KENA UPANISHAD 4:6 {That Bower}

That wisdom is That Bower named That Bower, by which attended, it forwards to This its real knowledge, reaching by such a manner here, where all beings are then united.

tadd ha tadvanam naama tadvanam iti upaasitavyam sa ya etad evam vedaabhi hainang sarvaani bhutaani samvaanchanti.

Note: the most difficult decision here is in the translation of tadvanam, which appears to literally mean That Forest, and has usually been kept verbatim, untranslated, although Aurobindo goes out on a limb, as he is the only one wont to do, and translates as That Delight. However, I wish to keep the connotation of forest with a sheltering undertone, and so have chosen That Bower, which feels nicely esoteric in an ancient way, yet still firmly rooted in definition. And I have to say, I’m not adverse to the little bow it gives to That.

TOKEN PROPHECY 16 [ex marks]

—any spin you put on what is, is just more what isn't——without a view about a view——you will never remember what you are——an ex marks the spot where nothing is——when ice melts, you are the water; so is it with you and the world——belightenment!

KENA UPANISHAD 4:5 [movement of the mind]

Then in that which is the self, there is this movement of the mind, resulting in its thinking, remembering its perpetual intention.

atha adhyatmam yadetat gacchativa cha manah anena chaitad upasmaraty abheekshnam sankalpah

  

Note: this sloka is tied intimately to the previous one. The movement in the mind originates in the lightning of That resulting in the remembrance of what it is.

KENA UPANISHAD 4:4 [a flash of lightning]

By that foregoing message in which That, the lightning, lights completely in fact, and in a flash closes completely, thus is the divinity of nature.

tasyaisha aadesho yad etad vidyuto vyadyutadaa itiin nyamiimishadaa iti adhidaivatam

Note: This is another one of those slokas in which Shankara dominates the translations. It appears to me that he used the analogy of the winking of an eye to illustrate the actual analogy given in the sloka itself of a flash of lightning lit and then closed. But almost all translations incorporate Shankara’s illustration into the text itself. I can’t see it that way. What I do see is the importance of this understanding: That is seen in a flash of lightning; That is the flash of lightning; That lights the flash of lightning; and the flash of lightning is the sudden nature of enlightenment.

koem 2: Leaf Belief

The leaves of trees are me

in ways more intelligent than one.

As mind, they are its own

illusions concocted by senses and spells.

As consciousness, they are part

and parcel of one universal body—

as is this hand now writing.

As pure awareness, it is mere

appearance—within

that nameless indefinable subject—

of which some display, at less

than the speed of light, is discerning

itself objects, being one

as borrowed subject—the other be leaf.

koem 1: My Story

Call it dreaming, although

as soon as anything is named,

it’s something other than

the actual experience.

The leaves of a tree become

a stereotypical two-dimensional

representation on naming

a living mystery “leaves of a tree.”

If the nature of dreaming

is naming, then what is naming the dreaming?

What knows the dream in a dream?

Follow that question down this whole

and catch an intuition

by its tale: I’m not my story.

Krishnamurti’s ‘The First and Last Freedom" in 1086 Words or 6417 Characters

Chapter 1: Introduction

Until I, in my relationship to you, understand myself I am the cause of chaos, misery, destruction, fear, brutality.

Chapter 2: What Are We Seeking

Only when the mind is tranquil - through self-knowledge and not through imposed self-discipline - only then, in that tranquillity, in that silence, can reality come into being.

Chapter 3: Individual And Society

So one of the fundamental causes of the disintegration of society is imitation, and one of the disintegrating factors is the leader, whose very essence is imitation.

Chapter 4: Self-Knowledge

If we can understand ourselves as we are from moment to moment without the process of accumulation, then we shall see how there comes a tranquillity that is not a product of the mind, a tranquillity that is neither imagined nor cultivated; & only in that state of tranquillity can there be creativeness.

Chapter 5: Action And Idea

When there is love - which is not mentation, which is not ideation, which is not memory, which is not the outcome of an experience, then that very love is action. That is the only thing that frees.

Chapter 6: Belief

A mind that would be in a state in which the new can take place... must surely cease to acquire..., it must put aside all knowledge. A mind burdened with knowledge cannot possibly understand, surely, that which is real, which is not measurable.

Chapter 7: Effort

Therefore action as we know it is really reaction, it is a ceaseless becoming, which is the denial, the avoidance of what is; but when there is awareness of emptiness without choice, without condemnation or justification, then in that understanding of what is there is action, and this action is creative being.

Chapter 8: Contradiction

Contradiction arises only when the mind has a fixed point of desire; ...when the mind does not regard all desire as moving, transient, but seizes upon one desire & makes that into a permanency - only then, when other desires arise, is there contradiction.

Chapter 9: What Is The Self

Whatever the mind creates is in a circle, within the field of the self. When the mind is non-creating there is creation... Reality, truth, is not to be recognized. For truth to come, belief, knowledge, experiencing, the pursuit of virtue-all this must go.

Chapter 10: Fear

Fear exists so long as there is accumulation of the known, which creates the fear of losing. Therefore fear of the unknown is really fear of losing the accumulated known.

