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Isha Upanishad

Chapter 1

ईशावास्योपनिषत्

Isha Upanishad

Verses

  1. Verse 1

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

    Meaning

    That (Brahman) is whole; this (manifested world) is whole. From the whole, the whole proceeds. Taking the whole from the whole, the whole alone remains. Om, peace, peace, peace.

  2. Verse 2

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

    Meaning

    All this — whatever moves in this moving world — is to be enveloped (indwelt) by the Lord. Enjoy through that renunciation; do not covet, for whose is wealth?

  3. Verse 3

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

    Meaning

    Performing works here, one should wish to live a hundred years. For a man like you there is no other way than this, by which action does not cling to the man.

  4. Verse 4

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

    Meaning

    Sunless (joyless, demoniac) are those worlds, enveloped in blinding darkness; to them, after death, go those people who are slayers of the Self (who ignore Self-knowledge).

  5. Verse 5

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

    Meaning

    The One, unmoving, is swifter than the mind; the senses (devas) cannot reach It, for It runs ahead. Standing still, It outstrips others who run. Within It, Matarishvan (the cosmic life-force) sustains all activities.

  6. Verse 6

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

    Meaning

    It moves, and It moves not; It is far, and It is near; It is within all this, and It is also outside all this.

  7. Verse 7

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

    Meaning

    He who sees all beings in the very Self, and the Self in all beings, thereafter shrinks from nothing (feels no hatred).

  8. Verse 8

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

    Meaning

    When, to the knower, all beings have become the very Self, then what delusion and what sorrow can there be for him who sees this oneness?

  9. Verse 9

    sa paryagācchukramakāyamavraṇamasnāviraṃ śuddhamapāpaviddham | kavirmanīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūryāthātathyato'rthān vyadadhācchāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ || 8||

    Meaning

    He (the Self) has spread everywhere — radiant, bodiless, woundless, without sinews, pure, untouched by sin; the seer, the wise, all-pervading, self-existent — who has duly allotted (their functions) through the eternal years.

  10. Verse 10

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

    Meaning

    Into blinding darkness enter those who worship avidya (rites/ignorance alone); into greater darkness, as it were, those who delight in vidya alone (worship of deities alone).

  11. Verse 11

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

    Meaning

    Different, indeed, they say, is the result of vidya; different, they say, is the result of avidya — thus we have heard from the wise who explained it to us.

  12. Verse 12

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

    Meaning

    He who knows both vidya and avidya together — by avidya (rites) he crosses over death, and by vidya he attains immortality.

  13. Verse 13

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

    Meaning

    Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the Unmanifested (asambhuti, the unmanifest cause); into greater darkness, as it were, those who delight in the manifested (sambhuti, the effect — Hiranyagarbha).

  14. Verse 14

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

    Meaning

    Different, they say, is (the result) from worship of the manifested (sambhava); different, they say, from the unmanifested (asambhava) — thus we have heard from the wise who explained it to us.

  15. Verse 15

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

    Meaning

    He who knows both the manifested (sambhuti) and destruction (vinasha — worship of the perishable) together — by the perishable he crosses death, and by the manifested he attains immortality.

  16. Verse 16

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

    Meaning

    The face of Truth is covered with a golden vessel (the sun's dazzling disc). O Pushan (Sun), uncover it, that I — devoted to truth — may behold It.

  17. Verse 17

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

    Meaning

    O Pushan, sole seer (Ekarshi), Yama, Surya, son of Prajapati — spread apart your rays and gather up your blaze. That most blessed form of yours, that I behold. That Person who dwells yonder (in the sun), that Person am I.

  18. Verse 18

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

    Meaning

    May this life-breath merge in the immortal, all-pervading air; and may this body end in ashes. Om! O mind (resolve), remember — remember the deeds done! O mind, remember — remember the deeds done!

  19. Verse 19

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

    Meaning

    O Agni, lead us by the good path to prosperity (the highest good), O God who knowest all our deeds. Take from us the sin that makes us wander. To you we offer the fullest words of adoration.