?" That is the
doubt.
The ear has the capacity to know sound, the eye is endowed with
the skill to know and distinguish form. The other senses are also
similarly equipped. When the manas passes out through the
knowing-senses towards objects and envelopes them, you acquire
knowledge about them. The five senses and the manas are all,
therefore, instruments of knowledge. How could they manage to
perform this intelligent function, being themselves devoid of
intelligence?
Well, the answer is: Due to the presence of the Atma, due to
the reflection of the effulgence of the Atma, on the Anthahkarana.
The Sun illumines the world and makes it active in a thousand
ways. So too the Atma, by its Thejas, activates and illumines the
world. All instruments of knowledge are activated by the Atma; the
current of electricity energises the machines and does various
operations - printing etc., but it is not visible or concrete. The
electric current is the Mover of the movement, the Machine of the
Machine. So too, the Atmic Tejas is the Ear of the ear; the Eye of
the eye. That is the activating current.
The wonder is: the Atma is inactive and without qualifications.
It does not get anything done with the manas or the senses,
remember. They get activated by the very presence of the Atma! The
rays of the Sun are not aware at all of the activity they invoke;
the Atma is not responsible for the activity of the senses (This
teaching was given by Varuna to his son Bhrigu).
The eye, when illumined by the Splendour of the Atma, is able
to grasp Form, which is its sphere; it can never hope to illumine
the Atma, which is self-luminous. The lamp illumines objects; but,
the objects cannot, in their turn, illumine the lamp. The Vaak can
describe or denote only such as possess qualifications, like name,
form, guna, kriya etc. How can it describe or define that which
has no qualifications, no name, no form, no characteristic ...
viz. the Paramatma? You cannot describe sweetness or similar
tastes by means of words. The Atma is not a subject for
description. The non-intelligent Manas cannot experience the
Intelligence. There is no knower who can know the Knower of all.
He is beyond all knowable things. When known, He is no longer
Knower or Knowledge.
Brahmam is Jnanam itself: so, it can never be "known" by a
"knower". By the process of knowing, other things can be known,
not Knowledge itself. The lamp will not crave for another lamp to
see itself nor will it crave for its own light. It has light, it
is light - that is all. It sheds light on other objects; it does
not shed light on its light. So too you are Light, you are Atma.
The Atma in you is of the same nature as the Atma in all beings.
It is the only one Reality; it has no limitation or attribute or
qualification.
The Atma can be cognised by the study of the Sastras and by
following the injunctions laid down there. That which cannot be
illumined by words or speech or by the senses, that which illumine
the word and speech and all the senses - that is Brahman, or Atma.
The first Khanda of this Upanishad makes clear that Brahmam is
incapable of being limited or discarded or over-looked.
So, for those who claim that they have seen Brahmam, "It" is
yet a subject for further investigation and inquiry. They have not
reached the final stage. For, theirs is not authentic Jnana;
theirs is but a delusion. The Atma of the person who knows, is
itself the very Brahmam; that is the undoubted verdict of
Vedantha, is it not? Fire cannot burn itself; how can Atma know
Atma, how can the knower know Himself? Therefore, the statement, I
have known Brahmam, is an indication of delusion, not of real
knowledge.
It is said that Brahmam has various cognisable and countable
forms; but, that is only in the limited sense of being qualified
by Name and Form. By Itself, the Absolute has not got sound or
smell or taste or touch or form. It is ever-existing. In whatever
activity you become aware of its presence, that activity lends its
appropriate characteristic. In whichever sphere the Sastras
discuss and decide, that sphere becomes for the particular
Sastras, the characteristic of Brahmam. The Consciousness which
becomes apparent when it is limited by certain bounds or vessels -
that Chaithanya is Brahmam. Chaithanya is attachment-less; but,
yet, when associated with objects like the physical body, It gives
the impression that It is attached. From the fact that when the
waters of the lake are agitated the image of the Sun under the
water shakes, you cannot infer that the Sun in the Sky, which is
remote and afar, also shakes! The Sun and the sheet of water are
unrelated. No relationship can be posited between these two.
Similarly when the body undergoes growth, decay, destruction etc.,
it gives the impression that the Atma too is so affected; but, the
Atma is unaffected. Brahmam is beyond the reach of the
intellectual seeker; it can be reached only by those who give up
the intellect as a useless instrument. Experience alone is the
method of approach, the proof, the result. The ultimate state of
Brahma-jnana is the end of all enquiry, all search. Actual
Realisation, Sakshathkara is the fruition thereof. This highest
stage is reached in Samadhi, the quietening of all agitations in
all levels of consciousness, though of course, the preliminary
steps of Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana are concerned with
Buddhi or the Intellect. One will acquire the Sathyaswarupa, if he
understands the nature of the Atma; if he does not, then, it is a
big loss, no doubt. The Jnani recognises in every being and every
object the Principle of the all-pervading Atma and when he leaves
the world, he becomes free from birth and death.
Brahmajnana is the heritage of Man; he is entitled to it. If he
is aware of this and if by his efforts, he achieves the Jnana of
Brahmam adopting the above-mentioned methods, then verily, his
career in this world is worth while. Otherwise, it is all a waste.
The Atma, when cognised in the Consciousness, flashes like a
streak of lightning; in a second it will reveal its brilliance and
splendour. It is impossible to grasp its full majesty. Manas is
the cloak of the Atma; it conditions the Atma, or rather appears
to. So, it seems to be very close to the Atma, and makes you
believe that it attains It; it is incapable of doing so. Since it
is closest, the Sadhaka imagines that his mind has realised the
Atma and yearns for the experience again and again. This, of
course, is good, for it fosters the search for the merger with
Brahmam.
For the Brahmajnani, the opposites of Dharma and Adharma, of
Merit and De-merit, are non-existent. Dharmic life offers the
Upper Lokas after death and Adharmic life leads one to the Lower
Lokas; but, both are shackles for the aspiring Sadhaka, whose eye
is on the removal of ignorance and realisation of Truth. He has to
seek to snap the strings that bind the heart to the objective
world. So, he wants an answer to the question with which this
Upanishad starts: By which does the mind grasp things etc.? To
attain the Jnana of Brahmam, Thapas, Self-control, Vedic rites,
Image-Worship, are all good helps. Jnana has Sathya as its
location.
This Upanishad gives all seekers the Upadesa of Brahmajnana: it
deals with Brahmam, which is Sathyam, Jnanam and Anantham.