Isavasya 2 Translation Fantasia

kurvanneveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchatagṁsamāḥ, 

evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare.

कुर्वन् – performing; एव् – alone; इह – here (in this world); कर्माणि – work, deeds; जिजीविषेत् – should desire to live; शतग्ं – a hundred; समाः – years; एवम् – thus; त्वयि (सति) – while you are; न – not; अन्यथा – the other; इतः – for; अस्ति – is; न – not; कर्म – deed; लिप्यते – is attached; नरे – in the man

Performing verily, work in this world one should desire to live a full hundred years. This alone is right, for there is no other right path. Action never clings to a man of this temperament.

The Masters of the scriptures declare that if any given individual generation of a given period of history has not the required tendency of unaction to pursue the path of knowledge as described in the previous stanza, they should immediately take to a dynamic and conscious programme of activity, and should steadily walk the path of action. Here, the second stanza is dedicated to extol the path of karma.

In case you are not able to live the life of God-vision achieved through renunciation, then have certainly the desire to live a full hundred years of productive, selfless work.

~Chinmayananda

If a man wishes to live a hundred years on this earth, he should live performing action. For you, who cherish such a desire and regard yourself as a man, there is no other way by which you can keep work from clinging to you.

A person attached to his human body and desirous of enjoying on earth his full span of life should devote himself to religious duties and other unselfish actions; if not, he will engage in evil action. It is clear that this verse does not apply to the illumined person, who is not attached to material things and is indifferent about the length of his life. According to Sankara the discipline of Self-Knowledge and the way of worldly enjoyment are totally incompatible. A sannyasin, seeking Self-Knowledge, is indifferent to both life and death.

~Nikhilananda

If one should desire to live in this world a hundred years, one should live performing Karma (righteous deeds). Thus thou mayest live; there is no other way. By doing this, Karma (the fruits of thy actions) will not defile thee. 

If a man still clings to long life and earthly possessions, and is therefore unable to follow the path of Self-knowledge (Gnana-Nishta) as prescribed in the first Mantram (text), then he may follow the path of right action (Karma-Nishta). Karma here means actions performed without selfish motive, for the sake of the Lord alone.

~Paramananda

In this world, perform your rightful work as a means to no end but living out your allotted hundred years or so. No other way exists where actions do not tie a person down.

While in this world, practice karma yoga, even if it takes 100 years. To do so otherwise binds you to a figment of imagination.

~Isa Upanishad 2 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 3 Translation Fantasia

asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ, tāgṁste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ. 

असुर्याः – demoniac, sunless; नाम – really; ते – those; लोकाः – people (lit. world); अन्धेन तमसा – by blinding darkness (gloom); आवृता – covered; ताग्म् – to those; ते – they; प्रेत्य – after death; अभिगच्छन्ति – go to; ये के च – whosoever; आत्म-हनः – killers of the Self; जनाः – people

Sunless are those worlds, and enveloped in blinding gloom to which all those people who are slayers of their own souls go, departing from here.

Now a doubt may arise as to what would be the destiny of those who are not following either the path of meditation or the path of action? What would happen to them and their pilgrimage, is explained in this particular stanza. The Upaniṣad Master declares that having been born as a man, an individual (or society or community or nation) who refuses to live either the ‘life of meditation’ or ‘the life of intense and continuous activity’, is to be considered as committing suicide. Such a nation must necessarily come to fall into an abyss of darkness and despair. The individual (or the community) should thereafter, certainly, come to experience a terrible fall in its cultural and spiritual eminence.

~Chinmayananda

After leaving their bodies, they who have killed the Self go to the worlds of the Asuras, covered with blinding ignorance.

What does it mean "to kill the Self?" How can the immortal Soul ever be destroyed? It cannot be destroyed, it can only be obscured. Those who hold themselves under the sway of ignorance, who serve the flesh and neglect the Atman or the real Self, are not able to perceive the effulgent and indestructible nature of their Soul; hence they fall into the realm where the Soul light does not shine. Here the Upanishad shows that the only hell is absence of knowledge.

~Paramananda

Those worlds blinded by the cover of deep ignorance are named sunless. These killers of the Self reach for such a place of death.

~Isa Upanishad 3 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 4 Translation Fantasia

anejad ekam manaso javiyo nainad deva apnuvan purvam arshat

tad dhavato nyan atyeti tishthat tasminn apo matarishva dadhati

अनेजत् – unmoving; एकम् – One; मनसः – than the mind; जवीयः – swifter; न – not; एनत् – this; देवाः – gods; आप्नुवन् – reached, overtake; पूर्वम् – before; अर्षत् – ran; तत् – it; धावतः – running; अन्यान् – others; अत्येति – overtakes; तिष्ठत् – staying; तस्मिन् – in it; अपः – activities (lit. water – here figuratively used for action); मातरिश्वा – wind; दधाति– supports or allots

The Self is the motionless one, swifter than the mind. The devas (senses) could not overtake it; It ran before them. Sitting, It goes faster than those who run after It. By It, Mātariṣvā (the element Air) supports the activity of all living beings.

