Episode 4 - Story of a teacher and his pupil - Kena Upanishad

Stories from Upanishads

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Today’s story is about a teacher and his pupil. The teacher was about to begin the day’s lesson when he saw that his student had an unusual inquisitiveness. The concerned teacher asked the pupil -“Son, what’s the matter? Why are you so disturbed today? What troubles you?” The startled pupil said “O Guru, From whom comes all of it - my thoughts, my sight, my hearing, my breath? Who is he who controls all of it?” The teacher smiled and took a deep breath. He knew all his great students will one day ask similar questions at some point. So he told the pupil -“O Son, he is hearing behind the hearing, the speech behind the speech, the sight behind the sight, he is in a place beyond reach.”The pupil gave a confused look at the teacher. The teacher continued explaining to him further -“He is inconceivable, cannot be described, He is Brahman, the Supreme One!” Although the pupil had a fair bit of idea about the Brahman, concepts were still murky. He knew that Brahman, was not Indra, the king of heaven or Agni, the lord of fire. He wasn’t someone you could please by offering sacrifices in the pious fire altars. He is much more than these. The pupil smiled and said, he understood it and thanked the teacher. The teacher smiled and thought -If only Brahman was so simple to understand if only he could be understood by mere human intelligence. The teacher told the pupil, -“If you say so, very well, my son! Perhaps you do understand Brahman. But remember that you know only the part which HE chooses to reveal us here on earth! The Brahman is… that dwells in the gods is yet to be discovered! Think about it, meditate and contemplate!” The pupil declared -“I might NOT be knowing him well but at the same time I understand his existence and importance! I need to know much more than this!” The teacher was impressed by the pupil’s honesty and spine for truthfulness. He said to this courageous student -“The problem with Brahman is that one who knows him, doesn’t know him! One who sees him hasn’t seen him!”Hearing this the student was very sad. He wondered then how will he understand Brahman. His quest is all futile. Perhaps the Brahman cannot be understood but can be experienced. However, the ones who have experienced him, cannot describe it because they themselves didn’t realise what had happened! The teacher could understand the pupil’s distress, so he said-“However he who sees Him in each and every being, he is blessed in worlds both seen or unseen.”Friends, do you find any similarity with this concept - one who sees the creator in each and every being or thing! The story of Prahlad has this concept if you remember! Let's get back to the story. The teacher’s explanation enlightened the student! His eyes gleamed in a ray of hope. The student excitedly said -“Belief in the supreme being in all beings! Maybe someday I would be able to understand Him. But will I be able to RECOGNISE him?” Understanding the student’s dilemma the teacher said -“Let me tell you a story about a Dev-asura war! Once upon a time, the gods won the battle against the asuras (the demons). The proud and victorious gods started congratulating each other! They were extremely overjoyed and started to boast about their achievement. “We fought this war all by ourselves…without anyone’s help!” Exclaimed one of the gods.“We are all powerful and invincible” exclaimed another!“Be it demons or anyone else we can defeat whoever crosses our paths!” Shouted another god!Overjoyed and undefeated gods started drinking soma (the ecstatic nectar of heaven).” “They didn’t pause for a moment to think about and thank the real reason behind their victory, which was the Brahman! Experiencing such disrespectful behaviour from the gods, Brahman appeared in front of them! The gods were too drunk and filled with ecstasy and didn’t even recognise or realise Brahman’s existence!They saw a spectre! They cried out - “What kind of apparition is this?”Indra, the king of gods ordered his commander - Agni the god of fire to investigate. Was it a friend or a foe or some kind of illusion from the demons?”On the sidenote -Agni is called by many names and one of them is Jatavedas back to the teacher’s story -Agni was powerful and fearless, as he approached the spectre. The spectre asked him -“Who are you?” Agni was surprised to hear this - he thought everyone in this universe knows him, how can this thing, whatever it is, not know him!”“I am Agni, the god of fire. They also call me Jatavedas!” Growled Agni “Oh ho…hmm, interesting…so what are your powers, dear Agni?” Asked the Spectre. The uproarious laugh of Agni filled the air and he said -“I can burn up anything in this world with my torrid breath! I can turn anything into ashes in a second.” “Oh really!” Exclaimed the Spectre.The Spectre placed a blade of grass in front of Agni and said -“Show me your power Agni!" Agni laughed wildly and said -“You want me to burn up that little blade of grass?”. “Yes, Agni.” Said the Spectre. Agni breathed a column of fire on the blade of grass!The blade of grass lay there as it is, fresh and green! The blade of grass didn’t wilt or burn at all!Agni was confused! He mustered all his strength and breathed plumes of scorching flames at the blade of grass! To poor Agni’s dismay, nothing happened to that blade of grass!’He was defeated and went back to Indra and the army of gods. However, he didn’t reveal what had happened. He said to Indra -“I am sorry O King, I couldn’t find who that Being is.” Disappointed Indra, now turned towards Vayu the Lord of Winds. Indra commanded - “Vayu, all-powerful one, go and find out who that Being is?” Wind smiled and boasted -“Of course my Lord, I am the most powerful of all gods. I’ll do as you say!” Moments later Wind reached the Spectre. The Spectre asked -“Who are you?” Vayu was surprised to know that the Being doesn’t know him!It was quite an offence for the strongest of all gods.He irritably said - “I am Vayu the Lord of Winds. I am also called Matarishvan.” “Oh I see…” exclaimed the Spectre“So what sort of powers do you have, Vayu?” Asked the Spectre calmly “Powers… huh! I can blow the entire population of mankind away! I can uproot all the plants for the face of the earth! I can blow away whatever comes in my way!” Boasted Vayu!