By Whom willed and directed does the mind light on its subjects? By whom commanded does Prana, the first, move? By whose will do men [humans] speak this speech? What intelligence directs the eye and the ear?
Kena Upanishad (Verse 1) https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/kena-upanishad-shankara-bhashya/d/doc145042.html
This truth is what Michael A. Singer is speaking about in the below linked podcast.
Consciousness is a totally different thing than what it is aware of.
Consciousness is the Objective Observer, not that which it is observing. We need to redirect our focus, then, from being lost in what we are observing and experiencing to the bigger question, "Who is experiencing?"
We need to move our focus from all the crazy things we are thinking about to, "What wills the mind to think?"
Instead of focusing on the experience of feeling "stuck" in a life pattern ask, "Who wills the energy within to move?"
Instead of focusing on what we need to say or what someone said to us that seemed so hurtful ask, "What directs our speech?"
Instead of getting lost in all the things the body is picking up with the five senses ask, " What inner intelligence allows the eye to see, and the ear to hear? "
We are, according to this beautiful Upanishad found in the Vedas, Objective Observers of Life experience. So, what is that which is Observing this body, this personality we call "me", and the energy that comes first before all things?
What is the answer to these questions?
God/Brahman /that infinite field of energy that pours through us and all things.
It is eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, tongue of the tongue, and also life of the life.
So, trace back from what you are seeing to that which is allowing you to see it. Trace back what you are hearing to that which is allowing you to hear it. Trace back what you are speaking to that which is allowing you to speak it. Trace back all the events and happenings of this thing you call, "my life" to the Source of that Life. We need to focus on the Observer rather than the observed.
We are the observers of our experience, not the experience. It is so hard for us to realize that truth and not to be carried away into identifying with what we are observing.
It is hard to be objective and not get pulled in. Too often our samskaras get in the way preventing us from seeing who we are. It is hard to embrace the need for purification so we can trace back the source of our focus to that which is focusing. Yet, if we do Singer and many of the ancient masters tell us, we can end our sense of suffering. The mess of perception is inside, not outside.
You are objective outside but not inside. (Singer)
Though there are many translations of verse 5 onward, this is one that resonates with me the most.
Not that which the eye can see, but that whereby the eye can see, know that to be Brahman the eternal, not what people here adore
Not that which the ear can hear, but that whereby the ear can hear, know that to be Brahman the eternal, not what people here adore.
Not that which speech can illuminate, but that whereby speech can be illuminated, know that to be Brahman the eternal, not what people here adore.
Not that which the mind can think, but that whereby the mind can think, know that to be Brahman the eternal, not what people here adore.
https://moonlightenedshelves.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/not_that_which_the_mind_can_think/
And who or what is this Brahman?
That is the thing...we really cannot know or at least conceptualize what this Brahman is. It's reality is too big for our little minds. Yet by embracing the not knowing, we will come to know the Source of who we are.
If though thinkest "I know well" it is certainly but little. The form of the Brahman, you have known....Therefore, I think that what thou thinkest known, is still to be ascertained. Verse 9
It is known to him, to whom it is unknown; he knows it not, to whom it is known...Verse 11
https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/kena-upanishad-shankara-bhashya/d/doc145050.html
So much beauty and wisdom in these Vedas
Please note: Key board is malfunctioning again, and though I try to be careful when I go through again some letters might be missing.
All is well.
Michael Singer/ Temple of the Universe/Sounds True (June 29, 2026) Witness Consciousness and the End of Suffering.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g65HUsEBPNc
https://moonlightenedshelves.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/not_that_which_the_mind_can_think/
Wikipedia (n.d.) Kena Upanishads https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kena_Upanishad
Wisdom Library/S. Sitarama Sastri (1905) The Kena Upanishad
https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/kena-upanishad-shankara-bhashya/d/doc145050.html
Quenns Universit (n.d.) The Kena and Katha Uupanishads https://mast.queensu.ca/~murty/ind4.pdf
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