Kena, Katha, Isha, and Mundaka - Ministry - http://maxpages.com/globalnetwork/Kena_Katha_Isha_and

The Kena Upanishad consists of an older prose section and some more recent verse with which
it begins. The word Kena means "by whom" and is the first word in a series of questions asking by
whom is the mind projected, by whom does breathing go forth, by whom is speech impelled?
What god is behind the eye and ear? The answer to these questions points to a mystical self that is
beyond the mind and senses but is that God by which the mind and senses operate.

Those who think they know it well know it only slightly. What relates to oneself and the gods
needs to be investigated. Beyond thought it is not known by those who think they know it.
Beyond understanding it is not known by those who think they understand it, but by those who
realize they do not understand it. It is correctly known by an awakening, for the one who knows it
finds immortality. It can only be known by the soul. If one does not know it, it is a great loss. The
wise see it in all beings and upon leaving this world become immortal.

In the prose section this mystical Spirit (Brahman) is shown to transcend the Vedic gods of fire
(Agni), wind (Vayu), and even powerful Indra, who being above the other gods at least came
nearest to it realizing that it was Brahman. In summary the Kena Upanishad concludes that
austerity, restraint, and work are the foundation of the mystical doctrine; the Vedas are its limbs,
and truth is its home. The one who knows it strikes off evil and becomes established in the most
excellent, infinite, heavenly world.

The Katha Upanishad utilizes an ancient story from the Rig Veda about a father who gives his
son Nachiketas to death (Yama) but brings in some of the highest teachings of mystical spirituality,
helping us to realize why the Upanishads are referred to as the "end of the Vedas" in the double
sense of completing the Vedic scripture and in explaining the ultimate goals.

When Vajashrava was sacrificing all his possessions, faith entered into Nachiketas, his son, who
asked his father three times to whom would he give him. Losing patience with these pestering
questions the father finally said, "I give you to Death (Yama)." Nachiketas knew that he was not
the first to go to death nor would he be the last, and like grain one is born again anyway.

When he arrived at the house of Death, Yama was not there and only returned after three days.
Because Nachiketas had not received the traditional hospitality for three days Yama granted him
three gifts. His first request was that his father would greet him cheerfully when he returned. The
second was that he be taught about the sacrificial fire. These were easily granted.

The third request of Nachiketas was that the mystery of what death is be explained to him, for
even the gods have had doubts about this. Death tries to make him ask for something else, such as
wealth or long life with many pleasures, but Nachiketas firmly insists on his original request,
knowing that these other gifts will soon pass away.

So Death begins by explaining that the good is much better than the pleasant, which Nachiketas
has just proved that he understands. He wisely wants knowledge not ignorance, and Death
describes how those, who think themselves learned but who are ignorant, run around deluded and
are like the blind leading the blind. Those who think this world is the only one continually come
under the control of Death. Death explains that this knowledge cannot be known by reasoning or
thought, but it must be declared by another. I interpret this to mean that it must be learned by
direct experience or from one who has had the experience.

Death tells how the truth is hard to see, but one must enter into the hidden, secret place in the
depth of the heart. By considering this as God one through yoga (union) wisely leaves joy and
sorrow behind. One must transcend what is right and not right, what has been done and will be
done. The sacred word Aum is declared to be the imperishable Spirit (Brahman). The wise realize
that they are not born nor die but are unborn, constant, eternal, primeval; this is not slain when the
body is slain.

Smaller than the small, greater than the great, the soul is in the heart of every creature here. The
one who is not impulsive sees it and is free of sorrow. Through the grace of the creator one sees
the greatness of the soul. While sitting one may travel far; while lying down one may go
everywhere. Who else but oneself can know the god of joy and sorrow, who is bodiless among
bodies and stable among the unstable?

This soul is not obtained by instruction nor by intellect nor by much learning, but is obtained by the
one chosen by this; to such the soul reveals itself. However, it is not revealed to those who have
not ceased from bad conduct nor to those who are not peaceful. Those who drink of justice enter
the secret place in the highest heaven. Thus correct ethics is a requirement, and one must also
become peaceful.

Psychology is explained in the Katha Upanishad by using the analogy of a chariot. The soul is the
lord of the chariot, which is the body. The intuition (buddhi) is the chariot-driver, the mind the
reins, the senses the horses, and the objects of the senses the paths. Those who do not
understand and whose minds are undisciplined with senses out of control are like the wild horses
of a chariot that never reaches its goals; these go on to reincarnate. The wise reach their goal with
Vishnu and are not born again. The hierarchy starting from the bottom consists of the objects of
sense, the senses, the mind, the intuition, the soul, the unmanifest, and the person (Purusha).

Though hidden the soul may be seen by subtle seers with superior intellect. The intelligent restrain
speech with the mind, the mind with the knowing soul, the knowing soul with the intuitive soul, and
the intuitive soul with the peaceful soul. Yet the spiritual path is as difficult as crossing on the
sharpened edge of a razor. By discerning what has no sound nor touch nor form nor decay nor
taste nor beginning nor end, one is liberated from the mouth of death.

