Kenopanishad

KENOPANISHAD I'm still glancing through at random, pages of Arun Shourie's book on my table. Every page I try to read takes me back to something I had come across while trying to read some other books. This is the problem one faces when one refuses to be disciplined while reading. But, we can't read a newspaper, a poem, an essay, background notes for a board meeting or budget documents with the same kind of devotion or time allotment per page. This is another subject we will take up another day. Yesterday, I was reminded of the initial stanzas of Kenopanishad : https://www.swaminarayan.org/essays/2009/2204.htm Excerpts: A DISCIPLE’S CURIOSITY The Kena Upanishad begins with a question from an inquisitive disciple: ‘केनेषितं पतति प्रेषितं मनः केन प्राणः प्रथमः प्रैति युक्तः। केनेषितां वाचमिमां वदन्ति चक्षुः श्रोत्रं क उ देवो युनक्ति॥’ – ‘Keneshitam patati preshitam manaha kena prãnaha prathamaha praiti yuktaha. Keneshitãm vãchamimãm vadanti chakshuhu shrotram ka u devo yunakti’ (Kena Upanishad: 1/1). Each phrase of this mantra is of great importance. ‘केनेषितं पतति प्रेषितं मनः।’ – ‘Keneshitam patati preshitam manaha.’ The mana – mind – contemplates. It is a part of the antahkaran, which comprises four aspects – mana, buddhi, chitt and ahamkãr – collectively called the four antahkarans. Here, the word ‘mana’ implies all four antahkarans. So, the meaning of this phrase is, ‘O Gurudev! Who is the inspirer who gives these four antahkarans their faculty to function.’ Know More : The Shankara Bhashya of Kenopanishad with me, which is included in one of the two volumes of "Eight Upanishads" published by Advaita Ashrama explains each word of the stanzas in fairly simple language and in great detail. M G Warrier