Kena Upanishad with Shankara’s Commentary
by S. Sitarama Sastri | 1905 | 13,003 words
The Kena Upanishad is a collection of philosophical poems discussing the attributes of Brahman: the unchanging, infinite universal spirit. Brahman is further proposed as the cause for all the forces of nature, symbolized as Gods. This commentary by Shankara focuses on ‘Advaita Vedanta’, or non-dualism: one of the classical orthodox philosophies o...
Verse 26
सा ब्रह्मेति होवाच ब्रह्मणोवा एतद्विजये महीयध्वमिति ततो हैव विदाञ्चकार ब्रह्मेति ॥ २६ ॥
sā brahmeti hovāca brahmaṇovā etadvijaye mahīyadhvamiti tato haiva vidāñcakāra brahmeti || 26 ||
26. She said “It is Brahman indeed. Attain glory in the victory of Brahman.” From her words only, he learned that it was Brahman.
Shankara’s Commentary:
Com.—The particle ‘Ha’ means ‘verily.’ Glory in the victory of the omnipotent Lord (for the Asuras were defeated only by Brahman). Etat modifies the predicate. Your notion that the victory and the glory are yours is false. From her words alone Indra learned that it was Brahman. The force of ‘only’ is that Indra did not know of himself.