The Student
.
Who makes the 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
The Self is the ear of the ear,
The eye of the eye, the mind of the mind,
The word of the word, and the life of life.
Rising above the senses and the mind
And renouncing separate existence,
The wise realize the deathless Self.
Him our eyes cannot see, nor words express;
He cannot be grasped even by the mind.
We do not know, we cannot understand,
Because he is different from the known
And he is different from the unknown.
Thus have we heard from the illumined ones.
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.
That which makes the eye see but cannot be
Seen by the eye, that is the Self indeed.
This Self is not someone other than you.
That which makes the ear hear but cannot be
Heard by the ear, that is the Self indeed.
This Self is not someone other than you.
That which makes you draw breath but cannot be
Drawn by your breath, that is the Self indeed.
This Self is not someone other than you.
~ The Kena Upanishad
translated and introduced by Eknath Easwaran
There is a Sufi story about a seeker who calls on Allah day in and day out for years and finally throws himself down and sobs, "How long have I been calling and you do not answer!" Then he hears a voice: "Who do you think has been making you call me?"
Kena, in the title means "by whom?" - that is, impelled by whom do all the motions stir? Or in Shankara's brilliant paraphrase, "By whose mere presence does that desire arise which moves the universe?"
