Sunday, November 29, 2020

Kena-Upanishad 1.5-9

 




5. 'That which is not expressed by speech and by which speech is expressed, that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore.

6. 'That which does not think by mind, and by which, they say, mind is thought, that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore.

7. 'That which does not see by the eye, and by which one sees (the work of) the eyes, that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore.

8. 'That which does not hear by the ear, and by which the ear is heard, that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore.

9. 'That which does not breathe by breath, and by which breath is drawn, that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore.'

In this passage, the gods that the unenlightened person worships are contrasted unfavorably with Brahman. Unlike the anthropomorhpic gods, Brahman does not think, see, hear or breathe. Brahman must be conceived as different from all the multiplicity of things; he is not expressible by speech. Yet Brahman is the source of all things, expressed poetically as that by which speech is possible, that which mind thinks, that which the eyes and ears function and that which enables breathing. The further point seems to be that what is "behind" or "before" all perception and cognition (and apparently breathing) is consciousness; without any object, perceptual or mental, consciousness is pure, aware of itself as being aware. Brahman is that pure consciousness





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