Kena Upanishad
Structure & contents chapter/section outline
The question: by whose power do mind, speech, eye and ear function? The ear of the ear.
The paradox of knowing: known to the one who claims not to know it; unknown to the one who claims to know.
The yakṣa parable: Agni cannot burn a straw, Vāyu cannot lift it, before the mysterious Spirit.
Umā Haimavatī reveals: 'It was Brahman.' Tadvanam — the adorable; tapas, dama and karma as its support.
Key mantras full apparatus
श्रोत्रस्य श्रोत्रं मनसो मनो यद्वाचो ह वाचं स उ प्राणस्य प्राणश्चक्षुषश्चक्षुः ।
अतिमुच्य धीराः प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति ॥
śrotrasya śrotraṁ manaso mano yad vāco ha vācaṁ sa u prāṇasya prāṇaś cakṣuṣaś cakṣuḥ |
atimucya dhīrāḥ pretyāsmāl lokād amṛtā bhavanti ||
| śrotrasya śrotram | the ear of the ear |
| manasaḥ manaḥ | the mind of the mind |
| vācaḥ ha vācam | verily the speech of speech |
| prāṇasya prāṇaḥ | the life of life |
| cakṣuṣaḥ cakṣuḥ | the eye of the eye |
| atimucya | having freed themselves (from identification) |
| dhīrāḥ | the wise |
| pretya asmāt lokāt | departing from this world |
| amṛtāḥ bhavanti | become immortal |
It is the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of speech, the life of life, the eye of the eye. Freeing themselves, the wise, on departing this world, become immortal.
The answer to the opening question refuses to be an object: that by which the ear hears cannot itself be heard. Śaṅkara: consciousness lends sentiency to every instrument while remaining the instrument of none. 'Freeing themselves' means withdrawing the false identification of the Self with senses and mind — immortality is not produced but uncovered.Source: Śaṅkara pada-bhāṣya on Kena 1.2 (tr. Gambhirananda, Eight Upaniṣads Vol. 1)
यद्वाचानभ्युदितं येन वागभ्युद्यते ।
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥
yad vācānabhyuditaṁ yena vāg abhyudyate |
tad eva brahma tvaṁ viddhi nedaṁ yad idam upāsate ||
| yat vācā anabhyuditam | what is not uttered by speech |
| yena vāk abhyudyate | by which speech is uttered |
| tat eva brahma | that alone is Brahman |
| tvam viddhi | know thou |
| na idam yat idam upāsate | not this which (people) here worship |
That which speech cannot reveal, but by which speech is revealed — know that alone as Brahman, not this which people worship here.
The refrain 'nedaṁ yad idam upāsate' repeats through five verses (for speech, mind, eye, ear, breath): anything set up as an object of worship, however exalted, is thereby not the ultimate. A permanent caution against idolatry of concept — including the concept 'Brahman'.Source: Śaṅkara pada-bhāṣya on Kena 1.4–8
यस्यामतं तस्य मतं मतं यस्य न वेद सः ।
अविज्ञातं विजानतां विज्ञातमविजानताम् ॥
yasyāmataṁ tasya mataṁ mataṁ yasya na veda saḥ |
avijñātaṁ vijānatāṁ vijñātam avijānatām ||
| yasya amatam | to whom it is not known (as an object) |
| tasya matam | to him it is known |
| matam yasya | to whom it is 'known' |
| na veda saḥ | he knows not |
| avijñātam vijānatām | unknown to those who (claim to) know |
| vijñātam avijānatām | known to those who (claim) not to know |
It is known to him to whom it is unknown; he to whom it is known, knows it not. Unknown to those who know; known to those who know not.
Not mysticism for its own sake but strict logic: Brahman is the knower, so any claim 'I know it' has turned it into an object and missed it. The true knower's confession — 'I cannot know it as a thing, for I am it' — is precisely the knowledge. Śaṅkara connects this with pratibodha-viditam in the next verse: known with every cognition, as the light within all knowing.Source: Śaṅkara pada-bhāṣya on Kena 2.3
तद्ध तद्वनं नाम तद्वनमित्युपासितव्यम् ।
स य एतदेवं वेदाभि हैनं सर्वाणि भूतानि संवाञ्छन्ति ॥
tad dha tadvanaṁ nāma tadvanam ity upāsitavyam |
sa ya etad evaṁ vedābhi hainaṁ sarvāṇi bhūtāni saṁvāñchanti ||
| tat ha tadvanam nāma | that is verily named tadvanam ('the adorable of all') |
| tadvanam iti upāsitavyam | as tadvanam it is to be meditated upon |
| saḥ yaḥ etat evam veda | he who knows it thus |
| abhi ha enam sarvāṇi bhūtāni saṁvāñchanti | him all beings verily long for |
That is named tadvanam, the adorable of all; as tadvanam it should be meditated upon. All beings long for the one who knows it thus.
The narrative frame matters: the gods, flush with a victory actually won by Brahman, could not even identify a straw when their power was withdrawn (khaṇḍa 3) — power belongs to Brahman, borrowed by all. Umā, wisdom personified, names the truth. The closing upāsanā gives the affective key: what is the Self of all is what all love most (cf. Bṛhadāraṇyaka 2.4.5).Source: Śaṅkara pada-bhāṣya on Kena 3.1–4.6