Illustrating the facts I have spoken about, a beautiful story comes at the end of the Keno Upanishad. It goes like this: One day, the supreme Brahman presents himself somewhere to see if the great powers, the great gods–the god of fire, Agni; the god of wind, Vayu and so on–could recognise him for who he is.
So, first goes the fire god, Agni, the most important god–the combustion, heat, energy that is responsible for moving the universe. Agni says, “Let me find out who is this unknown being before us”. So, Agni goes to this unknown being who asks Agni, “Who are you?” Agni answers, “I am Jata-vedas. I am Agni and I can burn down the whole earth. One spark from me can destroy anything and turn it to ashes.” “Is that so?” says this unknown being. Then, it plucks a blade of grass from the ground and holds it in front of Agni and says, “Burn this!” Agni tries his best to burn it. No, he can’t! He is dumbfounded and returns saying to his friends, “I don’t know who this great being is; I could not burn the blade of grass that he held before me.”
So, next goes Vayu, the god of wind. Vayu hurries full speed to the unknown being. The being asks Vayu, “Who are you?” The wind god says, “I am Vayu, the god of winds. I am the cyclone that you see. I am the wind that human beings breathe for life. I can blow off anything on the face of the earth, if I so desire”. “Alright”, says the being. Plucking a blade of grass and holding it before him, he says, “Blow this away.” The wind blows and blows with all its might, creates a cyclone, but cannot move the blade of grass held before him. So, he also comes back totally confounded and says, “I don’t know who this is, this unknown being. I could not blow away the little blade of grass that he held before me.”
That, being which you saw today, who confronted you, is none other than that source of supreme energy from which you derive your strengths.
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