Kena
An Upaniṣad that opens by asking "by whom?" — who sends the mind out, who moves the breath — and answers that Brahman is what the eye cannot see but by which the eye sees, told through the gods learning from Umā whose power won their war.
Sāmaveda
Khaṇḍa 1The Light Behind Mind and Senses
The first khaṇḍa reverses the direction of ordinary knowing. Mind, speech, sight, hearing, and breath cannot reach Brahman as an object; each functions only because consciousness already illumines it. The repeated instruction ‘know That alone as Brahman’ removes every finite object from the place of the absolute and opens the direct recognition of the Self.
Khaṇḍa 2Known in Every Cognition
The second khaṇḍa corrects the notion that Brahman can be possessed as an object of knowledge. It leads through the celebrated paradox ‘I do not think I know well; nor do I not know’ to pratibodha-viditam—the recognition of consciousness in every cognition—and closes with the urgency of realization here and now.