Translations of and commentaries on Kena, Katha and Mundaka Upanishads and some 'Readings in the Taittiriya Upanishad' that were published by Sir Aurobindo during his lifetime.
On Upanishad
Translations of and commentaries on Upanishads other than the Isha Upanishad. The volume is divided into two parts: (1) translations of and commentaries on the Kena, Katha and Mundaka Upanishads and some 'Readings in the Taittiriya Upanishad'; (2) early translations of the Prashna, Mandukya, Aitareya and Taittariya Upanishads; incomplete translations of and commentaries on other Upanishads and Vedantic texts; and incomplete and fragmentary writings on the Upanishads and Vedanta in general. The writings in the first part were published by Sir Aurobindo during his lifetime; those in the second part were transcribed from his manuscripts after his passing.
THEME/S
This part contains the final versions of Sri Aurobindo's translations of three Upanishads, the Kena, Katha and Mundaka, and commentaries on the Kena and parts of the Taittiriya.
Sri Aurobindo first translated the Kena Upanishad in Baroda around 1900. (This translation forms part of a typewritten manuscript, hereafter referred to as TMS, which Sri Aurobindo entitled “The Upanishads rendered into simple and rhythmic English”.) The TMS translation of the Kena was lightly revised and published in the weekly review Karmayogin in June 1909. In 1920 the Karmayogin translation was reproduced in The Seven Upanishads, published by Ashtekar & Co., Poona. (Only three of the seven translations in this book were by Sri Aurobindo: Isha, Kena and Mundaka.)
Between 1912 and 1914, Sri Aurobindo began three commentaries on and one annotated translation of the Kena. All of these pieces were left incomplete. They are published in Part Two, Section Four.
Between June 1915 and July 1916, Sri Aurobindo published a new translation of the Kena Upanishad and a fifteen-chapter commentary on it in the Arya. He wrote each of the instalments immediately before its publication. Sometime between 1916 and 1920, he lightly revised the Arya translation and commentary. Their publication in book-form was planned, and production was actually begun in the summer of 1920; but the proposed book was never issued. Questioned about the possibility of publishing Kena Upanishad in December 1927, Sri Aurobindo wrote: “My present intention is not to publish it as it stands. This must be postponed for the present.” He never found time to return to this work.
When the publication of Sri Aurobindo's Upanishadic translations and commentaries was undertaken after his passing, the existence of the revised versions of his translation of and commentary on the Kena Upanishad was not known. The unrevised Arya versions were published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram as Kena Upanishad in 1952, and included in the same publisher's Eight Upanishads in 1953. The revised translation (but unrevised commentary) first appeared in the second edition of Kena Upanishad in 1970. The same texts were reproduced in The Upanishads: Texts, Translations and Commentaries, volume 12 of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, in 1971. The revised commentary first appeared in The Upanishads: Part One, published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1981.
The Arya text of the commentary had no chapter-titles. While revising the work, Sri Aurobindo gave titles to all the chapters except 8, 9 and 12. In the present edition, the editors have provided titles for these three chapters.
केनेषितं पतति प्रेषितं मनः केन प्राणः प्रथमः प्रैति युक्तः । केनेषितां वाचमिमां वदन्ति चक्षुः श्रोत्रं क उ देवो युनक्ति ॥१॥
1) By whom missioned falls the mind shot to its mark? By whom yoked moves the first life-breath forward on its paths? By whom impelled is this word that men speak? What god set eye and ear to their workings?
श्रोत्रस्य श्रोत्रं मनसो मनो यद् वाचो ह वाचं स उ प्राणस्य प्राणः । चक्षुषश्र्चक्षुरतिमुच्य धीराः प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति ॥२॥
2) That which is hearing of our hearing, mind of our mind, speech of our speech, that too is life of our life-breath and sight of our sight. The wise are released beyond and they pass from this world and become immortal.
न तत्र चक्षुर्गच्छति न वाग् गच्छति नो मनः । न विद्मो न विजानीमो यथैतदनुशिष्यात् । अन्यदेव तद्विदितादथो अविदितादधि । इति शुश्रुम पूर्वेषां ये नस्तद् व्याचचक्षिरे ॥३॥
3) There sight travels not, nor speech, nor the mind. We know It not nor can distinguish how one should teach of It: for It is other than the known; It is there above the unknown. It is so we have heard from men of old who declared That to our understanding.
यद्वाचानभ्युदितं येन वागभ्युद्यते । तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥४॥
4) That which is unexpressed by the word, that by which the
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word is expressed, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.
यन्मनसा न मनुते येनाहुर्मनो मतम् । तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥५॥
5) That which thinks not by the mind,1 that by which the mind is thought, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.
यच्चक्षुषा न पश्यति येन चक्षूंषि पश्यति । तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥६॥
6) That which sees not with the eye,2 that by which one sees the eye's seeings, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.
यच्छ्रोत्रेण न शृणोति येन श्रोत्रमिदं श्रुतम् । तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥७॥
7) That which hears not with the ear,3 that by which the ear's hearing is heard, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.
यत्प्राणेन न प्राणिति येन प्राणः प्रणीयते । तदेव ब्रह्म त्वं विद्धि नेदं यदिदमुपासते ॥८॥
8) That which breathes not with the breath,4 that by which the life-breath is led forward in its paths, know That to be the Brahman and not this which men follow after here.
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