Upaniṣads · Kena 1.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं केनेषितं पतति प्रेषितं मनः ।
केन प्राणः प्रथमः प्रैति युक्तः ।
केनेषितां वाचम् इमां वदन्ति ।
चक्षुः श्रोत्रं क उ देवो युनक्ति ॥
Transliteración (IAST)
oṃ keneṣitaṃ patati preṣitaṃ manaḥ |
kena prāṇaḥ prathamaḥ praiti yuktaḥ |
keneṣitāṃ vācam imāṃ vadanti |
cakṣuḥ śrotraṃ ka u devo yunakti ||
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ओंoṃoṁ; the sacred syllable
केनkenaby whom; by whose power
इषितम्iṣitamimpelled (from √iṣ — 'to set in motion'); directed; sent forth
पततिpatatiflies (from √pat — 'to fly, to fall'); darts; moves
प्रेषितम्preṣitamdispatched (pra-√iṣ — 'to send forth'); sent out; urged onward
मनःmanaḥthe mind; thought
केनkenaby whom; by whose power
प्राणःprāṇaḥthe prāṇa; the breath of life
प्रथमःprathamaḥthe first; the foremost
प्रैतिpraitigoes forth (pra-√i — 'to step out'); moves; issues
युक्तःyuktaḥyoked; harnessed
केनkenaby whom; by whose power
इषिताम्iṣitāmimpelled; directed
वाचम्vācamspeech; the word
इमाम्imāmthis; the present
वदन्तिvadantithey speak; they utter
चक्षुःcakṣuḥthe eye; sight
श्रोत्रम्śrotramthe ear; hearing
कःkaḥwho; what
उuindeed; verily
देवःdevaḥgod; the shining one (from √div — 'to shine'); divine power
युनक्तिyunaktiharnesses (from √yuj — 'to join'; the same root as in 'yoga'); yokes to their work; joins
Traducción
Oṁ. By whom is the mind sent forth, that it flies? By whom is the first of the prāṇas yoked, that it moves? By whom is impelled this speech that men utter? What god harnesses the eye and the ear to their work?
Versión
d23f0891d515 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 19:28:41 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The Upaniṣad is named after its first word: kena — "by whom?" The question is itself already the teaching. The mind flies (patati — literally "flies", like a bird or an arrow), the breath moves, speech sounds, eye and ear do their work — but an instrument does not move itself. An arrow flies because it has been loosed; the Upaniṣad asks after the Archer. The case is telling too: kena — "by whom", not "by what": from the very first line the question seeks not an impersonal mechanism but Someone who sends.
The verb yunakti — "harnesses" — comes from the root √yuj, the very one that gave us the word "yoga". The senses are compared to horses yoked to the chariot of the body; the same picture is unfolded in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.3–4): the ātman is the rider in the chariot, the body the chariot, the intelligence the charioteer, the senses the horses. Someone harnesses this team every morning — and it is not we: we find the mind already thinking, the breath already breathing.
The answer towards which the whole Upaniṣad is moving is spoken by the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) in the first person: sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca — "I am seated in the heart of everyone; from Me come memory, knowledge and forgetting". The wonder about which the first mantra asks is worked every instant and every instant goes unnoticed; the Upaniṣad begins by making us marvel at it.