Passages for Meditation

The Kena Upanishad

The Self

The student inquires: “Who makes my mind think?
Who fills my body with vitality?
Who causes my tongue to speak? Who is that
Invisible One who sees through my eyes
And hears through my ears?”
 
The teacher replies: “The Self is the ear of the ear,
The eye of the eye, the mind of the mind,
The word of words, and the life of life.
Rising above the senses and the mind
And renouncing separate existence,
The wise realize the deathless Self.
 
“Him our eyes cannot see, nor words express;
He cannot be grasped even by our mind.
We do not know, we cannot understand,
Because he is different from the known
And he is different from the unknown.
Thus have we heard from the illumined ones.
 
“That which makes the tongue speak, but cannot be
Spoken by the tongue, know that as the Self.
This Self is not someone other than you.
 
“That which makes the mind think, but cannot be
Thought by the mind, that is the Self indeed.
This Self is not someone other than you.
 
“That which makes the eye see, but cannot be
Seen by the eye, that is the Self indeed.
This Self is not someone other than you.
 
“That which makes the ear hear, but cannot be
Heard by the ear, that is the Self indeed.
This Self is not someone other than you.
 
“That which makes you draw breath, but cannot be
Drawn by your breath, that is the Self indeed.
This Self is not someone other than you.”

Kena in Sanskrit means “by whom,” the first word of the question with which it opens. Translated by Eknath Easwaran in The Upanishads (Petaluma, California: Nilgiri Press, 1987).