Kena Upanishad - Part 2 - English

The second section of kēnōpaniṣat moves from the first section's inquiry into a subtler correction: Brahman cannot be held as an object of complete conceptual mastery. The student must outgrow both spiritual arrogance and blank uncertainty.

These verses are famous for paradox. That paradox is not confusion; it is pedagogy. It breaks rigid mental habits and prepares the seeker for a mode of knowing that is immediate, lived, and non-objectifying.

yadi manyasē suvēdēti daharamēvāpi
nūnaṃ tvaṃ vēttha brahmaṇō rūpam ।
yadasya tvaṃ yadasya dēvēṣvatha nu
mīmāmsyamēva tē manyē viditam ॥ 1॥

Translation (bhāvārtha):
If you think, "I know Brahman well," you know only a small aspect of it. What you take to be Brahman in yourself and in cosmic powers is still to be examined more deeply.

nāhaṃ manyē suvēdēti nō na vēdēti vēda cha ।
yō nastadvēda tadvēda nō na vēdēti vēda cha ॥ 2॥

Translation (bhāvārtha):
I do not think "I know Brahman fully," nor do I think "I do not know it at all." I know it in a different way. Whoever understands this manner of knowing truly knows.

yasyāmataṃ tasya mataṃ mataṃ yasya na vēda saḥ ।
avijñātaṃ vijānatāṃ vijñātamavijānatām ॥ 3॥

Translation (bhāvārtha):
For the one who does not objectify Brahman as fully grasped, it is truly understood. For the one who thinks it is fully objectified, it is not understood. It is not knowable as an object to the wise, but appears objectified only to those without true insight.

pratibōdhaviditaṃ matamamṛtatvaṃ hi vindatē ।
ātmanā vindatē vīryaṃ vidyayā vindatē'mṛtam ॥ 4॥

Translation (bhāvārtha):
Brahman is rightly understood as that which is known in every act of awareness; through this one attains immortality. Through the Self one gains inner strength, and through true knowledge one realizes the deathless state.

iha chēdavēdīdatha satyamasti
na chēdihāvēdīnmahatī vinaṣṭiḥ ।
bhūtēṣu bhūtēṣu vichitya dhīrāḥ
prētyāsmāllōkādamṛtā bhavanti ॥ 5॥

Translation (bhāvārtha):
If this is realized here in this very life, one's life is fulfilled in truth. If not realized here, the loss is great. The wise, seeing the Self in all beings, transcend limited worldly identity and attain immortality.

॥ iti kēnōpaniṣadi dvitīyaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ॥

Translation (bhāvārtha):
Thus ends the second section of the Kena Upanishad.

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