Kena Upanishad Verse on Knowledge
yasyamatam tasya matam matam yasya na veda sah; avijnatam vijanatam vijnatam avijanatam.
It is literally translated as:
To whomsoever it is unknown, to him it is known. To whomsoever it is known, he does not know. It is unknown to those who know it and known to those who do not know.
In simple terms, who thinks they know Brahmman, They dont know. Those who thinks they don’t know Brahmman, they know him.
This verse alludes to difficult in understanding transcendental state existence and its creation.
Whoever thinks he knows Brahman does not know. Whoever does not think that he knows Brahman may probably know Him. Brahman is not known by knowing. He is known by not knowing.
What this means is that Brahman is not known by intellectual means. If you have opinions about Brahman, you are probably wrong. Therefore, you should silence your mind and keep it free from mental constructs about Brahman.
When your mind is free from ideas, opinions and mental constructs about Brahman, in that giving up, you open your mind to higher knowledge.
Knowing implies effort motivated by either egoism or desire or both. You cannot know Brahman by making a conscious and willful effort. You have to give up that effort and let go of the desire to know. It is because, the state of Brahman is known in complete silence.
When you make an effort to know Brahman, He eludes you, but when you renounce the desire to know Him and do not make a conscious effort, in that silent resignation you have a better chance of knowing Him. Thus, Brahman cannot be known with desire-ridden effort but in a state of complete renunciation characterized by silence and absence of intentions and expectations.
Brahman is a term used to describe God or the Supreme Being. It can also refer to the ‘divine consciousness’. Brahman is a supreme, universal spirit that is eternal and unchanging. Brahman as being present throughout the entire universe and believe that all living beings carry a part of Brahman within them. This divine spark is known as the atman, or soul, and it is immortal.
The Katha Upanishad describes Brahman as: “That which is awake in us even while we sleep, shaping in dreams the objects of our desire – that indeed is pure, that is Brahman, and that verily is called the Immortal. All the worlds have their being in that, and no one can transcend it. That is the Self” (Katha Upanishad 2.2.8).
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, Verse 15- 17 Krishna Describes Brahman
सर्वेन्द्रियगुणाभासं सर्वेन्द्रियविवर्जितम् |
असक्तं सर्वभृच्चैव निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तृ च || 15||
sarvendriya-guṇābhāsaṁ sarvendriya-vivarjitam
asaktaṁ sarva-bhṛich chaiva nirguṇaṁ guṇa-bhoktṛi cha
Though He perceives all sense-objects, yet He is devoid of the senses. He is unattached to anything, and yet He is the sustainer of all. Although He is without attributes, yet He is the enjoyer of the three modes of material nature.
बहिरन्तश्च भूतानामचरं चरमेव च |
सूक्ष्मत्वात्तदविज्ञेयं दूरस्थं चान्तिके च तत् || 16||
bahir antaśh cha bhūtānām acharaṁ charam eva cha
sūkṣhmatvāt tad avijñeyaṁ dūra-sthaṁ chāntike cha tat
He exists outside and inside all living beings, those that are moving and not moving. He is subtle, and hence, He is incomprehensible. He is very far, but He is also very near.
अविभक्तं च भूतेषु विभक्तमिव च स्थितम् |
भूतभर्तृ च तज्ज्ञेयं ग्रसिष्णु प्रभविष्णु च || 17||
avibhaktaṁ cha bhūteṣhu vibhaktam iva cha sthitam
bhūta-bhartṛi cha taj jñeyaṁ grasiṣhṇu prabhaviṣhṇu cha
He is indivisible, yet He appears to be divided amongst living beings. Know the Supreme Entity to be the Sustainer, Annihilator, and Creator of all beings.
Ultimate goal in life is to achieve spiritual union with the supreme spirit - Brahman. Brahman is described in two main ways by Hindus – as Nirguna Brahman or Saguna Brahman.
Nirguna Brahman
The term Nirguna Brahman refers to the concept that Brahman is beyond time and space. It is the idea that Brahman has no particular form and is present within all living beings and everywhere. Nirguna Brahman allows to focus on Brahman’s eternal qualities rather than getting distracted by different names and forms.
Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1
“One who knows Brahman, reaches the highest. Satya (reality, truth) is Brahman, Jnana (knowledge) is Brahman, Ananta (infinite) is Brahman
”
Saguna Brahman
Another way that Brahman is perceived is as Saguna Brahman. This means that Brahman has a form, identity and purpose, which may vary over time. Saguna Brahman seen as deities as a way for people to understand Brahman’s vast nature. These deities help worshippers to focus on images or statues, also known as murtis. This type of devotion is known as bhakti and is one of the ways identified by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita to achieve union with Brahman.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 11, Verse 8-9
न तु मां शक्यसे द्रष्टुमनेनैव स्वचक्षुषा |
दिव्यं ददामि ते चक्षु: पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम् || 8||
na tu māṁ śhakyase draṣhṭum anenaiva sva-chakṣhuṣhā
divyaṁ dadāmi te chakṣhuḥ paśhya me yogam aiśhwaram
But you cannot see my cosmic form with these physical eyes of yours. Therefore, I grant you divine vision. Behold my majestic opulence!.
सञ्जय उवाच |
एवमुक्त्वा ततो राजन्महायोगेश्वरो हरि: |
दर्शयामास पार्थाय परमं रूपमैश्वरम् || 9||
sañjaya uvācha
evam uktvā tato rājan mahā-yogeśhvaro hariḥ
darśhayām āsa pārthāya paramaṁ rūpam aiśhwaram
Sanjay said: O King, having spoken thus, the Supreme Lord of Yog, Shree Krishna, displayed his divine and opulent form to Arjun.
Three aspects of the Divine
- God has three main features. Firstly, God is Antaryami, or Brahman (the Ultimate Reality or truth).
- Secondly, God is the Lord within a person’s heart, or all-pervadingAntaryami. Many Hindus meditate on Antaryami in order to be aware of Brahman. Meditating on Antaryami helps to bring balance and realisation of God.
- Thirdly, Hindus view God as Bhagavan or Ishvara, a supreme being who lives beyond the world. Many Hindus believe that they can develop a personal and direct relationship with Bhagavan. They also believe that Bhagavan possesses qualities that include knowledge and strength.
The Vishnu Purana states:
Bhagavan is He who possesses without limit the six types of opulence - strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty and renunciation.
Difficulties in Knowing the Reality of Brahman
Any attempt to explain Brahman to the satisfaction of a mind that is driven by reason and familiar with the concretization of thought is fraught with enormous difficulties, because that which is inexplicable cannot be explained by any amount of reasoning and logic. Brahman is beyond the senses, beyond the mind, beyond our intelligence and dreams. Then, how can That be explained to the satisfaction of an intellectual and curious mind?
The Rigvedic seers themselves had this problem in their mind when they called Him vaguely as "IT" or "This" or "That." Brahman is incomparable. Indefinable. He is both here and above. He does not fit into any category that we know of. He does not present himself in our state of duality except as that which he is not. So we may speak of Him vaguely as this and that, but we are not sure whether even such vague references are anywhere near the truth.
The problem of understanding and knowing Brahman is comparable to our difficulties in envisioning the material universe that we know so far. With its billions of stars and galaxies and interstellar spaces that span express incredible distances, our material universe is a great enigma. Even with our modern computing machines we cannot truly measure its depth or dimensions. Its vastness and immensity stretch our minds and challenge our empirical knowledge. It overwhelms our sense of self-importance and makes us feel humble and tiny. We may envision a part of it, or weave beautiful science fiction stories using our imagination, but collectively or individually they do not render justice to the true dimensions of the universe in which we live. If such is our difficulty with the material universe, which is within the realm of our senses, how much more difficult it would be to know something which is beyond the limits of our minds and senses?
All that we know about Brahman is that we do not know him, except for some vague knowledge. Even after a prolonged spiritual practice and meditation, one cannot truly conclude whether one knows him or not. Upanishad declares, to whomsoever Brahman is not known, Brahman is known to him. However, to whomsoever Brahman is known, Brahman is not known to him. He is not understood by those who understand him, but understood by those who do not understand him. He can be known only when one directly experiences him at all levels of his consciousness.
1. Brahman is transcendental
Brahman is beyond the mind, the senses and speech. He is without name and form. You cannot quantify him or qualify him with your thoughts and words. Even if you do, your conclusion will be imperfect and incomplete because it a product of your imagination rather than the reality of him. Since Brahman is the subject who supports the mind and the senses and their movements, you can never know Brahman in your wakeful state. You can neither truthfully conceptualize him nor fully realize him with their help. On the other hand, when you fully shut them down and withdraw from them, you will not be able to remember anything in the state of self-absorption because your mind and senses do not participate in it. Thus, knowing Brahman with your intellect is a challenge.
