VIII. The Kena Upanishad: Who Moves the World?
There is a Sufi story about a seeker who calls on Allah day in and day out for years and finally throws himself down and sobs, “How long have I been calling and you do not answer!” Then he hears a voice: “Who do you think has been making you call me?” [The story of the religious man who during a flood drowned in a river because God did not answer his prayers…in heaven God reminds him that he sent three different people in three different row boats, but the man turned down each and every one.]
Student: “Who makes my mind think?
Who fills my body with vitality?
Who causes my tongue to speak?
Who sees through my eyes, and hears through my ears?”
Teacher: “The Self is the ear of the ear.
The eye of the eye, the mind of the mind
The word of the words, and the life of the life.”
“That which makes the tongue speak but cannot be spoken by the tongue
Know that as the Self. This Self in not someone other than you.
That which make the mind think…Than which makes the eye see…That which makes you draw breath but cannot be drawn by your breath
That is the Self indeed.
This Self in not someone other than you.”