Kena Upaniṣad

By Sri Sri Ravishankar

Upanisad means sitting close, more importantly, feeling close to the Master. In this closeness, a lot more than words flow between the speaker and the listner, complete knowledge is transmitted. The 108 Upanisads are treasured teachings on life from the Master to disciple, so profound that even several millenia later they still capture the essence of life. In this series of talks, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar expounds one of the most prominent texts, Kena Upanisad, illuminating us about the very source of life. ‘Kena’ means ‘what’ and Gurudev takes the reader into bewildering depths and reveals the secrets of this creation, prana, life, the 4th state, and answers all questions that have piqued the seekers since time immemorial.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aslan eReads
• Release date: Apr 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9789385898051

Book preview

Title

Kena Upaniṣad

केन उपनिषद

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Publications Trust, India

Copyrights Sri Sri Publications Trust

This digital edition is published by

arrangement with Aslan Business Solutions

Digitally Published By:

Aslan Reads -An imprint of Aslan Business Solutions

Borivli, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Email: [e-mail];

Website: www.aslanbiz.com & www.aslanreads.com

Physical Editions Published by:

Sri Sri Publications Trust

The Art of Living International Centre

21st KM, Kanakapura Road,

Udayapura, Bangalore – 560082

Email: [e-mail];

Website: www.sattvastore.com

Toll Free: 1800-258-8888

© All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher

ISBN: 978-93-85898-05-1

Layout by: Sri Sri Publications Trust

Contents

Title

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Opening yourself to the Unknown

Chapter 3 Self discovery

Chapter 4 The world of immortality

Chapter 5 The fourth dimension

Chapter 6 Experiencing infinity

Chapter 7 The universe unveiled

Chapter 8 Beyond miracles

Chapter 9 Living in truth

Chapter 10 Shiva, the fourth state of consciousness

Chapter 11 Questions answered

Key to Transliteration

The Art of Living & The International Association for Human Values

The Founder

Follow Sri Sri on:

The Art of Living In Service Around The World

The Art of Living Programs

International Centres

Landmarks

Cover

Chapter 1

Introduction

Upaniṣad means sitting close, getting close - the individual mind getting close to the universal mind; the finite getting close to the infinite; the limited trying to access the unlimited; the known reaching out to the unknown. Upaniṣad - sitting close by, getting close to, being near. There are nearly 1100 Upaniṣads. Among them 11 are very important and major Upaniṣads. These are the dialogues between the Master and the disciple that happened thousands of years back.

In the literary sense, the student will sit close to the teacher and learn from the teacher because the teacher is an embodiment of wisdom, and the student is learning, getting close to that wisdom, step by step. This universe, which is so diverse with such multiplicity - has so many levels of existence, of understanding, of conflicts, of contradictions - how can something go close to something else? To do so, needs skill.

The Upaniṣads begin with the shanti mantra, that is, peace. Only when there is peace can anyone come close to another. People come close to each other when there is peace. If there is an atmosphere of hostility, everyone will be suspecting everybody else. There is mistrust and doubt. Even though you are sitting next to each other, your minds are worlds apart, ways apart. So, when our understanding, our thinking and our feeling on all levels are so far apart, then there can be no communication, no exchange; nothing can transfer between the two individuals or many individuals.

So, first is peace. First and foremost, all the Upaniṣads begin with a shanti mantra, wishing for peace. There are three types of peace. One is physical peace, an environment which is peaceful and serene. A nice, beautiful environment, which you already have. Second is peace at the level of your thoughts and emotions or at the intellectual and emotional level. And the third is the innermost peace, the peace in our soul. Wishing for these is the beginning of every Upaniṣad, so we chant the peace mantra three times. We say, "Om śāntiḥi, śāntiḥi, śāntiḥi."

I will talk about Kena Upaniṣad. There is another wonderful Upaniṣad called Katha Upaniṣad. It is a very interesting story, an encounter with death, but before that we have to go through Kena Upaniṣad.

