The Isa Upanishad – Simplified
The Isa, also known as Isavasya Upanishad, derives its name from the opening word of the text Isavasya or Isa. It belongs to the Vajasaneyi school of Yajur Veda. It forms the closing chapter of the Yajur-Veda, known as Shukla (White). The Vajasaneya Samhita consists of forty chapters of which this Upanishad is the last. Its main purpose is to teach the essential unity of God and the world, being and becoming. It is interested not so much in the Absolute in itself, Parabrahman, as in the Absolute in relation to the world, Paramesvara. It teaches that life in the world and life in the Divine Spirit are not incompatible.
INVOCATION:
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Puurnnam-Udacyate |
Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate ||
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||
Meaning:
Om All this is full, all that is full from fullness, fullness comes. When fullness is taken from fullness fullness still remains. Om! Peace! Peace! Peace!
Note:
Brahma is both transcendent and immanent. The birth or the creation of the universe does not in any manner affect the integrity of Brahman.
GOD AND THE WORLD:
Verse 1:
ईशा वास्यम् इदं सर्वं यत् किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्य स्विद्धनम् ॥ १ ॥
īśā vāsyam idaṃ sarvaṃ yat kiñca jagatyāṃ jagat |
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya sviddhanam || 1 ||
Meaning:
(Know that) all this, whatever moves in this moving world, is enveloped by God. Therefore, find your enjoyment in renunciation; do not covet what belongs to others.
WORK AND WISDOM:
Verse 2:
कुर्वन्न् एवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः ।
एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥ २ ॥
kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchataṃ samāḥ |
evaṃ tvayi nānyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare || 2 ||
Meaning:
Always performing karma here, one should desire to live, for a hundred years. If you live thus as a man, there is no way other than this by which karma (or deed) does not adhere to you.
The Denying Spirits:
Verse 3:
असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः ।
तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥ ३ ॥
asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ |
tāṃste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ || 3 ||
Meaning:
Demoniac, verily, are those worlds enveloped in blinding darkness, and to them go after death, those people who are the slayers of the self.
THE SUPREME IS IMMANENT AND TRANSCENDENT:
Verse 4:
अनेजद् एकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन्पूर्वमर्षत् ।
तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत् तस्मिन्न् अपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥ ४ ॥
anejad ekaṃ manaso javīyo nainaddevā āpnuvanpūrvamarṣat |
taddhāvato’nyānatyeti tiṣṭhat tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti || 4 ||
Meaning;
(The spirit) is unmoving, one, swifter than the mind. The senses do not reach It as It is ever ahead of them. Though Itself still It outstrips those who run. In It the all-pervading air supports the activities of beings.
Verse 5:
तद् एजति तन् नैजति तद् दूरे तद् व् अन्तिके ।
तद् अन्तर् अस्य सर्वस्य तद् उ सर्वस्यास्य बाह्यतः ॥ ५ ॥
tad ejati tan naijati tad dūre tad v antike |
tad antar asya sarvasya tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ || 5 ||
Meaning:
It moves: and It moves not; It is far and It is near. It is inside all this; It is also outside all this.
Note:
These contradictory statements do not suggest the mental unbalance of the writer. He is struggling to describe what he experiences through the limitations of human thought and language. The Supreme is beyond the categories of thought.
Verse 6:
यस् तु सर्वाणि भूतान्य् आत्मन्य् एवानुपश्यति ।
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥ ६ ॥
yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmany evānupaśyati |
sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate || 6 ||
Meaning:
And he who sees all beings in his own self and his own self in all beings, he does not feel any revulsion by reason of such a view.
Verse 7:
यस्मिन् सर्वाणि भूतान्य् आत्मैवाभूद् विजानतः ।
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वम् अनुपश्यतः ॥ ७ ॥
yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ |
tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ || 7 ||
Meaning:
When, to one who knows, all beings have, verily, become one with his own self, then what delusion and what sorrow can be to him who has seen the oneness?
Verse 8:
स पर्यगाच् छुक्रम् अकायम् अव्रणम् अस्नाविरं शुद्धम् अपापविद्धम् ।
कविर् मनीषी परिभूः स्ययम्भूर् याथातथ्यतोर्ऽथान् व्यदधाच् छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥ ८ ॥
sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam asnāviraṃ śuddham apāpaviddham |
kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ syayambhūr yāthātayourator’thān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ || 8 ||
Meaning:
He has filled all; He is radiant, bodiless, invulnerable, devoid of sinews, pure, untouched by evil. He, the seer, thinker, all-pervading, self-existent has duly distributed through endless years the objects according to their natures.
IGNORANCE AND KNOWLEDGE:
Verse 9:
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्याम् उपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उविद्यायां रताः ॥ ९ ॥
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye’vidyām upāsate |
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya uvidyāyāṃ ratāḥ || 9 ||
Meaning:
Into blinding darkness enter those who worship ignorance and those who delight in knowledge enter into still greater darkness, as it were.
Verse 10:
अन्यद् एवाहुर् विद्ययान् यद् आहुर् अविद्यया ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस् तद् विचचक्षिरे ॥ १० ॥
anyad evāhur vidyayān yad āhur avidyayā |
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nas tad vicacakṣire || 10 ||
Meaning:
Distinct, indeed, they say, is the result of knowledge and distinct, they say, is the result of ignorance. Thus, have we heard from those wise who have explained to us these.
