Who am I: seven lines from the Upanishads
Seven lines on who you are. One each morning.
This plan takes the question "who am I" through seven Upanishads, one line a day: Kena 1.1, Mundaka 3.1.1, Katha 1.2.18, Isha 6, Mandukya 2, Chandogya 6.8.7 and Brihadaranyaka 1.4.10. Each day gives the Sanskrit, a plain English line and one small thing to notice. It takes about five minutes.
The seven days
Day 1Who sends the mind
Kena Upanishad 1.1
ॐ केनेषितं पतति प्रेषितं मनः केन प्राणः प्रथमः प्रैति युक्तः ।केनेषितां वाचमिमां वदन्ति चक्षुः श्रोत्रं क उ देवो युनक्ति ॥
oṃ keneṣitaṃ patati preṣitaṃ manaḥ kena prāṇaḥ prathamaḥ praiti yuktaḥ |keneṣitāṃ vācamimāṃ vadanti cakṣuḥ śrotraṃ ka u devo yunakti ||
By whom is the mind sent out, to land where it lands? Who sets the first breath going? By whom is this speech sent, that people speak? Which god puts the eye and the ear to work?
Notice one thought arrive today. Before you follow it, ask the Kena’s question: what knew that it came? You need no answer yet. The Upanishad starts with the question too.
Day 2Two birds on one tree
Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.1
द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते ।तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṃ vṛkṣaṃ pariṣasvajāte |tayoranyaḥ pippalaṃ svādvattyanaśnannanyo abhicākaśīti ||
Two birds, close companions, cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit. The other eats nothing and watches.
All day there is the one who tastes, wanting and worrying, and the one who watches. Catch the watcher once today, for one breath. It has been there the whole time.
Day 3Never born
Katha Upanishad 1.2.18
न जायते म्रियते वा विपश्चिन्नायं कुतश्चिन्न बभूव कश्चित् ।अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
na jāyate mriyate vā vipaścinnāyaṃ kutaścinna babhūva kaścit |ajo nityaḥ śāśvato'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ||
The knowing Self is not born and does not die. It did not come from anything, and nothing came from it. Unborn, lasting, always, first, it is not killed when the body is killed.
Death himself says this, to a boy who asked what happens after death. Read it slowly. Then read Gita 2.20, where Krishna says nearly the same words to Arjuna.
Read next to Bhagavad Gita 2.20: Krishna to Arjuna, in almost the same words.
Day 4Every being in the Self
Isha Upanishad 6
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥
yastu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmanyevānupaśyati |sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate ||
One who sees every being in the Self, and the Self in every being, shrinks from no one after that.
Pick one person you find hard and read the verse with them in mind. It describes how someone sees who knows the same Self looks out from that face too.
Read next to Bhagavad Gita 6.29: Krishna: the one joined in yoga sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self.
Day 5This Self is Brahman
Mandukya Upanishad 2
सर्वं ह्येतद् ब्रह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पात् ॥
sarvaṃ hyetad brahmāyamātmā brahma so'yamātmā catuṣpāt ||
All of this is Brahman. This Self is Brahman. This Self has four quarters.
Waking, dreaming, deep sleep: you pass through all three every day. Tonight, as you fall asleep, notice that something is present through all three.
Day 6Salt in water
Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7
स य एषोऽणिमैतदात्म्यमिदं सर्वं तत्सत्यं सआत्मा तत्त्वमसि श्वेतकेतो इति भूय एव माभगवान्विज्ञापयत्विति तथा सोम्येति होवाच ॥
sa ya eṣo'ṇimaitadātmyamidaṃ sarvaṃ tatsatyaṃ saātmā tattvamasi śvetaketo iti bhūya eva mābhagavānvijñāpayatviti tathā somyeti hovāca ||
That finest essence: all of this has it as its Self. That is the real. That is the Self. You are that, Shvetaketu.
Uddalaka taught this with salt left overnight in water: you cannot see it, and every sip tastes of it. Stir a pinch into a glass tonight and taste from the top, the middle and the bottom.
Day 7I am Brahman
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10
ब्रह्म वा इदमग्र आसीत् तदात्मानमेवावेदहं ब्रह्मास्मीति ।तस्मात्तत्सर्वमभवत् तद्यो यो देवानां प्रत्यबुध्यत स एव तदभवत्तथर्षीणां तथा मनुष्याणाम् ।तद्धैतत्पश्यन्नृषिर्वामदेवः प्रतिपेदेऽहं मनुरभवं सूर्यश्चेति ।तदिदमप्येतर्हि य एवं वेदाहं ब्रह्मास्मीति इति स इदं सर्वं भवतितस्य ह न देवाश्चनाभूत्या ईशत आत्मा ह्येषां स भवत्यथ योऽन्यांदेवतामुपास्तेऽन्योऽसावन्योऽहमस्मीति न स वेद ।यथा पशुरेवं स देवानाम् ।यथा ह वै बहवः पशवो मनुष्यंभुञ्ज्युरेवमेकैकः पुरुषो देवान्भुनक्त्येकस्मिन्नेव पशावादीयमानेऽप्रियंभवति किमु बहुषु तस्मादेषां तन्न प्रियं यदेतन्मनुष्या विद्युः ॥
brahma vā idamagra āsīt tadātmānamevāvedahaṃ brahmāsmīti |tasmāttatsarvamabhavat tadyo yo devānāṃ pratyabudhyata sa eva tadabhavattatharṣīṇāṃ tathā manuṣyāṇām |taddhaitatpaśyannṛṣirvāmadevaḥ pratipede'haṃ manurabhavaṃ sūryaśceti |tadidamapyetarhi ya evaṃ vedāhaṃ brahmāsmīti iti sa idaṃ sarvaṃ bhavatitasya ha na devāścanābhūtyā īśata ātmā hyeṣāṃ sa bhavatyatha yo'nyāṃdevatāmupāste'nyo'sāvanyo'hamasmīti na sa veda |yathā paśurevaṃ sa devānām |yathā ha vai bahavaḥ paśavo manuṣyaṃbhuñjyurevamekaikaḥ puruṣo devānbhunaktyekasminneva paśāvādīyamāne'priyaṃbhavati kimu bahuṣu tasmādeṣāṃ tanna priyaṃ yadetanmanuṣyā vidyuḥ ||
In the beginning this was Brahman. It knew only itself: "I am Brahman." So it became all. Even now, whoever knows "I am Brahman" becomes all of this.
Shankara says knowing this adds nothing new; it takes a mistake away. Read all seven lines again, in order, out loud.
Keep one line each morning
A week of lines for what you are going through, one each morning by email. The first week is free.
Send my weekAfter the seven days
Read the texts these lines come from, start to finish: Isha, Katha and Mandukya. Or take a week with the Gita: start a 7-day Gita plan.
Sources and method
Sanskrit from the Wisdom corpus, read against the sanskritdocuments.org editions (and GRETIL where it has the text); where the two differ, the proofread edition is used and the difference is listed for review. English is Wisdom’s own, drafted from the Sanskrit with Shankara’s commentary (S. Sitarama Sastri’s public-domain English) and checked for tone against Swami Paramananda (1919). Kena 1.1 is not in our corpus and was imported from the sanskritdocuments.org edition.
Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, under human review.