Kena-1-5-yadvācā'nabhyuditaṃ

English Translation Of Sri Shankaracharya’s Commentary By Swami Gambirananda

Yat, that-whose essence consists of Consciousness alone-, which; (is not uttered) vaca, by speech-. Vak (speech) is the organ which, clinging to the eight localities, viz the root of the tongue etc. [Chest, throat, head, root of the tongue, teath, nose, lips, and palate.] , and being presided over by (the god of) Fire, expresses the letters. The letters, too, as limited in their number and as subject to a certain seence, in conformity with the meaning intended to be conveyed, are also called vak. [The word gau (cow), for instance, consists of the letter g and au which are fixed as regards their seence so as to be able to express the meaning cow. This is the view of the Mimamsaka school.] Thus also the soud expressible by them, which is the pada (sphota), [This is the view of the Sphotavadi grammarians. ‘Sphota is derived from the root sphut in the sense of that which is manifested by letters, i.e., that which imparts definite knowledge of word (pada), sentence, etc. Their idea is that this (pada-) sphota has to be admitted since a unified idea (conveyed by the word) cannot be contingent on a multiplicity of letters.’-A.G.] is called vak. this is in accordance with the Vedic text: ‘The letter a, indeed, is all speech. [‘That power of Consciousness is vak which is indicated by Om, in which a predominates. (Om is a combination of a, u, m), and this Om is called sphota,-A.G.] And that speech, being manifested as the sparsa letters, the antahstha letters (semi-vowels), and usma letters (aspirates), [Sparsa-25 consonants from ka to ma; antahstha-y, r, l, v; usma-s, s, s, h.] becomes many and multifarious’ (Ai. A. II. iii. 7. 13). (Yat, that which) is anabhyuditam, not expressed, not uttered; vaca, by vak, by speech, which has these modifications, viz regulated (material, Rk), non-regulated (prose Yujuh), musical (Sama), true, and false-by that vak which becomes defined as words and to which the organ of speech is subordinate; [‘The power of speech that human beings have, is established in sounds and letters, for it is expressed by these.’] yena, that by which-that Brahman, the light of Consciousness, by which-; vak, speech, together with its organs; abhyudyate, is uttered, is expressed, that is to say, is used in relations to the desired meaning-. That which has been spoken of here as ‘the Speech of speech’ (1.2), and as ‘When It speaks, It is called the organ of speech’ (Br. I. iv. 7), and ‘He who controls the organ of speech from within’ (Br. III. vii. 17), etc., in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, and about whom the question has been raised thus, ‘The (power of) speech that is found in men, is established in sounds. Does any Brahmana know it?’, and the answer has been given by saying, ‘That by which one speaks is dream is speech,- that eternal power of speech which a speaker has is vak which is in essence, the light of Consciousness. And this follows from the Vedic text, ‘For the speaker’s power of speech can never be lost’ (Br. IV. iii. 26). Tat eva, that indeed, that Self in its true nature; tvam, you; viddhi, know; as brahma, Brahman-(so called) because of its extensity (or unsurpassability)-that which is allsurpassing and is called Bhuma, great (Ch. VII. xxiii. 1). The significance of the word eva is this: Know the Self alone to be the unconditioned Brahman after eradicating all such adjuncts as speech because of which there occur such empirical expressions, with regard to the transcendental, unconditioned, unsurpassable, and eipoised Brahman, as ‘It is the Speech of speech’, ‘the Eye of the eye’, ‘the Ear of the ear’, ‘the Mind of the mind’, the agent, the enjoyer, the knower, the controller, governor. ‘Consciousness, Bliss, Brahman’ (Br. III. ix. 28.7), etc. Na idam, this is not; brahma, Brahman; Yat, which; people upasate, meditate on; as idam, this, (as a limited object) possessed of distinctions created by limiting adjuncts-as a non-Self, e.g. God, etc. Although in the sentence, ‘Know that alone to be Brahman’, it has already been stated that the non-Self is not Brahman, still with a view to enounciating as explicit rule (that leaves no scope for option) the idea is repeated in the sentence, ‘This is not Brahman’; or this may be with a view to excluding the identification of Brahman with what is not Brahman. [In Mimamsa philosophy Niyama-vidhi pins one down to one thing only when alternatives are possible. Here the possibilities are, thinking of both Brahman and non-Brahman as Brahman. And the rule fixes us to the pursuit of Brahman only. Parisankhyavidhi merely excludes something-here the thought of non-Brahman as Brahman. So the text may be interpreted from either point of view.]

English Commentary By Swami Sivananda

Yat-what, that which is intelligence itself, Pure consciousness; Yena-by whom, by Brahman.

The disciple entertained the doubt that the Jivatma cannot be Brhaman. He thought that the Jivatma
is the performer of sacrifice and enjoyer of fruits of Karmas. The teacher found out the condition of his disciple from his looks and speech and said: ‘Do not doubt thus, the Atman is Brahman.’

The soul of man is the Atman. The soul of the universe is Brahman. The Atman is identical with Brahman.

Speech cannot reveal or illumine Brahman. Brahman is Beyond the range of speech. The tongue speaks through the power or light of Brahman. Speech is finite. How can the finite speech reveal the infinite Brahman! Brahman only illumines speech and its organ, Vak, which is presided over by fire (Agni). So Brahman is speech of speech, tongue of tongue. The Vajasaneyaka says: ‘Brahman is within speech and directs speech.’ This Atman is Brahman or Bhuma (Infinite or the unconditioned). Brahman is unsurpassable, big, great, highest of all, all pervading. So He is called Brahman.

Brahman is eternal, unchangeable, self-luminous, formless, colourless, attributeless, timeless, spaceless, indivisible, unborn, undecaying, immortal.

Idam-this (Loka), people here. Brahman is not what people worship here such as Isvara and other extra-cosmic minor deities, for the satisfaction or desires.

Some may think that this text depreciates Bhakti or devotion. Vedanta is certainly not hostile to devotion. Here, it only depreciates worship of minor deities with selfish interests. A Vedantin or a sagae is a perfect devotee. Para Bhakti or supreme devotion and Jnana are one. Vedanta says that Isvara whom people worship is your own Self. It teachers an expanded form of Bhakti or higher form of devotion.

Start your devotion by worshipping an image. Superimpose all the attributes of the Lord in the image, but do not end your devotion in that image alone. Expand. See God in every object. Feel that the word is the manifestation of the Lord. See the world as God. The image or the Picture will stimulate divine love in your heart, and ultimately lead you to the realisation of loneness or unity of the Self. The image will serve as a prop to lean upon in the beginning. Some ignorant people think that the image only is the Lord. Vedanta depreciates only this sort of worship.

Brahman is the silent witness of the activity of the organ of speech.

Links
Various resources on the Kenopanishad
Upanishad Series – Kena Upanishad Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda