1. Kena Upanishad | Introduction | Swami Sarvapriyananda
Vedanta Talks - Swami Sarvapriyananda
Vedanta Society of New York
4.8 • 714 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2024
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Swami Sarvapriyananda teaches Kena Upanishad in this series.
The Kena Upanishad (Sanskrit: केनोपनिषद्) (also alternatively known as Talavakara Upanishad) is a Vedic Sanskrit text classified as one of the primary or Mukhya Upanishads that is embedded inside the last section of the Talavakara Brahmana of the Samaveda. It is listed as number 2 in the Muktikā, the canon of the 108 Upanishads of Hinduism.
Kena Upanishad has three parts: 13 verses in the first part, 15 paragraphs in the second part, and 6 paragraphs in the epilogue. These are distributed in four khaṇḍas (खण्ड, sections or volumes). The first Khanda has 8 verses, the second has 5 verses. The third Khanda has 12 paragraphs, while the fourth khanda has the remaining 9 (3 paragraphs of main text and 6 paragraphs of the epilogue).
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In this class we have been studying the Upanishads, Vedanta texts, primarily the Upanishads. |
| 0:11.0 | And in our journey we have started out at the mountain top with the Mandu Kupanishad and the Manduqya |
| 0:19.0 | Upanishad and the Manduqya Karika, which we did at the very beginning. |
| 0:22.6 | And then we are taking the scenic route now, slowly again covering the whole journey. |
| 0:29.6 | We have studied the Kathō Upanishad, then we followed it up with the Mundaka Upanishad. |
| 0:44.1 | And now we're going to start another Upanishad in the same series, which is the Kaino Upanishad. |
| 0:52.5 | The Upanishads, of course, are the foundational texts of Vedanta. |
| 0:55.4 | Vedantana'am Upanishad Pramara. Vedant is the source, the source of spiritual knowledge |
| 0:58.4 | called the Upanishads is Vedant. |
| 1:01.6 | And everything else flows from these Upanishads. |
| 1:05.3 | So when we are studying the Upanishads, |
| 1:06.8 | we are studying, we are right at home. |
| 1:10.5 | This is the home tradition, the root texts of Vedantah. That's what we are studying, we are right at home. This is the home tradition, the root texts of Vedantah. |
| 1:13.7 | That's what we are doing. |
| 1:15.4 | And these are also very ancient texts. |
| 1:19.8 | Now, the Keno Upanishad is a short Upanishad. |
| 1:25.0 | It's not as short as the Mandu Kha Upanishad, which has only 12 mantras. |
| 1:30.3 | There's a little more, but still a very short Upanishad. A very powerful, wonderful, wonderful |
| 1:35.8 | Upanishad. In fact, I keep it sort of halfway in the journey because first we need a little |
| 1:42.7 | grounding. The Kato Upanishad and the Mundak |
| 1:45.7 | Upanishad, they provide a softer introduction with stories and a lot of padding, like shock absorbers. |
| 1:57.4 | Kenu Upanishad gets straight to the point, a bit like the Manduky Upanishad. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vedanta Society of New York, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Vedanta Society of New York and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.