Shankar Arunachalam
Kena Upanishad -Shankara Bhashyam Section III - Introduction 3rd chapter presents a story. Why does Upanishad present the story?
Definition of Brahma is given in the 1st chapter. 2nd chapter gives the jiva paramatma aikyam.
Brahman was presented as something that is not available for any of the Pramanam. Na tu pramana vishaya. (na tatra chakshu gachati, vak gachati etc)
Later, brahman is distinct from the known and unknown. This could make a manda Adhikari think that brahman is non-existent. Here we should know what is the paksha, sadhya and the hetu, drishtantha.
Understanding of any given object is dependent on given means of knowledge. Because you say Brahman is not available for any Pramanam, it is non-existent for us as we cannot objectify it.
To not give room for some mandha buddhi and make wrong conclusion and to make them understand there is brahman, this verse is introduced here. There are characters in this story. Who represents what must be understood here?
1. Brahma – Limitless reality is represented by Yaksha
2. Vayu /Agni – represent the sense powers and sense organs.
3. Indra – represents the mind
4. Uma Devi – represents the guru and shastram
Story is presented to establish the presence of Brahman.
There was once a fierce fight between the devas and the asuras in which the asuras were thrashed. Having won decisively, the Devas had a great celebration. Devas congratulated and praised their leaders Indra, Vayu and Agni who stood out as the main architects and heroes of the victory. This victory had gone into their head as they seemed to believe that it was all their glory. They forgot that there was an invisible hand of Ishwara behind and the victory in fact belonged to Him. So, Ishwara decided to show them their place. He took the form of a Yaksha (a celestial being) and appeared before them. Indra, Agni, and Vayu saw the Yaksha and were captivated by the beautiful form. They could not take their eyes off the beautiful Yaksha. Before they could approach him to find out who he was, the Yaksha vanished.
Indra, intrigued by what happened, became curious to know who the Yaksha was. He asked Agni to go and find out. Agni went in the direction in which the Yaksha went, found him and asked: Who are you? The Yaksha just smiled and without bothering to answer asked Agni: “Who are you?”. This was the first slap on Agni’s face since he is famous all over the world. He replied: I am Agni. Yaksha asked: What do you do? This was the second slap on his face. He replied: I can burn the whole world. Then as if to supplement this information, Agni added: I’m also known as JAta veda – I’m responsible for blessing people with wealth and knowledge.( As JAta veda, Agni is privileged to receive oblations from devotees and pass it on to the respective Devatas. The devotees, in turn, are blessed with the benefits of the rituals). Clearly, this was an attempt, on the part of Agni to display his pride and salvage his ego. Unimpressed, the Yaksha placed a kucha (a dried piece of grass) in front of Agni and said casually: Oh, you can burn anything and everything! Great. Then, please burn this kucha (a dried piece of grass). Unperturbed by insults, Agni tried to burn the grass. However, he could not burn it even when he sat on it. Humiliated thus, Agni retreated and reported to Indra that he could not figure out who it was.
Indra then sent Vayu on the same mission. He was also asked similar questions by Yaksha. Vayu also tried to impress him with his impressive biodata consisting of his alternative names, his capabilities, and achievements. Expectedly, Vayu also failed the test and it was now the turn of Indra himself to find out who this stranger was. As Indra went near the Yaksha, he simply vanished. Agni and Vayu could at least see him and even had a chat with him, although they could not make out who it was. Indra was intrigued by the turn of events. Undeterred and not accepting defeat, he just sat there meditating and praying. His prayers were answered soon as Uma appeared before him at the same place where the Yaksha stood before. She explained to Indra that the Yaksha was none other than Brahman itself. Enlightened thus, Indra went back and taught this knowledge to Agni, Vayu and all the other Devatas. The fact that Agni and Vayu could see him but could not recognize who he was is also symbolic. Agni is the Devata (presiding deity) for speech whereas Vayu is the Devata for the sense of touch. There is no way anyone can recognize Him (Brahman) through one’s speech or sense of touch. Taittriya Upanishad 'yato vacho nivartante, aprapya mansa saha' and anandam brahmano vidvan. It means the speech cannot go near brahman, nor the mind as the very essence of speech and mind is present because of the blessing of Brahman.
Finally, Uma, in the story, represents Brahma Vidya or Sruti. Uma appeared before Indra only when the latter sat there in meditation with a passion to know. Thus, knowledge is given only to passionate seekers.