SamPage: Kenopanishad

Chapter 1

This chapter opens with a series of questions in Mantra 1.

Kena ishitam patati preshitam manah, kena pranah prathamah praiti yuktah I

Kena ishitaam vaacham imaam vadanti, chakshuh srotram kah u devah yunakti. II

Directed by whom the mind flows towards its objects? Willed by whom, prana performs its functions? At whose command tongue utters the speech? What Deva directs the eyes and ears towards their objects? (1 – 1)

From this we infer that these questions are posed by a student to the teacher. The student appears to be an intelligent student who knows that the mind, sense organs and prana by themselves are insentient as they are made of pancha bhuthas, which are themselves insentient. But as the mind and sense organs are seen sentient, he infers that there must be a sentient force which must be directing their activities and in whose absence they will be inert, as in a corpse. So he is not interested in the physical sciences like anatomy, physiology or psychology which tells how they function, but in the spiritual knowledge that reveals the sentient force behind the inert body-mind complex, that makes it throb with sentiency by its blessings, and he calls that sentient force ‘Deva’. In terms of modern science the question is simply “Is there an independent principle of pure intelligence which directs the psycho-physical organism of man?”

The teacher answers the disciple’s subtle question in Mantra 2 with a subtler answer as:

Srotrasya srotram, manaso mano yad,

vaacho ha vaacham, sa u pranasya pranah I

Chakshushaschakshuh; atimuchya dheerah,

pretya asmat lokat amritah bhavanti. II

It is the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind, the Tongue of the tongue, the Prana of the prana, the Eye of the eye. The discriminating, wise one not identifying “I” with the mind and senses becomes immortal. (1 – 2)

First this implies that there is such an independent sentient force, which is Chaitanyam or Consciousness. The phrases Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind, the Tongue of the tongue, the Prana of the prana, the Eye of the eye shows it is different from the body-mind complex and is independent of the body-mind complex and that the organs and prana are only objects for the subject i.e. Chaitanyam. Chaitanyam lends sentiency to the body-mind complex through its reflection in the mind just as sunlight through its reflection in the mirror gives the mirror the power to illuminate a dark room. The perceiving nature of the senses and the mind and the life sustaining nature of the prana are due to the reflected Chaitanyam, which is called Chidabasa. So the real sentient Self which is the real “I” is Chaitanyam, not the body-mind complex. This Chaitanyam is the subject that cannot be objectified, and even the body-mind complex, which perceives and objectifies everything else, is its object only. Self is always the subject and never the object. This Chaitanyam is called Athma and is eternal and not subject to change or modification and only the body which is anathma is subject to six-fold modification i.e. Asti (existence), Jayate (birth), Vardhate (growth), Viparinamate (change), Apaksheeyate (decay), Vinashyate (death). The wise person discriminating between Athma and anathma and identifying his Self with Athma, loses fear of death and is considered immortal as he realises the deathless, changeless Chaitanyam as his real Self.

Because Chaitanyam cannot be perceived as an object by the senses or conceived as a concept by the mind, it cannot be explained in words directly as an object or as a concept. So the Mantra 3 says in first line, “na tatra chakshurgacchati, na vak gacchati no manah (The eye does not go there, nor speech nor mind)” meaning you cannot see it with your eyes, you cannot describe it in words nor can you conceive it in your mind. So the guru confesses his dilemma in the second line of the same Mantra that he does not know how to explain it as an object to a student who wants to know it in the same manner he knows other objects of the world. He gives the reason for his predicament in the first line of Mantra 4 as “anyad eva tad viditat atho aviditat (That is surely distinct from the known; and again, from the unknown)”. All the objects of the world can be classified by one as known and unknown, known are those the details of which as object or concept are known to one today and unknown are those the details of which as object or concept may be known to one at a future date. Self, the Chaitanyam, the animating principle behind the senses, mind and prana, is not an object and so is beyond this classification of known and unknown.

Mantras 5,6,7,8 and 9 are a detailed explanation of what was stated in Mantra 2, in respect of speech, mind, eye, ear and prana as we can see from the Mantras themselves.

Yad vaachaa anabhyuditam, yena vaak abhudyate I