2. Brahman is without duality
Brahman cannot be known in a state of duality. He is not an object which can be known. He is known only ins a subjective state when the duality of the known and the knower are absent. That is, to know Brahman you must become one with Brahma, without any division or duality. You must experience oneness, or the union (Yoga). Unfortunately, the mind cannot experience it, because it can only grasp objects and experience the objective reality. Besides, the subjective state of the mind is not the same as the subjective state of the Self. For the Self, the mind is an object of enjoyment or an instrument of Nature, which it observes as its lord. For the same reason, the knowledge of Brahman cannot be taught. Whatever you learn about him from your guru or from the scriptures is but a near approximation only and does not truly represent him. Brahman is a state, which cannot be objectified without distorting it. Hence, as the Prasna Upanishad declares, if you think you know him, perhaps you may not know him at all.
3. Brahman is Infinite
Infinity cannot be comprehended with a finite mind or with the accumulated, memorial knowledge of the mind. Infinity implies absence of limits. Your knowing of an infinite reality can never be finite. You learning and knowing must go on indefinitely. It may be possible that even he may not know himself fully because he is infinite, with infinite possibilities and dimensions. As the scriptures declare, he is without a beginning and without an end. It means that you may merge into the essence of Brahman, but you will never know the boundaries of it. How far you may go in your quest for the knowledge of Brahman, there will still be gaps in your knowledge and understanding. Imagine how big the universe, and how much bigger must be that reality which supports it as its very soul. As lord Krishna states in the Bhagavadgita, he supports the entire creation with a tiny fraction (amsa) of him.
4. Brahman is also the unknown and the unmanifested
The mind can only know the known in relation to what is already known. To know something, it needs another object or phenomenon with which it can be compared or contrasted. In other words, the mind cannot grasp what is unknown, or what does not exist. It is why we will not be able to fathom the future. Even if it grasps through conjecture or speculation, it may not correspond to the reality. Since Brahman has an unknown and unmanifested aspect, he can never be fully known by the human mind. We may gain some knowledge of his known aspects, but his unknown aspects will remain forever beyond our grasp.
5. Brahman is before all
Brahman is known as the first being (Adi Purusha). He is uncreated, self-existing and before everything, known and unknown. So also, he is the only reality which remains constant when everything else changes or becomes dissolved or withdrawn in the end. Therefore, practically it is impossible for anyone, even gods, or those who manifest from him, to know him and his state before existence and after existence.
6. Brahman is the sum of dualities and contradictions
Brahman is complete (purnam). As everything as well as nothing, he represents all aspects and dualities. There is nothing, which Brahman is not. He is both permanent and temporary, transcendent and immanent, destructible and indestructible, dependent and independent, good and evil, high and low, largest of the large and smallest of the small, with form and without form, with qualities and without qualities, and so on. Hence, nothing can be said about him with certainty. He can be neither diminished by deduction nor increased by addition. He is always the same, like the hub or a wheel. Yet he is without limits.
7. Brahman has numerous aspects and forms
Brahman pervades the whole universe. All forms and aspects of Brahman are Brahman only. Each of them may have further aspects, states, characteristics and qualities. No one can mentally or intellectually grasp his diversity, universality and omnipotence. In a state of self-absorption, you may know the essence of his supreme state or his blissful nature, but it will only be limited to certain aspects of him. It may help you vaguely understand his purest and highest state, but does let you know his universal dimensions or his innumerable forms. Besides, some aspects of him are subtle and beyond the reach of even gods. It is why spiritual masters and self-realized yogis may have realized Brahman, but do not know much about the material universe or worldly knowledge.
8. Brahman cannot be grasped by mental filters
We are subject to egoism, gunas, desires, attachments, attraction and aversion, which filter our perceptions and cloud our judgment. Even the simple facts of life we cannot fully or correctly grasp. We may have opinions about things or people. They are but opinions only, not facts. When we have difficulty in understanding simple, objective phenomena, how can we even grasp that which is hidden, silent and passive. The scripture say that the Self is the passive, witness and the ultimate enjoyer. For the Self, we are the objects or the enjoyed. Hence, it is impossible to know Brahman objectively. For that, we have to become absorbed in the Self by overcoming the filters and the impurities of our minds and bodies, which in itself is a hugely difficult task.
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