Kenopanishad
Karma
and upasana act as steps leading to jnana. The immediate reality
experienced by the human being is the physical body connected with the physical
world. The function of the body is to act objectively in relation to external
existence. It is never possible to keep one’s individuality inactive, because
activity is a necessity that urges the individuality to transcend itself in
some other state that is superior to the preceding one. Action can be destroyed
through action alone, even as iron is cut by iron. Individuality can be
transcended through individuality.
Upasana
is a mental act, while karma may also be
a physical act. Mind also is a constituent of individuality. The mind can be
transcended through mind itself. The laws of the body and the mind are overcome
through karma and upasana. Karma should be done as a necessity
of individual life and not as a process of self-satisfaction. This is the
distinction between selflessness and selfishness. Upasana
is the method of subduing the distractive character of the mind through
concentration on the one objective reality, viz., God. God is the unified
wholeness of objectivity, though in upasana it is not
possible to consider God as the secondless Absolute. The body becomes steady
and calm; the mind becomes unshaken and the aspirant becomes fit for the higher
state of Self-knowledge by purification attained thus through karma and upasana.
All actions done for the sake
of the satisfaction of oneself become mothers of rebirth, because every desire
has to be fulfilled today or tomorrow. The vastness of desires makes it
impossible for the individual to fulfill all of them in this life itself. The
nature of the future birth is determined by the desires that are left
unfulfilled in this birth. Pleasures and pains experienced in this life are the
results of the positive and the negative reactions of desires and actions.
Knowledge is possible, therefore, only for one who ceases from desiring
objects, whether physical or psychological, real or ideal.
Even the memory of desires and
experiences has to be erased out. Nothing that is objective can be perpetual,
because something becomes an object only when it has a relationship with a
subject. All relationships constitute bondage. The mere fact that objects exist
in the world does not constitute bondage. It is the relationship that is
developed between one object and another that constitutes bondage. Desire for
the knowledge of Brahman is not a desire, because such a desire is like the
movement of a straw towards fire. Desire shall be burnt by the knowledge of
Brahman. Movement towards the Self within is not the development of a desire,
but the process of the cessation of desire. The senses and the mind get
withdrawn and dissolved in the unity of the Self. Immortality is the condition
of the experience of the Self as free from the connections that it appears to
have with the not-Self.
The Mundaka Upanishad has said
that the seeker after knowledge should first investigate the worthlessness of
regions which are the effect of actions performed in this world. He should get
disgusted with the world through understanding and not merely through
tradition. Reason should strengthen faith, logic should supplement intuition.
This shall bring about perfect vairagya born of viveka. Vairagya
is not possible without a previous conviction, and conviction is not possible
without analytical knowledge. This power of analysis comes to a person, first
through past meritorious deeds, next through Satsanga, and later through svadhyaya and vichara.
Karma
and jnana - karma
is a modification of the present state into another state, directed by a
necessity. Every action is based on a voluntary or involuntary desire,
expressed or potential. One does not move without a purpose, and every purpose
is a limitation, which shows that the actor is not complete in himself. But
knowledge is not an action. Knowledge is being. If knowledge is an action it
should be a means to some other end, but we do not find any end to be reached
beyond knowledge. Knowledge is something like attaining to oneself, which, if
it is called a process, would contradict experience. One cannot reach oneself
or attain oneself or move towards oneself except by knowing oneself. A person
who is asleep or dreaming may be said to be away from himself, but if he wishes
to attain himself or go to himself in that imagined state of aberration, he can
do it only by waking up from that dream or sleep and not by walking or moving.
His body may be carried from place to place, but he will not attain to himself
except by waking. Similar is the case with brahma-jnana.
One cannot reach Brahman
through an act, because all acts are a proceeding away from the Self. Knowledge
is subsisting and not proceeding. Knowledge is not a means to an end, but the
end itself. After knowing we have to do nothing, but after doing we have to
know something. This is the difference between action and knowledge. Knowledge
is, therefore, possible only after the dissolution of all actions, through
hearing, reflection and meditation preceded by discriminative dispassion. This
is the reason why the Upanishad has declared that the Self neither decreases
nor increases through action, because action is a motion, and the Self is
motionless.
Even if there is no intimate
relationship between Self-knowledge and action, it is possible for the active
individual to transcend his active individuality because of the fact that the
Self pervades the individual as his very existence. The relationship between
the individual and the Supreme is one of identity and not separation, but the
imagined separation allows the possibility of sadhana
towards perfection. Though sadhana is an
action in the realm of adhyasa
(superimposition), it is possible to get rid of individual consciousness
through sadhana, because the process of attainment
also is connected with the adhyasa. The
conclusion is, therefore, that the attempt for Self-knowledge should be
preceded by the longing for the same as the result of renunciation given rise
to discrimination.
The Self is of the nature of
Attainment. Therefore, it cannot be attained through any amount of external
exertion or striving, and no striving is there without an objective motive. The
Self is attained through putting an end to all motives and necessities
governing the laws of the phenomenal universe. That which is one’s own Nature
cannot be dealt with in any way. It cannot be purified, obtained, changed or
defined. The Self is objectless, immaterial, formless and immutable. All our
deeds bear fruits in a world of space and time. That which is not done
(uncreated) cannot be attained through what is done (created). Anything that is
obtained through perishable instruments is itself perishable. Everything of the
world is perishable, and, therefore, nothing of this world can be an instrument
in the attainment of the Self. Objective actions give rise to objective fruits.
Mental actions give rise to mental results. The effect is of the same nature as
the cause. The Self is neither a cause nor an effect. Therefore, all
relationships and processes pertaining to causes and effects are external to
the nature of the Self. The means adopted should befit the nature of the end.
The end is immortality and the means to it, therefore, cannot be a mortal one.
Knowledge is attained by the Self, not by doing something, but by not doing
anything. This comes to cessation of all desires, whether subjective or
objective, manifested or unmanifested. Knowledge is the same as existence or
being, while thoughts and actions are becomings or changes.
Brahman is vastu-tantra (dependent on the
object of knowledge). The knowledge of Brahman is not dependent on the mind of
man. One cannot conceive of Brahman as one likes. It is minds that differ and
not the Self. Conceptions and experiences belong to the mind. The Self is the
general ground of all beings, and its knowledge therefore is the same to all.
Different people cannot have different kinds of the knowledge of Brahman. The
knowledge of Brahman is dependent on Itself. But thoughts and actions are
dependent on the individual. One can change one’s thoughts and actions as one
likes - they are purusha-tantra
(dependent on the individual subject). This is the reason why conceptions and
actions which are the characteristics of the mind and the senses have no access
to the knowledge of Brahman. Brahma-jnana is
possible after effacing oneself, after becoming non-existent, from the worldly
point of view. It is the union of subject and object that is meant by
Self-experience. The Self is dependent on its own greatness. Its glory is
unsullied by external changes. Moksha is
eternity. Eternity is perpetual changelessness. The Kena Upanishad establishes
the truth of the unchanging, witnessing character of the Self.
Excerpts from:
Kenopanishad - Essays on the
Upanishads by Swami Krishnananda
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