KENA UPANISHAD : “Know That Alone as Brahman” : 1.

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Reflections : Swami Gurubhaktananda : on the Series of 14 Lectures : Swami Tejomayanandaji, Guruji, then Spiritual Head, Chinmaya Mission, at Chinmaya Tapovan, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand from April 8th – April 13th, 2013

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Adi Shankaracharya, Swami Sivananda, Swami Tapovanji, Swami Chinmayananda.

SERVE  LOVE  GIVE  PURIFY  MEDITATE  REALISE

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KENA UPANISHAD : ( Know That Alone as Brahman ) 4 Chapters, 34 No. Mantras.

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INTRODUCTION TO KENA UPANISHAD :

KENA UPANISHAD IS the 9th Chapter of the Talavakara Branch in the Sama Veda. The first eight chapters are concerned with the Karma and Upasana which fall under Apara Vidya. They belong to the Mantra Samhitas and the Brahmanas of the Vedas. Then follows the Brahma Jnana or Para Vidya portion which forms the subject of this Upanishad. Due to its subject matter, the Kena Upanishad is classified as an Aranyaka.

Guruji began the discussion with an introduction on the goals that people generally set for themselves. Among them, food, clothing and shelter are the most basic needs. Then come concerns of fear of losing them, so security becomes a need. Whatever has been acquired of the above three items has to be secured for as long as possible.

Karma, Prajaa and Dhan become the three kingpins around which life revolves. If more wealth (Dhan) is accumulated, then the basic needs are enhanced. Better quality of food and clothing is obtained. A competitive spirit is generated with those who have more. Then come the desire for power, position, status, pleasures, etc. They all give some degree of satisfaction but there is no end; always there is a desire for more. It is a never-ending thirst that is unquenchable.

Something is missing in such a life of desire. That missing element is spirituality, which teaches that man is more than his desires encompass. The real change man is looking for is to find the spiritual dimension of life. That will give him lasting satisfaction. The change he is required to make is to shift from his physical needs to the needs of his soul. That is when spiritual life begins. A change of heart is needed – not a heart transplant!

Spiritual life demands re-evaluating our needs in terms of the Spirit we really are. The Vedas provide for a smooth transition from worldly existence to a fully spiritual oriented life. The jump cannot be made overnight. Therefore, the Karma and Upasana portions are prescribed. When these practices are done without any selfish desires, they help greatly to bring one to Brahma Vidya by which one may be liberated forever from the ‘clutches of Samsara.’

The prescription is to do good actions and worship of the Divine in a graded series of spiritual exercises. Initially these are promoted with incentives such as heaven, and so on. But eventually the seeker is taught that even without such incentives, these practices bring their own good results of purifying the soul of man. That purity increases his ability to grasp subtle spiritual knowledge, and through that knowledge he can liberate himself.

Thus the same scriptures that at one stage say one should strive for heaven, also say at a more advanced stage that the desire for heaven has to be transcended.

This does not mean that the two paths follow each other and can be combined. Sri Shankaracharyaji emphatically denies the need to pursue them one after the other. He says, “There can be no marriage between these two paths as their fruits are totally different.” The fruit of the one path has to be renounced before the other path can be followed.

Those in Apara Vidya can come to the higher level only after they realize from experience that all pleasures and actions have temporary results. Even by adding Upasana to Karma, there cannot be anything permanent. It is like adding a finite thing to another finite thing. The result also is finite. In Para Vidya, the result is the attainment of the Infinite, so it cannot be practiced in combination with the paths of Apara Vidya.

When the intensity of one’s desire for God grows very strong, all other pursuits are automatically given up, even as when a person desirous of sleep gives up all activity to have a good sleep! So, too, the desire for God removes all other desires from the mind. Thus a seeker becomes well-established on the spiritual path.

It is at this point that the questions with which Kena Upanishad begins take on great relevance . . .

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Next-  INVOCATION PRAYERS ( Santhi Mantras ) From: A. Krishna Yajur Veda & B. Sama Veda 

To be continued ...

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