From this stanza onwards we have, in four continuous mantras, the description of the Supreme indicated in terms of Its qualities, and these stanzas together is one vākya. Though the Eternal has no quality of Its own, and since language can explain only in terms of guṇas or experiences, the qualities of the Self indicated here are not to be taken literally. 

The Upaniṣad asserts that the Self is swifter than the mind. By denying motion, it is not denying the speed which is its rate of motion. The mind is the fastest thing in the universe. But the Self runs faster, because the Reality in the form of ‘existence’ is already there, before the mind could reach the spot of its contemplation.

~Chinmayananda

That One, though motionless, is swifter than the mind. The senses can never overtake It, for It ever goes before. Though immovable, It travels faster than those who run. By It the all-pervading air sustains all living beings.

This verse explains the character of the Atman or Self. A finite object can be taken from one place and put in another, but it can only occupy one space at a time. The Atman, however, is present everywhere; hence, though one may run with the greatest swiftness to overtake It, already It is there before him.

~Paramananda

Anejad means, ‘that which does not move.’ In other words, ‘that Supreme Self does not move’. It is that which is unmoving.

Ekam – ‘One’

Manaso javiyo – ‘Even faster and swifter than the mind.’ If that ‘One’ is faster and swifter than the mind, there is no way that the mind can find It.

Nainad deva apnuvan purvam arshat – ‘There is no way that the senses can ever reach It.’

Tad dhavato nyan atyeti tishthat tasminn apo matarishva dadhati ‘By itself It stands still. It out-strips those who run to reach for It. In It, the all-pervading air or energy – prana, supports the activities of all beings.’ 

~Sri M

That non-dual Atman, though never stirring, is swifter than the mind. The devas (the senses) cannot reach It, for It moves ever in front. Though standing still, It overtakes others who are running. Because of Atman, Vayu (the World Soul) apportions the activities of all.

VAYU: The first cosmic manifestation of the Absolute in the relative universe, also known by such epithets as the World Soul, Hiranyagarbha, and Prana. It sustains the whole universe by apportioning to everyone his function. But the World Soul can exercise its lordship because Atman is its inner Self. Without Atman even the highest cosmic entity becomes powerless and ceases to exist.

~Nikhilananda

Unmoving, nondual, faster than the mind, unreachable by divine senses, surpassing those who chase after despite Its staying still, by That the life force of fire and air supports the activities of all beings.

~Isa Upanishad 4 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 5 Translation Fantasia

tad ejati tan naijati tad dure tad vadantike tad 

antarasya sarvasya tad u sarvasyasya baahyatah.

तत् – It; एजति – moves; तत् – It; न – not; एजति – moves; तत् – It; दूरे – far; तत् – It; उ – verily; अन्तिके – near; तत् – It; अन्तः – inside; अस्य – of this; सर्वस्य – all; तत् – It; उ – verily; सर्वस्य – all; अस्य – this; बाह्यतः – outside

It moves and It moves not. It is far and also It is near. It is within and also It is without all this.

It is near to those who have the power to understand It, for It dwells in the heart of every one; but It seems far to those whose mind is covered by the clouds of sensuality and self-delusion. It is within, because It is the innermost Soul of all creatures; and It is without as the essence of the whole external universe, infilling it like the all-pervading ether.

~Paramananda

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

Pure Consciousness is homogeneous and all-pervading and, as such, the Self cognised here is the same as the Self experienced as revelling there. This idea is again more clearly brought out in the expression: It is within all this and It is without all this. Not only is the Ᾱtman the central core of the spirituo-physical personality in the seeker, but the same Consciousness is the very substratum for the entire perception of the universe. To consider this Self to be only within and thus to live a life of pure introversion is a negation of Truth.

~Chinmayananda

Tad ejati tan naijati tad dure tad vadantike – ‘It moves, yet it moves not. It is far and yet it is near.’ Tad antarasya sarvasya – ‘It is within all this.’ Tad u sarvasyasya baahyatah – ‘It is outside all this.’

