Isha Upanishad
Eighteen verses that hold the whole teaching: the Lord pervades everything, so enjoy the world by renouncing it.
The shortest of the principal Upanishads and the only one that forms the final chapter of a Vedic hymn collection, the Vajasaneyi Samhita. It is often placed first in collections.
It reconciles action and renunciation: live a full span of life doing your work, without clinging. It ends with a prayer to the sun to draw aside its golden lid so the seeker can see the truth behind it.
All this, whatever moves in this moving world, is pervaded by the Lord. Enjoy it by letting it go. Do not covet: whose is wealth, after all?
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1Complete text
ॐ ईशा वास्यमिदँ सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् । तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ॥ १ ॥
कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतँ समाः । एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥ २ ॥
असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसाऽऽवृताः । ताँस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥ ३ ॥
अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन्पूर्वमर्षत् । तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥ ४ ॥
तदेजति तन्नैजति तद्दूरे तद्वन्तिके । तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्यास्य बाह्यतः ॥ ५ ॥
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति । सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥ ६ ॥
यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः । तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥ ७ ॥
स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रण-मस्नाविरँ शुद्धमपापविद्धम् । कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भू-र्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान् व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥ ८ ॥
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते । ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायाँ रताः ॥ ९ ॥
अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया । इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥ १० ॥
विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयँ सह । अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते ॥ ११ ॥
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते । ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्याँ रताः ॥ १२ ॥
अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् । इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥ १३ ॥
सम्भूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयँ सह । विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्याऽमृतमश्नुते ॥ १४ ॥
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् । तत्त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥ १५ ॥
पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन् समूह तेजः । यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥ १६ ॥
वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मांतँ शरीरम् । ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतँ स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतँ स्मर ॥ १७ ॥
अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान् विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् । युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नमउक्तिं विधेम ॥ १८ ॥
All this, whatsoever moves on earth, is to be hidden in the Lord (the Self). When thou hast surrendered all this, then thou mayest enjoy. Do not covet the wealth of any man!
Though a man may wish to live a hundred years, performing works, it will be thus with him; but not in any other way: work will thus not cling to a man.
There are the worlds of the Asuras covered with blind darkness. Those who have destroyed their self (who perform works, without having arrived at a knowledge of the true Self), go after death to those worlds.
That one (the Self), though never stirring, is swifter than thought. The Devas (senses) never reached it, it walked before them. Though standing still, it overtakes the others who are running. Mâtarisvan (the wind, the moving spirit) bestows powers on it.
It stirs and it stirs not; it is far, and likewise near. It is inside of all this, and it is outside of all this.
And he who beholds all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, he never turns away from it.
When to a man who understands, the Self has become all things, what sorrow, what trouble can there be to him who once beheld that unity?
He (the Self) encircled all, bright, incorporeal, scatheless, without muscles, pure, untouched by evil; a seer, wise, omnipresent, self-existent, he disposed all things rightly for eternal years.
All who worship what is not real knowledge (good works), enter into blind darkness: those who delight in real knowledge, enter, as it were, into greater darkness.
One thing, they say, is obtained from real knowledge; another, they say, from what is not knowledge. Thus we have heard from the wise who taught us this.
He who knows at the same time both knowledge and not-knowledge, overcomes death through not-knowledge, and obtains immortality through knowledge.
All who worship what is not the true cause, enter into blind darkness: those who delight in the true cause, enter, as it were, into greater darkness.
One thing, they say, is obtained from (knowledge of) the cause; another, they say, from (knowledge of) what is not the cause. Thus we have heard from the wise who taught us this.
He who knows at the same time both the cause and the destruction (the perishable body), overcomes death by destruction (the perishable body), and obtains immortality through (knowledge of) the true cause.
The door of the True is covered with a golden disk. Open that, O Pûshan, that we may see the nature of the True.
O Pûshan, only seer, Yama (judge), Sûrya (sun), son of Pragâpati, spread thy rays and gather them! The light which is thy fairest form, I see it. I am what He is (viz. the person in the sun).
Breath to air, and to the immortal! Then this my body ends in ashes. Om! Mind, remember! Remember thy deeds! Mind, remember! Remember thy deeds
Agni, lead us on to wealth (beatitude) by a good path, thou, O God, who knowest all things! Keep far from us crooked evil, and we shall offer thee the fullest praise! (Rv. I, 189, 1.)
- Sanskrit text: Sanskrit Wikisource ↗, by Wikisource contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet proofread against a printed edition.
- English translation: Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 1 (1879), tr. F. Max Müller ↗. Public domain. Transcription from English Wikisource; footnotes omitted.