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KENA UPANISHAD 1 - Misc (Upanishads), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads [1921]

Edition used:

The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, translated from the Sanskrit with an outline of the philosophy of the Upanishads and an annotated bibliography, by Robert Ernest Hume (Oxford University Press, 1921).

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KENA UPANISHAD1

(FIRST KHAṆḌA)

Query: The real agent in the individual?

[Question:]

1. By whom impelled soars forth the mind projected?

By whom enjoined goes forth the earliest breathing?

By whom impelled this speech do people utter?

The eye, the ear—what god, pray, them enjoineth?

The all-conditioning, yet inscrutable agent, Brahma

[Answer:]

2. That which is the hearing of the ear, the thought of the mind,

The voice of speech, as also the breathing of the breath,

And the sight of the eye!2 Past these escaping, the wise,

5. That which one thinks not with thought (manas, mind),

[or, That which thinks not with a mind,]1

That with which they say thought (manas, mind) is thought—

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

6. That which one sees not with sight (cak us, eye),

[or, That which sees not with an eye,]1

That with which one sees sights (cakṣūṁsi)2 —

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

7. That which one hears not with hearing (śrotra, ear),

[or, That which hears not with an ear,]1

That with which hearing here is heard—

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

8. That which one breathes (prāṇiti) not with breathing (prāṇa, breath),

[or, That which breathes not with breath,]1

That with which breathing (prāṇa) is conducted (praṇīyate)—

That indeed know as Brahma,

Not this that people worship as this.

(SECOND KHAṆḌA)

The paradox of Its inscrutability

9 (1). [Teacher:] If you think ‘I know well,’ only very slightly now do you know!—a form of Brahma!—what thereof is yourself, and what thereof is among the gods! So then it is to be pondered upon (mīmāṁsyam) indeed by you.

[Pupil:] I think it is known.3

10 (2). I think not ‘I know well’;

Yet I know not ‘I know not’!

He of us who knows It, knows It;

Yet he knows not ‘I know not.’

11 (3). [Teacher:]

It is conceived of by him by whom It is not conceived of.

He by whom It is conceived of, knows It not.

It is not understood by those who [say they] understand It.

It is understood by those who [say they] understand It not.

The value of knowledge of It

12 (4). When known by an awakening, It is conceived of;

Truly it is immortality one finds.

With the Soul (Ātman) one finds power1 ;

With knowledge one finds the immortal.

13 (5). If one have known [It] here, then there is truth.

If one have known [It] not here, great is the destruction (vinasṭi).2

Discerning [It] in every single being, the wise,

On departing from this world, become immortal.

(THIRD KHAṆḌA)3

Allegory of the Vedic gods’ ignorance of Brahma

14 (1). Now, Brahma won a victory for the gods. Now, in the victory of this Brahma the gods were exulting. They bethought themselves: ‘Ours indeed is this victory!4 Ours indeed is this greatness!’

15 (2). Now, It understood this of them. It appeared to them. They did not understand It. ‘What wonderful being (yakṣa) is this?’ they said.

16 (3). They said to Agni (Fire): ‘Jātavedas,1 find out this—what this wonderful being is.’

‘So be it.’

17 (4). He ran unto It.

Unto him It spoke: ‘Who are you?’

‘Verily, I am Agni,’ said he. ‘Verily, I am Jātavedas.’1

18 (5). ‘In such as you what power is there?’

‘Indeed, I might burn everything here, whatever there is here in the earth!’

19 (6). It put down a straw before him. ‘Burn that!’

He went forth at it with all speed. He was not able to burn it. Thereupon indeed he returned, saying: ‘I have not been able to find out this—what this wonderful being is.’

20 (7) Then they said to Vāyu (Wind): ‘Vāyu, find out this—what this wonderful being is.’

‘So be it.’

21 (8). He ran unto It.

Unto him It spoke: ‘Who are you?’

‘Verily, I am Vāyu,’ he said. ‘Verily, I am Mātariśvan.’

22 (9). ‘In such as you what power is there?’

‘Indeed. I might carry off everything here, whatever there is here in the earth.’

23 (10). It put down a straw before him. ‘Carry that off!’

He went at it with all speed. He was not able to carry it off. Thereupon indeed he returned, saying: ‘I have not been able to find out this—what this wonderful being is.’

24 (11). Then they said to Indra: ‘Maghavan (‘Liberal’), find out this—what this wonderful being is.’

‘So be it.’

He ran unto It. It disappeared from him.

25 (12). In that very space he came upon a woman exceedingly beautiful, Umā,2 daughter of the Snowy Mountain (Himavat).

To her he said: ‘What is this wonderful being?’