Chapter 11: Simplicity

only when a mind is really sensitive, alert, aware of all its own happenings, responses, thoughts, when it is no longer becoming is no longer shaping itself to be something - only then is it capable of receiving that which is truth.

Chapter 12: Awareness

Reality is not a thing which is knowable by the mind, because the mind is the result of the known, of the past; ..therefore the mind must understand itself and its functioning, its truth, & only then is it possible for the unknown to be

Chapter 13: Desire

Beyond the physical needs, any form of desire ... becomes a psychological process by which the mind builds the idea of the `me..' When u see this process...w/o opposition,..u will discover..that the new is never a sensation; therefore it can never be recognized [nor] re-experienced. It is a state of being in which creativeness comes without invitation, without memory; and that is reality.

Chapter 14: Relationship And Isolation

This identification with something greater - the party, the country, the race, the religion, God - is the search for power. Because you in yourself are empty, dull, weak, you like to identify yourself with something greater.

Chapter 15: The Thinker And The Thought

What is important is to see that the maker of effort and the object towards which he is making effort are the same. That requires enormously great understanding, watchfulness, to see how the mind divides itself into the high and the low.

Chapter 16: Can Thinking Solve Our Problems

There must be a quiet, tranquil mind. Such a mind is not a result...of a practice, of meditation, of control. It comes into being through no form of discipline or compulsion or sublimation, without any effort of the `me', of thought; it comes into being when I understand the..process of thinking..In that state of tranquillity of a mind that is..still, there is love.

Chapter 17: The Function Of The Mind

Only when we know how to love each other..can [there] be intelligent functioning,.. [and not] through intellect..imitation..idolatry. Only when you discard completely, through understanding, the whole structure of the self, can that..eternal..come into being. You cannot go to it; it comes to you.

Chapter 18: Self-Deception

Truth is not something to be gained. Love cannot come to those who have a desire to hold on to it,.. to become identified with it. Surely such things come when the mind does not seek,.. is completely quiet, no longer creating..beliefs upon which it can depend. It is only when the mind understands this..process of desire that it can be still, ..not in movement to be or not to be.

Chapter 19: Self-Centred Activity

So long as the mind uses consciousness as self-activity, time comes into being with all its miseries,..conflicts,..deceptions; and it is only when the mind, understanding this total process, ceases, that love can be.

Chapter 20: Time And Transformation

Regeneration is..only possible in the present. A man who relies on time as a means [to] realize truth..is..living in..conflict. A man who sees that time is not the way out of our difficulty and who is therefore free from the false..has the intention to understand. Therefore his mind is quiet spontaneously, without compulsion, without practice.

Chapter 21: Power And Realization

When the mind realizes that any speculation any verbalization, any form of thought only gives strength to the ‘me’, then it is watchful, everlastingly aware of how it is separating itself from experience, asserting itself, seeking power. In that awareness, if the mind pursues it... without seeking an end... there comes a state in which the thinker & the thought are one. In that state there is no effort, ...no desire to change; ...the ‘me’ is not, for there is a transformation which is not of the mind. ...that the state of creative emptiness is not a thing to be cultivated - it is there, it comes darkly, without any invitation; only in that state is there a possibility of renewal, newness, revolution.

TOKEN PROPHECY 15 [the speed of light]

—matter at the speed of light is light——for the shadow to question the inscrutable ways of light is darkly humorous——light at the speed of light is pure awareness——the conceptual shadow doesn't have a say, as light is being taught by light in all its different ways——this, at anything less than the speed of light, is conceptual——the light of consciousness tells itself, it is the light of consciousness, and no longer does the light mistake its shadow for itself——simply said, follow the light—

KENA UPANISHAD 4:2-3 [first to understand]

Consequently, these gods are higher than all other spirits, in order: Fire, Air, Sky. They indeed of all of This came close in contact, and, of This, were first to understand the Absolute accordingly.

Consequently, Sky is highest than all other spirits. It indeed of all of This came close in contact, and, of This, was first to understand the Absolute accordingly.

  

tasmad va ete deva atitaram ivanyan devan yad agnir vayur indras tena hy enan nedishtham pasprishus te hy etat prathamo vidam cakara brahmeti

tasmad va indro 'titaram ivanyan devan sa hy enan nedishtham pasparsha sa hy enat prathamo vidam cakara brahmeti

  

Notes; I now realize this translation is the first draft towards a more readable transcreation, which will follow. Accordingly, it is most important at this juncture to remain as faithful as possible to the order of the wording in the Kena, as well as the strict definition of This and That, which guides the logical consistency towards its ultimate destruction in the paradox. In this, these gods, these spirits, are representatives of This, the manifestation, and this must not be overlooked.

TOKEN PROPHECY 14 [cosmic sun source]

—thirsting at the stagnant puddles of the world while you yourself are the energetic wellspring of the cosmic sea——(fire can't burn it, air can't move it, sky can't see it)——the affairs of the world fade like so much dreamy dew in the awesome universal cosmic sun source of simple Self——(one can only be it)——one nanosecond of self-awareness is infinitely greater than a lifetime of this dream state—