Verse 11:
विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस् तद् वेदोभयं सह ।
अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययामृतम् अश्नुते ॥ ११ ॥
vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ca yas tad vedobhayaṃ saha |
avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute || 11 ||
Meaning:
Knowledge and ignorance, he who knows the two together crosses death through ignorance and attains life eternal through knowledge.
THE MANIFEST AND THE UNMANIFEST:
Verse 12:
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिम् उपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥ १२ ॥
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye’sambhūtim upāsate |
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyāṃ ratāḥ || 12 ||
Meaning:
Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the unmanifest and into still greater darkness, as it were, those who delight in the manifest.
Verse 13:
अन्यद् एवाहुः संभवाद् अन्यद् आहुर् असंभवात् ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस् तद् विचचक्षिरे ॥ १३ ॥
anyad evāhuḥ saṃbhavād anyad āhur asaṃbhavāt |
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nas tad vicacakṣire || 13 ||
Meaning:
Distinct, indeed, they say, is what results from the manifest, and distinct, they say, is what results from the unmanifest. Thus, have we heard from those wise who have explained to us these.
Verse 14:
संभूतिं च विनाशं च यस् तद् वेदोभयं सह ।
विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा संभूत्यामृतम् अश्नुते ॥ १४ ॥
saṃbhūtiṃ ca vināśaṃ ca yas tad vedobhayaṃ saha |
vināśena mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā saṃbhūtyāmṛtam aśnute || 14 ||
Meaning:
He who understands the manifest and the unmanifest both together crosses death through the unmanifest and attains life eternal through the manifest.
PRAYER FOR THE VISION OF GOD:
Verse 15:
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् ।
तत् त्वं पूषन्न् अपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥ १५ ॥
hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṃ mukham |
tat tvaṃ pūṣann apāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye || 15 ||
Meaning:
The face of the truth is covered with a golden disc. Unveil it, O Pusan, so that I who love the truth may see it.
Verse 16:
पूषन्न् एकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन् समूह तेजः ।
यत् ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत् ते पश्यामि योऽसाव् असौ पुरुषः सोऽहम् अस्मि ॥ १६ ॥
pūṣann ekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīn samūha tejaḥ |
yat te rūpaṃ kalyāṇatamaṃ tat te paśyāmi yo’sāv asau puruṣaḥ so’ham asmi || 16 ||
Meaning:
O Pusan, the sole seer, O Controller, O Sun, offspring of Prajapati, spread forth your rays and gather up your radiant light that I may behold you of loveliest form. Whosoever is that person (yonder) that also am I.
Verse 17:
वायुर् अनिलम् अमृतम् अथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।
ओं क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥ १७ ॥
vāyur anilam amṛtam athedaṃ bhasmāntaṃ śarīram |
oṃ krato smara kṛtaṃ smara krato smara kṛtaṃ smara || 17 ||
Meaning:
May this life enter into the immortal breath; then may this body end in ashes. O Intelligence, remember, remember what has been done. Remember, O Intelligence, what has been done, Remember.
Verse 18:
अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान् विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् ।
युयोध्य् अस्मज् जुहुराणम् एनो भूयिष्ठां ते नम उक्तिं विधेम ॥ १८ ॥
agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān |
yuyodhy asmaj juhurāṇam eno bhūyiṣṭhāṃ te nama uktiṃ vidhema || 18 ||
Meaning:
O Agni, lead us, along the auspicious path to prosperity, O God, who knows all our deeds. Take away from us deceitful sins. We shall offer many prayers unto thee.
CONCLUSION:
This Upanishad is called Isa-Vasya-Upanishad, that which gives Brahma-Vidya or knowledge of the All-pervading Deity. The dominant thought running through it is that we cannot enjoy life or realize true happiness unless we consciously “cover” all with the Omnipresent Lord. If we are not fully conscious of that which sustains our life, how can we live wisely, and perform our duties? Whatever we see, movable or immovable, good or bad, it is all “That.” We must not divide our conception of the universe; for in dividing it, we have only fragmentary knowledge and we thus limit ourselves.
He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings never suffers; when he sees all creatures within his true Self, then jealousy, grief and hatred vanish. He alone can love. That all-pervading One is self-effulgent, birthless, deathless, pure, untainted by sin and sorrow. Knowing this, he becomes free from the bondage of matter and transcends death. Transcending death means realizing the difference between body and Soul and identifying oneself with the Soul. When we actually behold the un-decaying Soul within us and realize our true nature, we no longer identify with the body which dies and we do not die with the body.
Self-knowledge has always been the theme of the Sages, and the Upanishads deal especially with the knowledge of the Self and also with the knowledge of God because there is no difference between the Self and God. They are one and the same. That which comes out of the Infinite Whole must also be infinite; hence the Self is infinite. That is the ocean, we are the drops. So long as the drop remains separate from the ocean, then it has all the strength of the ocean. Similarly, so long as man believes himself to be separate from the Whole, he is helpless; but when he identifies himself with It, then he transcends all weakness and partakes of Its omnipotent qualities.
I am a Vedic astrologer by profession. I have done Jyotish Acharya from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan. I am devoted to my Sadguru Shri Sai Nath of Shirdi. I am also interested in spirituality. I love to guide people.
I am a Vedic astrologer by profession. I have done Jyotish Acharya from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan. I am devoted to my Sadguru Shri Sai Nath of Shirdi. I am also interested in spirituality. I love to guide people.