A wise person seeking immortality looked within and saw the soul. The childish go after outward
pleasures and walk into the net of widespread death. The wise do not seek stability among the
unstable things here. Knowing the experiencer, the living soul is the lord of what has been and
what will be. This is the ancient one born from discipline standing in the secret place. This is the
truth that all things are one, but those who see a difference here go from death to death like water
runs to waste among the hills. The soul goes into embodiment according to its actions and
according to its knowledge.

The inner soul is in all things yet outside also; it is the one controller which when perceived gives
eternal happiness and peace. Its light is greater than the sun, moon, stars, lightning, and fire which
do not shine in the world illuminated by this presence. The metaphor of an upside down tree is
used to show that heaven is the true root of all life.

The senses may be controlled by the mind and the mind by the greater self. Through yoga the
senses are held back so that one becomes undistracted even by the stirring of the intuition. Thus is
found the origin and the end. When all the desires of the heart are cut like knots, then a mortal
becomes immortal. There is a channel from the heart to the crown of the head by which one goes
up into immortality, but the other channels go in various directions. One should draw out from
one's body the inner soul like an arrow from a reed to know the pure, the immortal. The Katha
Upanishad concludes that with this knowledge learned from Death with the entire rule of yoga,
Nachiketas attained Brahman and became free from passion and death, and so may any other
who knows this concerning the soul.

Greatly respected, the short Isha Upanishad is often put at the beginning of the Upanishads.
Isha means "Lord" and marks the trend toward monotheism in the Upanishads. The Lord
encloses all that moves in the world. The author recommends that enjoyment be found by
renouncing the world and not coveting the possessions of others. The One pervades and
transcends everything in the world.

Whoever sees all beings in the soul
and the soul in all beings
does not shrink away from this.
In whom all beings have become one with the knowing soul
what delusion or sorrow is there for the one who sees unity?
It is radiant, incorporeal, invulnerable,
without tendons, pure, untouched by evil.
Wise, intelligent, encompassing, self-existent,
it organizes objects throughout eternity.19

The One transcends ignorance and knowledge, non-becoming and becoming. Those who know
these pairs of opposites pass over death and win immortality. The Isha Upanishad concludes
with a prayer to the sun and to Agni.

The Mundaka Upanishad declares Brahman the first of the gods, the creator of all and the
protector of the world. Connected to the Atharva Veda the Mundaka Upanishad has Brahman
teaching his eldest son Atharvan. Yet the lower knowledge of the four Vedas and the six
Vedangas (phonetics, ritual, grammar, definition, metrics, and astrology) is differentiated from the
higher knowledge of the imperishable source of all things. The ceremonial sacrifices are to be
observed; but they are now considered "unsafe boats," and fools who approve them as better go
again to old age and death.

Like the Katha, the Mundaka Upanishad warns against the ignorance of thinking oneself learned
and going around deluded like the blind leading the blind. Those who work (karma) without
understanding because of attachment, when their rewards are exhausted, sink down wretched.
"Thinking sacrifices and works of merit are most important, the deluded know nothing better."20
After enjoying the results of their good works they enter this world again or even a lower one. The
Mundaka Upanishad recommends a more mystical path:

Those who practice discipline and faith in the forest,
the peaceful knowers who live on charity,
depart without attachment through the door of the sun,
to where lives the immortal Spirit, the imperishable soul.
Having tested the worlds won by works,
let the seeker of God arrive at detachment.
What is not made is not attained by what is done.21

To gain this knowledge the seeker is to go with fuel in hand to a teacher who is learned in the
scriptures and established in God. Approaching properly, calming the mind and attaining peace,
the knowledge of God may be taught in the truth of reality by which one knows the imperishable
Spirit.

The formless that is higher than the imperishable and is the source and goal of all beings may be
found in the secret of the heart. The reality of immortal life may be known by using the weapons of
the Upanishads as a bow, placing an arrow on it sharpened by meditation, stretching it with
thought directed to that, and knowing the imperishable as the target. Aum is the bow; the soul is
the arrow; and God is the target. Thus meditating on the soul and finding peace in the heart the
wise perceive the light of blissful immortality. The knot of the heart is loosened, all doubts vanish,
and one's works (karma) cease when it is seen. Radiant is the light of lights that illuminates the
whole world. God truly is this immortal, in front, behind, to the right and left, below and above;
God is all this great universe.

By seeing the brilliant creator, the God-source, being a knower the seer shakes off good and evil
reaching the supreme identity of life that shines in all beings. Enjoying the soul, doing holy works,
such is the best knower of God. The soul can be attained by truth, discipline, correct knowledge,
and by studying God. Truth conquers and opens the path to the gods by which sages whose
desires are satisfied ascend to the supreme home. Vast, divine, subtler than the subtle, it shines out
far and close by, resting in the secret place seen by those with vision. It is not grasped by sight nor
speech nor angels nor austerity nor work but by the grace of wisdom and the mental purity of
meditation which sees the indivisible.

Whatever world a person of pure heart holds clearly in mind is obtained. Yet whoever entertains
desires, dwelling on them, is born here and there on account of those desires; but for the one
whose desire is satisfied, whose soul is perfected, all desires here on earth vanish away. This soul
is not attained by instruction nor intellect nor much learning but by the one whom it chooses who
enters into the all itself. Ascetics with natures purified by renunciation enter the God-worlds and
transcend death. As rivers flow into the ocean, the liberated knower reaches the divine Spirit.
Whoever knows that supreme God becomes God.

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