The Spirit of Kena Upanisad

"In each and every consciousness, he experiences only the Brahman consciousness, the consciousness of the Lacimaya, the performer of the divine play. He experiences the same endless ocean of eternal bliss springing up within, without and everywhere in all forms. And from the depth of his being, the streams of knowledge, divine power and bliss begin to flow whose rejuvenating power heals all the wounds that the world had caused, he becomes ever free from the bhav-roga, the sufferings of the world - he becomes blessed, gratified and fulfilled."

In commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, we are glad to introduce to the readers, the English translation of Swami Shivatatvananda's book on Kena Upanisad originally written in Marathi, published by Ramakrishna Math, Nagpur in the year 1968. The title of this book in English is 'The Spirit of Kena Upanisad.'

Knowledge of the Atman is essential for the fulfilment of human life; this is the message and the quintessence of all Upanisads. The Kena Upanisad also emphasizes on this Truth only and exhorts mankind to attain the knowledge of the Atman in this life itself to gain freedom from the bondage of ignorance and imperfection. Kena Upanisad tells us that it is an immense loss if one has to leave this world before attaining Self-knowledge in one's life. Atman alone is real in this universe and all the functions of human body and the entire universe take place by the will of the Atman alone. By self-introspection, by observation of the external nature and through the search for the Atman, a sadhak should become one with it and set himself free from the cycle of birth and death, so says the sage of Kena Upanisad.

In the present Upanisad, the siidhanc7s for attaining Self-knowledge are also mentioned. Here the sage has given guidance regarding how to think about the Atman, how to seek it and how to worship it in various forms. By performing this sadhand when Self-knowledge is attained by the sadhak, his consciousness of the Self remains awake every moment and he attains immortality, eternal happiness and eternal peace in this life itself. Fulfilment of tan's life lies in this attainment only.

We sincerely hope that the study of this book will be of great help to our readers, on the path of spirituality. We extend our hearty thanks to Mr. Bhagbat Chakraborty of Meteor Books and Mr. Joydeep Sen of The Hallmark for efficient work of publishing and printing.

**Contents and Sample Pages**