Kena Upanishad – Chapter 2 – Verse 9   «   »

Kena Upanishad – Chapter 2 – Verse 9   «   »

यत्प्राणेन न प्राणिति येन प्राणः प्रणीयते ।
तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥ ९॥
॥ इति केनोपनिषदि प्रथमः खण्डः ॥
yatprāṇena na prāṇiti yena prāṇaḥ praṇīyate .
tadeva brahma tvaṃ viddhi nedaṃ yadidamupāsate .. 9..
.. iti kenopaniṣadi prathamaḥ khaṇḍaḥ ..
9 That which cannot be smelt by the breath, but by which the breath smells an object-That alone know as Brahman and not that which people here worship. 

English Translation Of Sri Shankaracharya’s Commentary By Swami Gambirananda

‘What none breathes with the breath’ means ‘what none perceives, like odour, with the earthly breath filling the nostrils and connected with the activity of the mind and life.’ ‘But by which, etc.,’ means ‘by the enlightening intelligence of the Atman, breath is made to move towards its objects.’ All the rest ‘tadeva, etc,’ has already been explained.

English Commentary By Swami Sivananda

Prana may also mean smell. Then the translation will be: “What smell does not perceive, but directs smell to its object, know That alone as Brahman and not this which people here worship.”

He who is not enlivened by Prana but who gives Prana the power of enlivening all being-know That alone as Brahman, and not this which people here worship.

The breath is made to move towards its objects by the enlightening intelligence of the Brahman.

‘That which one breaths not with the breath’ means, ‘That which one does not perceive like odour, with the air filling the nostrils, and connected with the activity of the mind and the life.’

Here ends the First Section.


Kena Upanishad – Verse 9 – Kena-1-9-yatprāṇena – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) and Swami Sivananda – Kena-1-9