KENA UPANISHAD : “Know That Alone as Brahman” : 4.
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4 Chapters, No. Mantras. - 34.
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Saturday, April 23, 2022. 19:00.
Chapter 1 : The Nature of BRAHMAN
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Mantram 1.2: The Guru Introduces the Idea of Self
1 shrotasya shrotram, manasah manah yad,
2 vaachah ha vaacham, sa u praanasya praanah,
3 chakshushah chakshuh; atimuchya dheeraah,
4 pretya asmaat lokaat amritaah bhavanti.
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Translation :
1 shrotasya shrotram, manasah manah yad, = It is the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the Mind;
2 vaachah ha vaacham, sa u praanasya praanah, = It is the Tongue of the tongue, and also the Life of life;
3 chakshushah chakshuh; atimuchya dheeraah, = It is the Eye of the eye. The brave and wise, having transcended “I-ness”,
4 pretya asmaat lokaat amritaah bhavanti. = rise above the world of sensual life, and become Immortal.
Commentary :
The answer at first glance appears to be a play of words – meaningless, evasive and
taking the questions at surface level. But the Teacher has good reason to reply in this
manner. The Self is not something that has its own agenda which it has to execute through
an individual by directing his thinking, feeling and acting processes, as a puppeteer.
Nevertheless, the Teacher has to get across a very difficult point about the Self,
which is hard to grasp by the intellect. He has a real difficulty to explain It to the student as
it is not an object that can be easily described like any other object. The Self is the essence
of all beings. How is the Teacher going to bring out this fact, except by beginning in this
apparently vague and intriguing manner?
Self – An Object or Subject?
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1-3a The initial standpoint of the student is sure to be that Brahman is an ‘object’.
How does the Teacher achieve to shift this standpoint? The teacher uses an ingeniuos
grammatical device. He interweaves the 2nd case (Accusative form) with the 1st case
(Nominative form). The former is used for external objects like Shrotram (Ear) and Vaacham
(Speech); whereas the latter is used for internal subjects such as Manah and Praanah. By
interweaving these two cases, the teacher sets up a debate in the student’s mind as to what
Brahman could be – is He an object or a subject?
Thus, by building into the very grammar itself, a vibrant alternating movement from
object to subject, over the first two lines, the Teacher holds the student in doubt on
whether Brahman is an object or a subject. The student is made to consider the strong
possibility that Brahman could well be of a subjective nature. Why should he be thinking of
Him only as an object? Why is he restricting his intellect in this preconceived manner?
This is an amazingly skillful and rare usage of grammar to brace the intellect of the
student for a very tricky analysis. So much for the first difficulty of the Teacher.
Self – Dictatorial or Democratic? :
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There is another difficulty faced by the Teacher. The Self’s role is not strictly as the
supreme Director or Controller. That is not what the Teacher wants to get across. He also
wants to bring out the fact that the “self-will” in each individual is a co-director in the
operations of the mind and senses. In a sense, the individual soul does have freedom, and is
not just a puppet in the hands of Brahman. How does the Teacher get this point across?
An attempt is made in the second half of the verse to reflect the true situation that
pertains to controllership of one’s mind. It may be true that the very Presence of the Self
makes everything happen, but that certainly is not intended to imply that the individual will
is null and void, or that the individual soul (Jeeva) goes ‘scot-free’ of any blame. As long as
the Jeeva is under the delusion that it is independent of the Self, so long it has to take the
full Karmic responsibility for all the actions done in that state of ignorance.
The Ego (Jeeva) and the Self :
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3b-4 It is only when the individual raises his sense of “I” beyond the reach of the Ego,
that he experiences the Self as the “Supreme Controller”. Once he identifies with this higher
Self then he is declared to be Immortal, meaning ‘ever in control’. Until then, as the Ego, he
thinks he is in control until death rudely snatches away that control from him.
In effect, the verse draws our attention to the important relationship between the
Self, the true Controller, and the Ego, the pseudo-controller. The Teacher gets the idea
across that only if this latter sense of “I-ness” and the sensual life surrounding it are
transcended will the Truth really be known and identified with, not otherwise.
For the time being, Guruji asked us to keep in mind that “the Ear of the ear” and the
“Mind of the mind”, etc, is really the Atman, which is our very own Self, and that when we
recognize that fact, then, yes, certainly we shall become Immortal. The verse thus indicates
that there is something in the ego-sense and the life of sensuality which prevents us from
seeing our essential Immortality. For the time being that defect has to be acknowledged.
Thus, although the charge of vagueness may be there, it is justified at this early
stage. The student has to be taken step by step from his standpoint towards that of Truth.
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Next
Verse 1.3a : Beyond the Senses and Mind
To be continued ...
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