I. The Text

The Kena Upanishad begins with the student asking one of the most fundamental questions there is. That question, essentially, is: “Who am I?”

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 answers,

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.

He elaborates:

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.

And so on.

We’re now in a position to grasp the central question with greater specificity. It is: “What is the Subject of all experience?” The answer: “It is the Self.”

Be That knowingly.

II. Contemplation

Contemplate this teaching.

For That on account of which these fingers are moving is none other than That on account of which those eyes (“yours”) reading these lines are moving.

That which enables thought, the expression of this thought in words, the reading of these words, the questions that may arise, and all the rest is nothing but the Self.

In fact, every single experience—“yours” and “mine,” “his” and “hers”—is really made possible by the Self and is—also really—none other than the Self. Know this for sure: the Self is “none other than you,” none other than me, none other than each and all.

The Self is the miracle of breathing, thinking, feeling, desiring, and sensing, of all acts of breathing, thinking, feeling, desiring, and sensing. The Self is all.

You are the Self: know This and be free.