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Karma as the Source of Diversity

The vedas acknowledge divine karma as the origin of all creation, preservation, and destruction. However, since God does not have desires, unlike humans, he is not constrained by them. In the first chapter of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.6.1), we discover that karma is one of the three main causes of diversity, alongside name and form. The variety in names is a result of speech, and the variety in forms is a result of the eye, while the mind and body are the sources for the variety in actions. For every action, the body serves as the source, the controller, or the lord.  Within the body, the mind, speech, breath, organs of action, and organs of perception are regarded as the primary deities who receive sustenance from the body and carry out their respective functions. Nevertheless, we cannot solely depend on them to combat the impurities and the malevolent forces that can infiltrate our body, as they are susceptible to evil and demonic influences, thoughts, desires, temptations,...
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KENA (PART-1)



The one who thinks he does not know That (Brahman), knows That. That is the unknown to the wise, and known to the ignorant. Kena Upanishad, being one of the most paradoxically influenced source of knowledge. Let's start understanding this from its simple introduction.

The Kena Upanishad derives its name from the first word of the Upanishad, “Kena,” which means by whom. "By whom" is the starting of every question where we are curious and inquisitive about knowing the person who created something. We are not only afraid of the unknown but also curious about it. The Vedic seers were driven by such curiosity. Living in the forests, they observed the world around them, asked questions, sought answers, debated and disputed various theories and hypothesis. The Kena Upanishad is a product of such curiosity.

When reality, rationality and knowledge do not help us, we use imagination to fill in the gaps of our knowledge and understanding. We try connect the dots and estimate the possibilities and probabilities when information is lacking. This is how ignorants think, rather the wise would revisit all the gaps left behind in the journey and fill it again with the proper knowledge required there. By atman he attains real strength, and by knowledge it attains immortality.

Brahman is the eternal reality behind all our sensory experience and mental processes. Though He is responsible for their actions, He is detached from them. The senses cannot reach Him because He is beyond them. So does the mind, which is not Brahman but works because of Him. He is indescribable because He is above both the known and the unknown aspects of our awareness. The "unknown" that is referred in this Upanishad probably is to the unconscious part of the mind which remains active during our sleep. What one cannot feel with the mind, but because of which they say that the mind feels know That alone as Brahman.

Brahman can be understood through a comprehensive approach only, involving all aspects of human awareness and activity. When an aspirant understands Him through his surface consciousness as well through his inner personal experience, we can say that he has known Brahman rightly. Brahman cannot be though by the mind, but it is that by which the mind thinks.

"I do not think, 'I know well'. Nor that I do not know; I know too.

Twitter:@merrill_ab

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