ऊँ सह नाववतु सह नौ भुनक्तु सह वीर्यंकरवावहै

तेजस्विना वधीतमस्तु माविद्विषावहै॥

Om saha nāvavatu saha nau bhunaktu saha vīryam karavāvahai

Tejasvinā vadheetamastu māvidviśāvahai

Om śāntiḥi, śāntiḥi, śāntiḥi.

This prayer is saying, Let the divine protect us both. Let us be together. Let us develop our ability together. Let us be effulgent, brilliant. Let our brilliance shine through. Let us not hate each other.

The Master lives on his own level and the student is on another level. How can there be communication when the levels are so different? Either the student has to come up or the teacher has to come down, otherwise communication is impossible. So, the Master says, I am with you. Let us learn together. He does not say, I am teaching you. You better learn! I know and you don’t know! He says, Let us explore. The entire knowledge in Upaniṣads is from being together. Saying to a student, Come, let us explore, is the best form of teaching.

A teacher or a professor, however intelligent he/she is, should not go on showing his intelligence in front of the student and make the student feel small. He takes the student by the hand and says, Look, come on, let us discover two plus two. What is it? Let us see how much it is. Two plus two is four. So, the way of teaching itself starts empowering the student right from the very first step. It gives encouragement to the student to move ahead. Otherwise when students become aware of the magnitude of knowledge or the being, they get scared. They say, Oh my God, I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this if I have to solve this big formula. No way. I don’t want to do this mathematics. Confidence has to come. How will confidence come? When the Master holds the student by the hand and says, Hey, come on. I am like you. You are like me. Come, let’s sit together. Let us explore. Let us discover what is here. Let us be together. Let us pray for the divinity to protect us both. You can pray, Oh God protect me. But When you say, God protect us, right there that individual Self starts expanding.

In a classroom there are so many students sitting together. You pray for all. God, let us all be protected by your grace. From me, me... to us is the first step in moving from the narrow, limited individual identity to the universal spirit. The very first step is: "Let us be together, let us be protected together. ‘Sahavīryam’- Let us be powerful together."

The world is a place where abilities are so different. Everyone has different abilities, but to reach the divine self, ability doesn’t count. Because our capabilities are different. Someone can lift ten pounds, another can lift only five pounds, and someone else will hardly be able to lift one pound.

So, abilities are different, but will it stop us from attaining the ultimate? No. You can all attain the ultimate. Here again, give that encouragement: We will grow in our ability. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to improve your skills or that you don’t have to know things. You have to improve. You have to know skills. Yet it’s not a criterion. A mother loves her children not because of their abilities, but because they are her children. Each one is different and has different capabilities. In the course of life, our abilities improve. Let us grow in our abilities and in our skills.

सह वीर्यंकरवावहै

saha vīryam karavāvahai

Let us improve our abilities. Let the divine develop us all, and in this course of studies let us absorb this brilliance - give us the capability to live this brilliance.

माविद्विषावहेै

māvidviśāvahai

Let us not hate each other. What can really block your progress is hatred. In a classroom a student is sitting and listening to the talk or lecture, but in the mind he is hateful of his friend sitting next to him or somebody behind him or in front of him, his mind is reeling only on that issue, not on the topic or subject of the lecture. Once, a gentleman came to Lord Buddha’s congregation. The first thing Lord Buddha would ask any new disciple was to give forgiveness and compassion to all human beings, not to hate anybody. This was the first vow that they had to take. So, when one would-be disciple came, he said, "Lord Buddha, I know it is your rule that one has to forgive and have compassion for everybody. I can do it for the entire world except two people. Don’t ask me to forgive and have compassion for those two people. Otherwise I am walking out from here. Except those two people, you tell me. I will give everything. I will give my life to the whole world, but these two people, I hate them to the end of the world."

Buddha simply smiled and said, I am so happy that you can give your life for the whole world and you are so compassionate towards everybody. Nobody is like you in the whole world. Okay, let me think. Is there some chance of bargaining? Can we do something? Let me bargain. I don’t want you to love and be compassionate toward the whole world, but can you do it just for these two people, only for one day? You can start it tomorrow, or at least for today. Can you do that? It made him start thinking because whomsoever you hate becomes a big block in your mind.

Often you start hating people you love. You fall in love and fall out of love from the person whom you loved so much, because