KENA UPANISHAD : “Know That Alone as Brahman” - 6. Swami Tejomayananda

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4 Chapters,  No of  Mantras. - 34.

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Saturday, June 04, 2022. 20:00.

Chapter 1 : The Nature of BRAHMAN

Mantram -1.3b : Beyond the Known and Unknown ( next two lines )

Post -6

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Mantram -3  ( next two lines )

Anyad eva tad vijitat atho aviditaat adhi; 

iti shushruma purvesham, ye nah tad vyacha-chakshire.

Translation :

5 Anyad eva tad vijitat               =That is surely distinct from the known;

6 atho aviditaat adhi;                 =And again, from the unknown, It is above.

7 iti shushruma purvesham,       =Thus have we heard from the Preceptors of

8 ye nah tad vyacha-chakshire.  =the past who taught That to us.

Commentary :

Brahman is Neither Known Nor Unknown ;

5 The Teacher’s “beyond the known” really means that he does not know it as an

object in the ordinary sense in which things are normally known; it cannot be explained.

6 His “beyond the unknown”, means that Brahman is beyond those things which in

ordinary life are considered to be ‘unknown’ or ‘unseen’, such as the thoughts in another’s 

mind or invisible phenomena like electromagnetic waves. The Teacher is certain of Its

existence but he cannot describe It in terms of common knowledge.

The Place of FAITH in Spiritual Life

7-8 For this reason, the Teacher now asks the student to resort to what he himself

had resorted to when he was a disciple. He accepted the words of his Guru on Faith.

Following the teaching with faith, he arrived at the direct experience of the Truth. This

indicates that his faith was justified as it helped him to get started and eventually it grew

into a firm conviction of the Truth. The Teacher is indirectly asking the disciple to have the

same faith that he himself once had.

This is not a blind faith. The Teacher’s own realization gives him the confidence to

suggest the same path to his disciple: “You will have to take recourse in Faith; I assure you

that you will not be disappointed.”

However, the Teacher finds a way to explain Brahman in a negative way, by telling

him what Brahman is not. This is done poetically in the next five mantras.

BRAHMAN – “NOT WHAT PEOPLE WORSHIP HERE”

WE NOW HAVE FIVE meditational mantras on the Self within. They are all pointers to

Brahman, which is always beyond the reach of any of our physical or mental equipment.

Each of these five verses ends on the note that Brahman is “not that which people worship

here.” This line refers to the Karma Kanda and Upasana Kanda forms of worship which are

practised to attain certain desired goals through legitimate means.

The Bhashya says that these verses were prompted by an objection from a

Poorvapakshi. The Poorvapakshi is a person who holds a view that is contradictory to the

Vedantic view. His objection has the aim of drawing out an explanation to clarify the

Vedantic view.

The Purvapakshi asks: “How can the Self be Brahman? Is not the Self the entity

which we know to undertake Karma and Upasana practices in order to get higher births in

better worlds? The Self is subject to birth and death, and seeks the Grace of the Gods such

as Vishnu, Shiva, Indra or Hiranyagarbha, any of whom could well be Brahman, but not the

limited Self. It is reasonable to say that the worshipper is different from the worshipped, the

all-mighty Gods (Brahman).”

The Purvapakshi believes his limited personality – that which is termed the Jeeva in

Vedanta – to be the Self. He puts forward the case that the Jeeva cannot be Brahman by any

stretch of the imagination.

In this connection, an important point is noted by Pujya Gurudev: These verses are

not intended to raise a controversy with those who are engaged in Karma and Upasanas on

some symbolic form of Brahman. Scriptures are our loving Mother, and guide us beyond

form into the Formless. They direct our mind from a lower Sadhana to a higher Sadhana,

which is fully consistent with the spirit of the Vedas. However, when the existence of

Brahman is questioned, then in defence the Truth has to be forcefully put forward. In the

process, it becomes necessary to differentiate Vedantic Sadhana from all other Sadhanas.

This is not intended to disturb those who still feel the need to do the other Sadhanas.

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Next - Mantram-4. Brahman – Illuminator of Speech

To be continued .....

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