KENA UPANISHAD: “Know That Alone as Brahman”: 8. SWAMI GURUBHAKTANANDA.
=====================================================================================================KENA UPANISHAD: “Know That Alone as Brahman”:
on the Series of 14 Lectures by Swami Tejomayanandaji: Guruji, then Spiritual Head, Chinmaya Mission: at Chinmaya Tapovan, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand from April 8th – April 13th, 2013.
Reflections: SWAMI GURUBHAKTANANDA
From: A. Krishna Yajur Veda & B. Sama Veda
THE DISCIPLE QUESTIONS THE GURU:
Chapters - 4 Mantras: 34.
Chapter 2, 5 Mantras
Subtlety of “KNOWING” Brahman
Mantram -2.1: Did the Student Understand?
Post-8.
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Wednesday 11, February 2026, 05:30.
Chapter 2, 5 Mantras
Subtlety of “KNOWING” Brahman
Mantram -2.1: Did the Student Understand?
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0
The Preceptor says:
1
yadi manyase suveda iti, = If you think, “I know That well enough,” –
2
daharam eva api noonam twam = it is only a little expression that you
vettha brahmanah roopam; = understand as being the form of Brahman;
3
yat asya twam, = the little expression of your body,
yat asya deveshu; = or of that seen in the Gods.
4
atha nu, = It means that the real Brahman
meemaamsyam eva te = is still to be ascertained by you.
5
manye viditam = Disciple: “I think I do know Brahman!”
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Prior to this mantram, the Teacher must have put out a feeler to find out how much his students have understood of the lesson he has just taught. One of them, we may deduce,said, “Oh, I know Brahman well enough.” Guruji compares this response to our usual greeting formalities – someone asks, “How are you?” and the other person automaticallysays “Fine, thank you!” without even thinking.
The Teacher knows the danger of a theoretical understanding being taken as the final realisation! Students can become over-confident of their knowledge. The Bhashya elaborates greatly on this point, but the essence of it is to curb the tendency to mistaketheory for direct experience.
1
The wise Teacher, suspecting that this is what has happened in the student concerned, warns him of this danger. Brahman is his own Self. If he really understood, hewould have said, “Yes, indeed, I now understand who I am!” He would not have used the third person (That), as though Brahman were an object outside him!
2-3
Hence, the Preceptor is justified in curtailing the student’s over-confidence. He tells him he has only understood the limited expression of Brahman which is this body; or, atmost, he has only understood the greater but still limited expression of Brahman as seen in the Devatas. The Deities are still a limitation in comparison to the Infinite Being that is Brahman. 4 The student is therefore asked to go and do more reflection.
Objection: Are There Many Forms of Brahman?
5
And so the student is sent back to his seat of meditation, to reflect more on the Truth. When he returns after due reflection and contemplation (Manana and Nididhyasana), he gives his experience in the same words as before, “I think I do know Brahman.”
The Teacher smiles at him. He can now see that the theory has been converted into practical experience, although the words used are the same. Actual realisation has dawned and the illumined student comes with a glow on his face with even greater confidence than. None could be more pleased than the Teacher!
The student explains himself in the next mantram.
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Next
Mantram - 2.2: The Student Proclaims the Truth
Continues
KENA UPANISHAD: “Know That Alone as Brahman”:
on the Series of 14 Lectures by Swami Tejomayananda.
Reflections: SWAMI GURUBHAKTANANDA]
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