“You seem to be very powerful, O Vayu” the Spectre smiled and said “Then blow this tiny blade of grass away!” Vayu laughed and asked -“That piece of grass? Are you joking? You are asking me to blow that blade of grass?” Asked amused Vayu!“Yes, Lord of Wind, please blow that blade of grass away! I hope you can do that?” Taunted the Spectre. Vayu blew lightly at the blade of grass. The grass didn’t move a bit. Surprised Vayu gave a harder blow hoping that the grass will fly away! But nothing happened! Vayu couldn’t believe it. what he was seeing! Gaining his entire strength to create a huge tornado to blow that grass blade away! Everything in the vicinity was destroyed or blown away, except that blade of grass.Tired and exhausted Vayu resigned to his defeat. He quietly went back to the camp and told Indra that he couldn’t find who that Being is. However, he didn’t reveal what actually happened out there!All the gods were now worried and were anxious to know who that Being was!They requested their king to go and find out himself.Indra agreed as it was a matter of pride for him! He cannot deny his subject’s request that any cost! He proceeded towards the Spectre on his White Elephant Airavaata. As soon as he reached the Spectre, it disappeared! In his place beautiful Uma, the daughter of the Himalayas appeared. Immediately Indra jumped down from Airaavata and with folded hands asked -“O most beautiful lady in all the universes, I wonder if you know who or what that strange Spectre was?” “Who, that?” asked Uma! “That was Brahman! Did you not recognise him?” Stated Uma. Ashamed Indra nodded his head and said -“ No, I couldn’t and neither Agni or Vayu could!” Uma continued - “Look at you all, celebrating Brahman’s victory as your own! Without him none of us will be able to move a blade of grass. Do you not see that all powers and glory comes only from Him!”Indra realised the mistake the gods had made. He thanked Uma for letting him know about the Brahman!He returned to the gods and told about the Brahman! They all were ecstatic and started singing praises of HIM! The teacher ended the story. He continued -“Know this my son, Agni, Vayu and Indra are considered among the greatest of the gods, as they were the ones who approached closure to Brahman! Also know this Indra surpasses the other two gods as he was one to whom Uma revealed the identity of Brahman! On hearing the story, the pupil realised that even gods failed to understand Brahman. Only the wiser than them, goddess Uma revealed his true identity to Indra.The pupil immediately realised that the gods had Uma to know the Brahman, and he has his teacher to help him!The student exclaimed -“That was a great story O my Gurudev! I know now that I can never hope to approach or recognise the Supreme Being or Brahman! So please sir, teach me! Teach me the secrets! Teach me the Upanishads.The teacher placed his hand on the student’s head and blessing him said - “you are eager to learn the greatest mysteries of the universe! I am blessed as a teacher to have a student like you!” The teacher continued -“It has been already taught to you my son! This is Upanishads. Tapas the Austerity, Dama the self-restraint and Karma the Work, are the foundational pillars of Upanishads. The Vedas are its limbs. Perform rituals, serve selflessly! Live the wisdom of the scriptures, and stay honest to yourself! Truth is its abode. This is how the demon in you is tamed and divinity in your heart is nourished. This is how the Brahman is attained!” My friends this was the story from Kena Upanishad which brings forth the inquisitiveness of the student wherein he wants to experience the Immortal, realise the Infinite and the Absolute. In today’s context, we can Google all our queries and get loads of information. We can know all that there is but cannot become a learned person unless we have a teacher or guru to shape our minds and souls! As we have been doing a customary practice in our podcast series. I will ask you three questions and I will refer to the names of those lucky ones who have provided me with all the correct answers in a future episode. So the first question - “Who were the gods who went to investigate the Spectre?” Second question -“Who revealed the Spectre?” And the last one - “What did the student learn from the teacher’s story?So please email us your responses to [e-mail], i.e A,R,G,H,Y,A,T,H,I,N,K,[e-mail]. We would really love to have your responses soon.

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The source content was collected from various books on Upanishads such as “Messages of the Upanishads” by Swami Ranganathanada, “The Brhadaaranyaka Upanishad” by Swami Madhavananda, “Eight Upanishads” from Advaita Ashrama, Upanishads.org, “Vedas and Upanishads for Children” by Roopa Pai and several other write-ups and thoughts on Upanishads. Background Music is sourced from various royalty-free music sources, Apple Loops and Internet Archives with a Non-Commercial 4.0 International license. Aum Shantih chants are from Youtube - source - Gaiea Sanskrit. The Concept, Script, Narration and Audio Design: Arghya GoswamiCo-narrated by: Jiniya Goswami