Kena Upanisad: The Power of Brahman

The Kena Upanishad crisp and short with only 33 verses is considered to be one of the most important. It is named Kena which is its opening word, a question. It encapsulates the running theme of the Upanishads, which is an awareness of the all pervasive Brahman and the necessity for us to discover the spark of that Brahman within ourselves, the Atman. It opens with a startlingly contemporary question by the student and ends with a memorable parable on how the pride of three Gods was shattered. Another special feature of this Upanishad is that it is the only one in which the Divine Mother appears and enlightens the Gods. While the Brahman, of course, transcends gender and other such differences. the Upanishads are spoken by a male teacher to male students except in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where Gargi rises to question the great Yagvalkya