"Kenopanishad - Day 01" Talk in English by Swami Aparajitananda, Chinmaya Mission Mangaluru.

Hari Om!
Kenopanishad, the most mystically beautiful, fantastically straightforward Upanishad - full of jingling sounds of word plays throughout - has already attracted two (pada and vākya) commentaries by Shankarāchārya ji and now we have a discourse par excellence and beyond description by Swami Aparajitananda ji.
ELABORATE INTRODUCTION reveals these striking features:
• Upanishads talk about Self Knowledge.
• Different meanings and Shankarāchārya ji's definition of Upanishad
• A cute fact about naming of this special, major Upanishad
• It is part of Sāmaveda.
• It is indicative of Guru Shishya paramparā being more ancient than Upanishads.
• Shānti Mantras of different Vedas
A BEAUTIFUL SHĀNTI MANTRA
• Emphasizing on health in Spirituality
• Including prayer for virtues, faith, grace and no-denial in seeking Brahman
• Significance of chanting 'Shānti' three times in a Shānti Mantra
Before entering into Verse 1, which starts with a question, Swamiji interrogates the source of the question and analyses philosophy of life unfolding - how experience of happiness is born with 'I' and 'world'. Two types of people with attention on outer and inner adjustments respectively are discussed in detail.
Verse 1.1: Question from sincere seeker of Truth is "BY WHAT AND WHOM?":
• Things happen in me, but unknown to me
• Which is the creative power behind 'preshita man'?
• Who rules inert 'prathama prāna'?
The silent wonder of the question is wonderfully brought out by explanation.
Now seeker is convinced that he needs to know "who am I?" to go to the source of happiness.
(Answer in next talk)
(Kenopanishad - Talk 1 of 7 - Introduction, Shānti Mantra, Khanda 1 - Verse1)