Mantra 1.3

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Kena-upaniṣad mantra 1.3:

न तत्र चक्षुर्गच्छति न वाग्गच्छति नो मनो न विद्मो न विजानीमो यथैतदनुशिष्यादन्यदेव तद्विदितादथो अविदितादधि । इति शुश्रुम पूर्वेषां ये नस्तद्व्याचचक्षिरे ॥ ३ ॥

na tatra cakṣurgacchati na vāggacchati no mano na vidmo na vijānīmo yathaitadanuśiṣyādanyadeva tadviditādatho aviditādadhi | iti śuśruma pūrveṣāṃ ye nastadvyācacakṣire || 3 ||

na—not; tatra—there, thither (in that Brahman), in the matter of the majesty of Hari, and His ruling the Universe; cakṣuḥ—the eye, the presiding deva of the eye; gacchati—goes; as it is impossible to enter one’s own self; na—not; vāk—speech, the presiding deva of speech; gacchati—goes, these devas do not know Him fully; no—not; manaḥ—mind, (can think of Him) the presiding deva of manas; na—not; vid-maḥ—we know (from our own intellect); na—not; vijānīmaḥ—understand (as taught by scriptures, and teachers and by others); yathā—how, in what way or manner, by what means; etad—this Brahman, this Universe of Prāṇa, etc; anuśiṣyāt—can teach, explain, He may be controlling or directing or governing; anyat—different from; eva—indeed; tat—that; viditāt—from the known, the Vyakta, from the universe so far as it is known, and demonstrated; athaḥ—also; aviditāt—from the unknown the Avyakta, the world of imagination and fancy; adhi—above, different, the best of all; iti—thus; śuśrūmaḥ—we have heard; pūrveṣām—from old sayings of old teachers; ye—who; naḥ—to us; tad—this; vyācacakṣire—taught.

3. The Deva of eye cannot fully enter into the majesty of That Hari, nor the deva of speech, nor of mind. We do not know nor understand how He may be governing all this. He is indeed more wonderful than all that can be known or all that can be imagined. He is the Best. Thus have we heard from the Teachers of old who taught Him to us.

Notes:

(Admitted that Nārāyaṇa is the Regulator of the eyes, etc., of men; what are the attributes and marks of the Lord? To this question the answer is that He is not fully known by any body and so no definition of Him can be given.)

The Deva of the eye does not know the Lord, nor the Deva of speech nor of mind: nor the Deva of any other senses. (The Lord though unknown by the sun, etc., the Deva of eye, etc., yet thou O Brahmā! must at least know Him. To this he replies). I do not know Him nor understand Him.

(Or it may mean that he cannot be known in all His details and attributes. The repetition of vidma and vijānīma is to show that neither the parokṣa nor the aparokṣa jñāna is possible regarding Him.)

I do not know how to impart properly any instruction about Him, and His essential nature, to you, O Śiva, and to others like you.

(Or it may mean: Thou, O Śiva, also art great—canst thou not teach Him? Or there is no object by comparison with which we can know Him, as we can know an antelope by comparison with a cow.)

(How is then the supreme to be known? He can be known only as distinct from everything that exists in this universe of cause and effect.)

He, the supreme Brahman, is distinct from the known, i.e., the phenomenal world which is an effect, and has no similarity with Him. Not only this, He is distinct and different from the unknown, i.e., Prakṛti, the cause of this manifested world, called also avyakta.

(Not only He is different and distinct from cause and effect—from the known and the unknown: but)

He is adhi or great. He is higher than the cause and effect.
(He is incomparable and the Highest.)
This we have heard from the former sages who taught us about Brahman.