'The Breathing Behind Breathing'

By whom impelled, by whom compelled,

does the mind soar forth?

By whom enjoined does the breath

march on as the first?

By whom is this speech impelled,

with which people speak?

And who is the god that joins

the sight and hearing?

That which is the hearing behind hearing,

the thinking behind thinking,

the speech behind speech,

the sight behind sight--

It also the breathing behind breathing--

Freed completely from these,

the wise become immortal,

when they depart from this world.

Sight does not reach there;

neither does thinking speech.

We don't know, we can't perceive,

how one would point it out.

It is far different from what's known.

And it is farther than the unknown--

so have we heard from men of old,

who have explained it all to us.

Which one cannot express by speech,

by which speech itself is expressed--

Learn that that alone is

,

and not what they here venerate.

Which one cannot grasp with one's mind,

by which, they say, the mind itself is grasped--

Learn that that alone is

,

and not what they here venerate.

Which one cannot see with one's sight,

Which one cannot see with one's sight,

by which one sees the sight itself--

Learn that that alone is

,

and not what they here venerate.

Which one cannot hear with one's hearing,

by which hearing itself is heard--

Learn that that alone is

,

and not what they here venerate.

Which one cannot breathe through breathing,

by which breathing itself is drawn forth--

Learn that that alone is

,

and not what they here venerate.

______________________

The Kena Upanisad, also called the Talavakara Upanisad, falls roughly into two parts. The first presents

as essentially unknowable and inexpressible. The second shows how the gods and their powers have proceeded from

, here identified as the creator of all.