The Isha Upanishad

Inv.ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Inv.oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇātpūrṇamudacyate |pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate ||oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||

Om. That is whole; this is whole. From the whole, the whole comes forth. Take the whole from the whole, and the whole remains. Om. Peace, peace, peace.

The traditional invocation recited before the Isha. "That" is the infinite reality; "this" is the world we see. Both are complete, and nothing taken from the infinite can make it less. It is a statement of the whole teaching in one breath.

ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ॥१॥

īśā vāsyamidaṃ sarvaṃ yatkiñca jagatyāṃ jagat |tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasyasviddhanam ||1||

All of this — everything that moves in this moving world — is to be wrapped in the Lord. Enjoy it by letting it go. Do not covet anyone's wealth.

The Isha takes its name from its first word, "Lord" (isha). The key phrase is "enjoy by letting go" (tena tyaktena bhunjitha): one can live fully in the world precisely by not grasping it, because none of it belongs to anyone but the Lord.

कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः ।एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥२॥

kurvanneveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchataṃ samāḥ |evaṃ tvayi nānyatheto'sti na karma lipyate nare ||2||

Doing your work here, you may wish to live a hundred years. For you there is no other way than this: action does not cling to a person who lives this way.

This verse refuses to set action against spirituality. Work done in the spirit of verse 1 leaves no stain. The Bhagavad Gita builds its whole teaching on action on this idea.

असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसाऽऽवृताः ।तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥३॥

asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasā''vṛtāḥ |tāṃste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ ||3||

There are worlds called sunless, covered in blind darkness. Those who kill the self go to them after death.

"Those who kill the self" are not suicides but people who live in denial of the self — who ignore the reality within them, and so smother it.

अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन्पूर्वमर्षत् ।तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥४॥

anejadekaṃ manaso javīyo nainaddevā āpnuvanpūrvamarṣat |taddhāvato'nyānatyeti tiṣṭhattasminnapo mātariśvā dadhāti ||4||

Unmoving, it is one and swifter than the mind. The senses cannot reach it; it is always ahead of them. Standing still, it outruns all who run. In it, the life-force supports all activity.

The first of several paradoxes. The self does not move, yet everywhere one goes, it is already there. "The senses" is literally "the gods," meaning the powers of perception.

तदेजति तन्नैजति तद्दूरे तद्वन्तिके ।तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्यास्य बाह्यतः ॥५॥

tadejati tannaijati taddūre tadvantike |tadantarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ ||5||

It moves, and it does not move. It is far, and it is near. It is inside all this, and it is outside all this.

यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥६॥

yastu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmanyevānupaśyati |sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate ||6||

One who sees all beings in the self, and the self in all beings, no longer shrinks from anything.

The word translated "shrinks" means to recoil in aversion. If the self is in everyone, there is no one left to fear or despise.

यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः ।तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥७॥

yasminsarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūdvijānataḥ |tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ ||7||

For one who knows, in whom all beings have become the self, what delusion or sorrow can there be, seeing oneness everywhere?

स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रणमस्नाविरं शुद्धमपापविद्धम् ।कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भूर्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान्व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥८॥

sa paryagācchukramakāyamavraṇamasnāviraṃ śuddhamapāpaviddham |kavirmanīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūryāthātathyato'rthānvyadadhācchāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ ||8||

It has gone everywhere — bright, bodiless, without wound or sinew, pure, untouched by evil. The seer, the thinker, all-encompassing, selfexistent, it has set out all things rightly through endless years.

The first half describes reality as beyond any body; the second, as the wise order behind the world. It is both the formless ground and the intelligence that shapes things.

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते ।ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥९॥

andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'vidyāmupāsate |tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāṃ ratāḥ ||9||

Those who worship ignorance enter blind darkness. Into greater darkness, as it were, go those who delight in knowledge.

A deliberately shocking verse. "Ignorance" here means ritual action pursued for its rewards; "knowledge" means knowledge of the gods or ritual lore held without action. Each alone is a trap — and pride in knowledge is the worse of the two.

अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥१०॥

anyadevāhurvidyayā'nyadāhuravidyayā |iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nastadvicacakṣire ||10||

One thing, they say, comes from knowledge; another, they say, comes from ignorance. So we have heard from the wise who explained it to us.

विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते ॥११॥

vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ca yastadvedobhayaṃ saha |avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayā'mṛtamaśnute ||11||

Whoever knows both knowledge and ignorance together crosses beyond death through ignorance, and through knowledge reaches immortality.

The resolution: action ("ignorance") carries a person through the world of death, and knowledge carries them beyond it. Both have their place, used together.

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते ।ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥१२॥

andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'sambhūtimupāsate |tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyāṃ ratāḥ ||12||

Those who worship the unmanifest enter blind darkness. Into greater darkness, as it were, go those who delight in the manifest.

Verses 12–14 repeat the structure of 9–11 with a second pair. The "unmanifest" is nature in its unformed state; the "manifest" is the world of particular forms and powers. Again, neither alone is enough.

अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् ।इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥१३॥

anyadevāhuḥ sambhavādanyadāhurasambhavāt |iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nastadvicacakṣire ||13||

One thing, they say, comes from the manifest; another, they say, comes from the unmanifest. So we have heard from the wise who explained it to us.

सम्भूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्याऽमृतमश्नुते ॥१४॥

sambhūtiṃ ca vināśaṃ ca yastadvedobhayaṃ saha |vināśena mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā sambhūtyā'mṛtamaśnute ||14||

Whoever knows both the manifest and destruction together crosses beyond death through destruction, and through the manifest reaches immortality.

"Destruction" is another name for the unmanifest, into which all forms dissolve. As with verse 11, the two are to be held together rather than chosen between.

हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् ।तत्त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥१५॥

hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṃ mukham |tattvaṃ pūṣannapāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye ||15||

The face of truth is covered by a golden lid. Remove it, O Nourisher, so that I, who am devoted to truth, may see.

Verses 15–18 are a prayer, traditionally spoken at the end of life. The sun is pictured as a golden disc covering the truth behind it. The prayer is to see through even the most dazzling appearance.

पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन्समूह तेजः ।यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥१६॥

pūṣannekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīnsamūha tejaḥ |yatte rūpaṃ kalyāṇatamaṃ tatte paśyāmi yo'sāvasau puruṣaḥ so'hamasmi ||16||

O Nourisher, sole seer, controller, sun, child of the Lord of creatures — spread out your rays and gather in your light. I see your most beautiful form. That person there — I am that.

The climax of the Isha. The one who prays asks the sun to draw back its glare, then recognizes the person within the sun as his own self. It is one of the great statements of identity in the Upanishads.

वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥१७॥

vāyuranilamamṛtamathedaṃ bhasmāntaṃ śarīram |oṃ krato smara kṛtaṃ smara krato smara kṛtaṃ smara ||17||

Let my breath return to the immortal wind, and this body end in ashes. Om. Mind, remember! Remember what has been done. Mind, remember! Remember what has been done.

A deathbed verse. The body returns to the elements. The mind is urged to recall its life clearly at the moment of departure.

अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान्विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् ।युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नमउक्तिं विधेम ॥१८॥

agne naya supathā rāye asmānviśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān |yuyodhyasmajjuhurāṇameno bhūyiṣṭhāṃ te namauktiṃ vidhema ||18||

Agni, you who know all ways, lead us by the good path to prosperity. Keep far from us the crooked wrong. We offer you our fullest words of homage.

Agni, the god of fire, was believed to carry the dead to the next world, as he carries offerings to the gods. The Upanishad ends with a prayer for safe guidance.