3. The Concept of Mind in the Kenopaniṣad

The Kena-upaniṣad belongs to the Talavakāra branch of the Sāmaveda. It consists of four sections, the first two being composed in verse, and the last two in prose. It begins with ‘keneṣitaṃ’ and so it is called Kena. This Upaniṣad illumines the nature of knowledge by pointing out the Eternal Knower behind all acts of knowing, and purifies man’s concept of Ultimate Reality of all touch of finitude and relativity by revealing its character as the eternal self of man and the self of the universe. This Upaniṣad then introduces an allegory to show the extra ordinary power of Brahman by whose mere wish the Gods, obtain a victory in their battle with the demons.

Like the Īśāvāsya-upaniṣad , the Kena-upaniṣad also derives its name from the first word of its beginning verse, namely Kena.

The Upaniṣad starts with the question:—If the sense organs do not attain Īśvara who else is to attain? It is.,

oṃ keneṣitaṃ patati preṣitaṃ manaḥ kena prāṇaḥ prathamaḥ praiti yuktaḥ |
keneṣitāṃ vācamimāṃ vadanti cakṣuḥ śrotraṃ kau devo yunakti || ^[1]

This short Upaniṣad comprises of many thoughts about mind. Philosophy originated from the questions of many seekers like, Who am I?, Where do I originate from?, How does the world originate?, Who is the profounder? etc. Likewise, the eager persons raise questions about mind, parts of body, its activities etc. The word ‘īṣita’ and ‘preṣita’ in the śruti mean ‘desired’ and ‘sent for’, respectively.

They suggest that the Atman is sufficient to make the senses, and the mind does their functions:

yadi svatantraṃ manapravṛtti nivṛtti viṣaye syāt, tarhi sarvasyāniṣṭa cintanaṃ na syāt, anarthaṃ ca jānān saṅkalpayati, abhyugradukhe ca kārye vāryamāṇamapi pravartata eva manaḥ tasmādyuktaeva keneṣitamityadipraśnaḥ || ^[2]

The sage is describing not the mind in its entirety, but its action and characters lead upto the question of all mental actions. These actions are expressed by the word ‘patati’. The same idea can be seen in the Bhagavad Gītā Arjuna asks who impels a man to commit sin. He is driven to do it forcibly, though he does not wish to do it.^[3]

The question originates “impelled by what does the projected mind soar? The inconstant mind and the senses are found functioning improperly. The constant Atman realizes after having given up its attachment to the body and the senses, as well as its desires, that the wise have become immortal. The Atman cannot be known by any of the senses.

The knowledge on the Brahman is realized through contemplation. The Brahman is:

śrotrasya śrotraṃ manaso mano yadvāco ha vācaṃ sa u prāṇasya prāṇaḥ |
cakṣuṣaścakṣuratimucya dhīrāḥpretyasmāllokādamṛtā bhavanti || ^[4]

na tatra cakṣurgacchati na vāggacchati nomanaḥ na vijño na vijānīmo yathaitadanuśiṣyādanyadeva tadviditādatho aviditādadhi | iti śuśruma pūrveṣāṃ ye nastadvyācacakṣire || ^[5]

“There are various sentences which declare the utter helplessness of the senses, but they did not stop there; they fell back upon the internal nature of man, they went to get the answer from their own soul, they became introspective; they gave up external nature as a failure, as nothing could be done there, as no hope, no answer, could be found; they discovered that dull, dead matter would not give them truth, and they fell back upon the shining soul of man, and there the answer was found”.^[6]

Atman or Brahman is beyond the reach of the senses. It is also different from all the manifest objects of the world. Brahman is the source of power. It is required for the proper functioning of all the sense organs including mind. The undifferentiated Atman is the efficient cause of all the activities of all the sense organs. This is not a proper thought.

Atman is no subject-object; it has no merits and demerits, quality, quantity etc:-

yanmanasā na manute yenāhurmano matam |
tadeva brahma tvaṃ viddhi nedaṃ yadidamupāsate || ^[7]

Śrī Śankara explains the mind can move together with Buddhi. It is common for all sense organs. It says.,

mana ityantakaraṇaṃ buddhimanasorekatvena gṛhyate, manute'neneti manaḥ sarvakāraṇa, sādhāraṇaṃ, sarvaviṣayavyāpakatvāt | kāmasaṅkalpovicikitsā śraddhāśraddhā dhṛtiradhṛtirhīrdhībhīrityetatsarvaṃ mana eva iti śrutreḥ kāmadivṛttimanmanaḥ | tena manasā yat caitanyajyotirmanaso'vabhāsakaṃ na manute na saṅkalpayati nāpi miśrinoti lokaḥ manaso'vabhāsakatvena niyantratvāt | sarvaviṣayaṃ prati pratyageveti svātmani na pravartane'ntakaraṇām | antasthena hi caitanyājyotiṣāvabhāsitasya manaso mananasāmarthyaṃ, tena savṛttikaṃ manaḥ yena brahmaṇā mataṃ viṣayīkṛtaṃ vyāptaṃ āhuḥ kathayanti brahmavidaḥ tasmāt tadeva manasa ātmānaṃ prakcetayitāraṃ brahma viddhi || ^[8]

The Īśāvāsya-upaniṣad asserts that the mind always concentrates one thing that is the Brahman. This is mentioned in the Kena-upaniṣad The eternal entity or Ātmadarśana is attained only in mental stability. In this way the Upaniṣad advise praṇavamantra. The cosmic world and the individual soul bring out an analogy between them. That gives regard to the divine spirit and the soul. The mental processes are presupposed to be those of the Brahman.

The Upaniṣad teach that concern to the self.

athādhyātmaṃ yadetadgacchatīva ca mano'nena caitadupasmaratyabhīṣṇaṃ saṅkalpaḥ |^[9]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Kena-upaniṣad-1.1

[2]:

Kenopaniṣad Śānkarabhāṣya-1.1

[3]:

Bhagavad Gītā-3.36
atha kena prayukto'yaṃ
pāpaṃ carati puruṣaḥ
anicchināpi vārṣaṇyeya
balādiva niyojitaḥ ||

[4]:

Kena-upaniṣad -1.2

[5]:

Ibid-1.3

[6]:

Swami Vivekananda., Complete Works., vol III, P-330-331

[7]:

Kena-upaniṣad -1.6

[8]:

Kenopaniṣad Śānkarabhāṣya-1.6

[9]:

Kena-upaniṣad -4.5