(FOURTH KHAṆḌA)

Knowledge of Brahma, the ground of superiority

26 (1). ‘It is Brahma,’ she said. ‘In that victory of Brahma, verily, exult ye.’

Thereupon indeed he knew it was Brahma.

27 (2). Therefore, verily, these gods, namely Agni, Vāyu, and Indra, are above the other gods, as it were; for these touched It nearest, for these and [especially] he [i. e. Indra] first knew It was Brahma.

28 (3). Therefore, verily, Indra is above the other gods, as it were; for he touched It nearest, for he first knew It was Brahma.

Brahma in cosmic and in individual phenomena

29 (4). Of It there is this teaching.—

That in the lightning which flashes forth, which makes one blink, and say ‘Ah!’—that ‘Ah!’ refers to divinity.

30 (5). Now with regard to oneself.—

That which comes, as it were, to the mind, by which one repeatedly1 remembers—that conception (saṁkalpa) [is It]!

Brahma, the great object of desire

31 (6). It is called Tad-vana (‘It-is-the-desire’).2 As ‘It-is-the-desire’ (Tad-vana) It should be worshiped. For him who knows it thus, all beings together yearn.

Concluding practical instruction and benefits

32 (7). ‘Sir, tell me the mystic doctrine (upaniṣad)!!

‘The mystic doctrine has been declared to you. Verily, we have told you the mystic doctrine of Brahma (brāhmī upaniṣad).’

33 (8). Austerity (tapas), restraint (dama), and work (karman) are the foundation of it (i. e. the mystic doctrine). The Vedas are all its limbs. Truth is its abode.

34 (9). He, verily, who knows it [i. e. the mystic doctrine] thus, striking off evil (pāpman), becomes established in the most excellent,1 endless, heavenly world—yea, he becomes established!

[1 ]This name of the Upanished is taken from its first word kena, ‘by whom.’ It is also known as the Talavakāra, the name of the Brāhmaṇa of the Sāma-Veda to which the Upanishad in one of its recensions belongs.

[2 ]The first two and a half lines of this second stanza seem to form a direct answer to the query of the first stanza. But their metrical structure is irregular; that would be improved by the omission of sa u, ‘as also.’ And—more seriously—the grammatical structure of the phrases is apparently impossible; one phrase is certainly in the nominative, one certainly in the accusative, the other three might be construed as either. Moreover, in each of the five phrases it is the same word that is repeated (as in a similar passage at Bṛih. 4. 4. 18); accordingly, a strictly literal rendering of them would be, ‘the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of speech, the breath of breath, the eye of the eye.’ However, very frequently in the Upanishads these words for the five ‘vital breaths’ are used either for the abstract function or for the concrete instrument of the function. Here, more evidently than in many places, the connotation seems to be double. But at Chānd. 8. 12. 4 and Ait. 2. 4 the distinction between the function and its sense organ is clearly conceived.

[3 ]3 g and h recur, with slight variation, as Īśā 10 c and d, and Īśā 13 c and d.

[1 ]Both renderings of the verse are permissible, and both are in harmony with the theory which is being expounded.

[2 ]Or, ‘That with which one sees the eyes.’

[3 ]What has been translated as two sentences might also be construed as one sentence, still a part of the teacher’s reproof to the undiscerning pupil:—‘So then I think that what is “known” by you is [still] to be pondered upon indeed.’

[1 ]Perhaps ‘power [to know]; and with the knowledge [thus gained] one finds . . . .’

[2 ]With a slight variation this line is found also at Bṛih. 4. 4. 14 b.

[3 ]The Kena Upanishad consists of two quite distinct parts. The prose portion, §§ 14-34, is evidently the simpler and earlier. The portion §§ 1-13 (all in verse, except § 9) contains much more elaborated doctrine and would seem to be later in date of composition.

[4 ]An account of the victory of the gods over the demons (Asuras) occurs at Bṛih. 1. 3. 1-7.

[1 ]Meaning either ‘All-knower’ or ‘All-possessor.’

[2 ]Com. allegorizes her as ‘Knowledge,’ who dispels Indra’s ignorance. In later mythology Umā is an epithet, along with Durgā, Kālī, and Pārvatī, for the wife of Śiva; and she is represented as living with him in the Himālayas. Weber, Indische Studien, 2. 186-190, has an extended discussion of the identity of this personage and of the divinities in this passage in their significance for later mythological and sectarian developments.

[1 ]Deussen translates the word abhīkṣṇaṁ differently, and consequently interprets this section and the preceding very differently.

[2 ]A mystical designation. Compare a similar compound at Chānd. 3. 14. 1, tajja-lan.

[1 ]So the Com. interprets jyeye. Max Müller and Deussen would emend to ajyeye, ‘unconquerable.’