Part four

She (Uma) said: "It is Brahman.  It is through the victory of
Brahman that ye are victorious."  Then from her words, he (Indra)
knew that it (that mysterious form) was Brahman.

Uma replied to Indra, "It is to Brahman that you owe your victory.  It is
through His power that you live and act.  He is the agent and you are all only
instruments in His hands.  Therefore your idea that 'This victory is ours,
this glory is ours,' is based on ignorance."  At once Indra saw their mistake.
The Devas, being puffed up with vanity, had thought they themselves had
achieved the victory, whereas it was Brahman; for not even a blade of grass
can move without His command.

II

Therefore these Devas,--Agni, Vayu and Indra--excel other Devas,
because they came nearer to Brahman.  It was they who first knew
this spirit as Brahman.

III

Therefore Indra excels all other Devas, because he came nearest
to Brahman, and because he first (before all others) knew this
spirit as Brahman.

Agni, Vayu and Indra were superior to the other Devas because they gained a
closer vision; and they were able to do this because they were purer; while
Indra stands as the head of the Devas, because he realized the Truth directly,
he reached Brahman.  The significance of this is that whoever comes in direct
touch with Brahman or the Supreme is glorified.

IV

Thus the teaching of Brahman is here illustrated in regard to the
Devas.  He dashed like lightning, and appeared and disappeared
just as the eye winks.

The teaching as regards the Devas was that Brahman is the only Doer.  He had
appeared before them in a mysterious form; but the whole of the unfathomable
Brahman could not be seen in any definite form; so at the moment of vanishing,
He manifested more of His immeasurable glory and fleetness of action by a
sudden dazzling flash of light.

V

Next (the teaching) is regarding Adhyatman (the embodied Soul).
The mind seems to approach Him (Brahman).  By this mind (the
seeker) again and again remembers and thinks about Brahman.

Only by the mind can the seeker after knowledge approach Brahman, whose nature
in glory and speed has been described as like unto a flash of lightning.  Mind
alone can picture the indescribable Brahman; and mind alone, being swift in
its nature, can follow Him.  It is through the help of this mind that we can
think and meditate on Brahman; and when by constant thought of Him the mind
becomes purified, then like a polished mirror it can reflect His Divine Glory.

VI

That Brahman is called Tadvanam (object of adoration).  He is to
be worshipped by the name Tadvanam.  He who knows Brahman thus,
is loved by all beings.

Brahman is the object of adoration and the goal of all beings.
For this reason he should be worshipped and meditated upon as
Tadvanam.  Whoever knows Him in this aspect becomes one with Him,
and serves as a clear channel through which the blessings of
Brahman flow out to others.  The knower of God partakes of all
His lovable qualities and is therefore loved by all true
devotees.

VII

The disciple asked: O Master, teach me the Upanishad.  (The
teacher replied:) The Upanishad has been taught thee.  We have
certainly taught thee the Upanishad about Brahman.

VIII

The Upanishad is based on tapas (practice of the control of body,
mind and senses), dama (subjugation of the senses), karma (right
performance of prescribed actions).  The Vedas are its limbs.
Truth is its support.

IX

He who knows this (wisdom of the Upanishad), having been cleansed
of all sin, becomes established in the blissful, eternal and
highest abode of Brahman, in the highest abode of Brahman.

Here ends this Upanishad.

This Upanishad is called Kena, because it begins with the
inquiry: "By whom" (Kena) willed or directed does the mind go
towards its object?  From whom comes life?  What enables man to
speak, to hear and see?  And the teacher in reply gives him the
definition of Brahman, the Source and Basis of existence.  The
spirit of the Upanishads is always to show that no matter where
we look or what we see or feel in the visible world, it all
proceeds from one Source.

The prevailing note of all Vedic teaching is this: One tremendous
Whole becoming the world, and again the world merging in that
Whole.  It also strives in various ways to define that Source,
knowing which all else is known and without which no knowledge
can be well established.  So here the teacher replies: That which
is the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, that is the
inexhaustible river of being which flows on eternally; while
bubbles of creation rise on the surface, live for a time, then
burst.

The teacher, however, warns the disciple that this eye, ear,
mind, can never perceive It; for It is that which illumines
speech and mind, which enables eye and ear and all
sense-faculties to perform their tasks.  "It is distinct from the
known and also It is beyond the unknown."  He who thinks he knows
It, knows It not; because It is never known by those who believe
that It can be grasped by the intellect or by the senses; but It
can be known by him who knows It as the basis of all
consciousness.

The knower of Truth says, "I know It not," because he realizes
the unbounded, infinite nature of the Supreme.  "Thou art this
(the visible), Thou art That (the invisible), and Thou art all
that is beyond," he declares.  The ordinary idea of knowledge is
that which is based on sense preceptions; but the knowledge of an
illumined Sage is not confined to his senses.  He has all the
knowledge that comes from the senses and all that comes from
Spirit.

The special purpose of this Upanishad is to give us the knowledge
of the Real, that we may not come under the dominion of the ego
by identifying ourselves with our body, mind and senses.  Mortals
become mortals because they fall under the sway of ego and depend
on their own limited physical and mental strength.  The lesson of
the parable of the Devas and Brahman is that there is no real
power, no real doer except God.  He is the eye of the eye, the
ear of the ear; and eyes, ears, and all our faculties have no
power independent of Him.  When we thus realize Him as the
underlying Reality of our being, we transcend death and become
immortal.

OM! PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!