Kena Upanishad - Part 1 - Sinhala

කේනෝපනිෂත්, traditionally associated with the තාලවකාර stream of the සාමවේද, is counted among the principal Upanishads studied in Vedanta. It is treated as foundational because it asks a radical question at the root of spiritual inquiry: not merely "what exists," but "by whose power do mind, speech, sight, hearing, and life-force function?"

This first part (ප්රථමඃ ඛංඩඃ) lays that foundation through direct questions and paradox-style answers. The movement is from instrument to source: from hearing to the hearer of hearing, from thinking to that by which thought itself is illumined.

Read these verses as a practice text, not only a philosophical text: hear (ශ්රවණ), reflect (මනන), and internalize (නිදිධ්යාසන) until awareness is recognized as prior to every changing thought and perception.

॥ අථ කේනෝපනිෂත් ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Now begins the Kena Upanishad, the inquiry into the ultimate source behind all faculties.

ඕං ස@හ නා#වවතු । ස@හ නෞ# භුනක්තු । ස@හ වී@ර්ය#ං කරවාවහෛ । තේ@ජ@ස්විනා@වධී#තමස්තු@ මා වි#ද්විෂා@වහෛ$ ।

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
May the Lord protect us both. May He nourish us both. May we strive together with strength. May our study be radiant and fruitful. May we never be hostile to one another.

ඕං ශාංති@ඃ ශාංති@ඃ ශාංති#ඃ ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Om. Peace, peace, peace.

ඕං ආප්යායංතු මමාංගානි වාක්ප්රාණශ්චක්ෂුඃ ශ්රෝත්රමථෝ බලමිංද්රියාණි ච සර්වාණි । සර්වං බ්රහ්මෞපනිෂදං මාऽහං බ්රහ්ම නිරාකුර්යාං මා මා බ්රහ්ම නිරාකරෝදනිරාකරණමස්ත්වනිරාකරණං මේऽස්තු । තදාත්මනි නිරතේ ය උපනිෂත්සු ධර්මාස්තේ මයි සංතු තේ මයි සංතු ।

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
May my limbs, speech, life-force, eyes, ears, strength, and all faculties be nourished. May I recognize everything as Brahman as taught in the Upanishads. May I never reject Brahman, and may Brahman never be hidden from me. May the disciplines taught in the Upanishads abide in me who is devoted to the Self.

ඕං ශාංති@ඃ ශාංති@ඃ ශාංති#ඃ ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Om. Peace, peace, peace.

කේනේෂිතං පතති ප්රේෂිතං මනඃ
කේන ප්රාණඃ ප්රථමඃ ප්රෛති යුක්තඃ ।
කේනේෂිතාං වාචමිමාං වදංති
චක්ෂුඃ ශ්රෝත්රං ක උ දේවෝ යුනක්ති ॥ 1 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
By whose will does the mind go toward its objects? Directed by whom does the life-force function? By whose power do people speak, and what divinity connects the eye and ear to their functions?

ශ්රෝත්රස්ය ශ්රෝත්රං මනසෝ මනෝ යද්
වාචෝ හ වාචං ස උ ප්රාණස්ය ප්රාණඃ ।
චක්ෂුෂශ්චක්ෂුරතිමුච්ය ධීරාඃ
ප්රේත්යාස්මාල්ලෝකාදමෘතා භවංති ॥ 2 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That which is the hearing in hearing, the thinking in thought, the speech in speech, the life in life-force, and the seeing in sight - realizing that, the wise go beyond limited identification and attain immortality.

න තත්ර චක්ෂුර්ගච්ඡති න වාග්ගච්ඡති නෝ මනඃ ।
න විද්මෝ න විජානීමෝ යථෛතදනුශිෂ්යාත් ॥ 3 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
There the eye does not reach, nor speech, nor mind. We do not know it in the usual way, nor how to instruct it as one instructs an object.

අන්යදේව තද්විදිතාදථෝ අවිදිතාදධි ।
ඉති ශුශ්රුම පූර්වේෂාං යේ නස්තද්ව්යාචචක්ෂිරේ ॥ 4 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
It is indeed other than the known, and beyond the unknown as well. So have we heard from the ancient teachers who explained this to us.

යද්වාචාऽනභ්යුදිතං යේන වාගභ්යුද්යතේ ।
තදේව බ්රහ්ම ත්වං විද්ධි නේදං යදිදමුපාසතේ ॥ 5 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That which speech cannot reveal, but by which speech itself is made possible - know that alone to be Brahman, not this limited object people take as ultimate.

යන්මනසා න මනුතේ යේනාහුර්මනෝ මතම් ।
තදේව බ්රහ්ම ත්වං විද්ධි නේදං යදිදමුපාසතේ ॥ 6 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That which the mind cannot grasp as an object, but by which the mind itself is illumined - know that alone as Brahman, not this limited object of worship.

යච්චක්ෂුෂා න පශ්යති යේන චක්ෂූංෂි පශ්යති ।
තදේව බ්රහ්ම ත්වං විද්ධි නේදං යදිදමුපාසතේ ॥ 7 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That which the eyes cannot see, but by which the eyes gain their power of seeing - know that alone as Brahman, not this limited object people treat as absolute.

යච්ඡ්රෝත්රේණ න ශ‍ඍණෝති යේන ශ්රෝත්රමිදං ශ්රුතම් ।
තදේව බ්රහ්ම ත්වං විද්ධි නේදං යදිදමුපාසතේ ॥ 8 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That which the ear cannot hear, but by which hearing itself takes place - know that alone as Brahman, not this limited object taken as ultimate.

යත්ප්රාණේන න ප්රාණිති යේන ප්රාණඃ ප්රණීයතේ ।
තදේව බ්රහ්ම ත්වං විද්ධි නේදං යදිදමුපාසතේ ॥ 9 ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
That which is not animated by the life-force, but by which the life-force itself is impelled - know that alone as Brahman, not this limited object taken as final reality.

॥ ඉති කේනෝපනිෂදි ප්රථමඃ ඛංඩඃ ॥

Translation (භාවාර්ථ):
Thus ends the first section of the Kena Upanishad.

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