The fifth shloka is a typical presentation that sounds very close to the Zen teachings. One of the important teachings of Zen is to make it clear that even the highest level of intellect, by itself, cannot find the Supreme Truth. This is not to discourage intelligence; we are differentiating here between intelligence and intellect. What the Upanishad is trying to say, what it is trying to do, is to put all our logical thinking into an arrangement that appears to be totally contradictory. That means, what we call cold logical thinking cannot be applied to the understanding of the Supreme Being.

~Sri M

That moves, That does not move; That is far off, That is very near; That is inside all this, and That is also outside all this.

That is inside; asya sarvasya, of all this- in accordance with the Vedic text: `The Self that is within all' (Br. III. iv. 1) -, of all this world consisting of name, form, and activity. Tat, That; u, also; sarvasya asya bahyatah, is outside all this, because It is all-pervasive like space; and It is inside, because It is extremely subtle. Besides, It is without interstices, (It is continuous), in accordance with the Vedic text: 'Pure intelligence alone' (Br. IV. v. 13).

~Shankara (tr-Gambhirananda)

That moves and That does not move. That is far and That is also near. That is within all this and That is also outside all this.

~Isa Upanishad 5 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 6 Translation Fantasia

yas tu sarvani bhutani atmany evaanupashyati 

sarva bhuteshu chatmanam tato na vijugupsate.

यः – who; तु – however; सर्वाणि – all; भूतानि – beings; आत्मनि – in the Self; एव – alone; अनुपश्यति – constantly sees; सर्वभूतेषु – in all beings; च – and; आत्मानम् – Self; ततः – then; न – not; विजुगुप्सते – shrinks, feels hatred

He who constantly sees everywhere all existences in the Self and the Self in all beings and forms, thereafter shrinks not from anything.

This stanza explains more vividly than in any other Upaniṣad about the state of perfect tranquillity gained by a Self-realised sage, and as such, this stanza has been oft quoted and repeated in books and heard from platforms.

The one who has thus realised the core of all beings as the core in himself, and his own Self as the Self in every name and form, he is a sage, a prophet, a God-man, a true leader of the people, and a guiding power in the universe.

In realising thus, the individual gets permanently divorced from all his mental ideas of repulsion, shrinking, dislike, fear, hatred and such other perversions of feelings.

~Chinmayananda

The wise man beholds all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings; for that reason he does not hate anyone. 

The perception that Pure Consciousness is the essence and reality of all is the foundation of the Golden Rule. He who is firmly established in the perfect equality of Atman, samatva, has overcome all repulsion, secretiveness, shrinking, dislike, fear, hatred, and other perverse traits which arise from the perception of separation.

~Nikhilananda

He who sees all beings in his own self, and his own self in all beings, does not feel any revulsion whatsoever.

That means, a person who begins to understand, who is absolutely still and quiet, who begins to inhale the fragrance of that Supreme Being, sees that he has no enemies anymore. He cannot be revolted he cannot be against anything or anybody, because he sees his Self in them and their Self in him. That Supreme Being pervades all. He is your antaryami, the antaryami in every one of us.

~Sri M

He who sees all beings in the Self itself, and the Self in all beings, feels no hatred by virtue of that (realization).

This is only a restatement of a known fact. For, this is a matter of experience that all revulsion comes to one who sees something as bad and different from oneself, but for one who sees only the absolutely pure Self as a continuous entity, there is no other object that can be the cause of revulsion. Therefore he does not hate.

~Shankara (tr-Gambhirananda)

Whosoever perceives all beings in the Self alone and the Self in all beings never feels any opposition.

~Isa Upanishad 6 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 7 Translation Fantasia

yasmin sarvani bhutani atmaivabhud vijanatah

tatra ko mohah kah shokah ekatvam anupashyatah

यस्मिन् – in whom; सर्वाणि – all; भूतानि – beings; आत्मा – Self; एव – alone; अभूत् – have become; विजानतः – knowing; तत्र – these; कः – what; मोहः – delusion; कः – what; शोकः – grief; एकत्वम् – oneness; अनुपश्यतः – while constantly seeing

To the seer, all things have verily become the Self: what delusion, what sorrow, can there be for him who beholds that oneness?

Both ignorance (avidya) and its effect, that is to say, multiplicity, are destroyed for the knower of Atman. This Knowledge itself is Liberation. The knower, though living in a body, is free from attachment and aversion, pain and pleasure, and the other pairs of opposites.

~Nikhilananda

When, to the knower, all beings have become one in his own Self (Ᾱtman), how shall he feel deluded thereafter? What grief can there be to him who sees oneness everywhere?

In the previous stanza, the ṛṣi explained to us the glory of Self-realisation in a language of negative assertions and not in the language of positive declarations. We were only told that the individual will have no more any repulsion against or hatred for anything in life. But here, in this stanza, the same idea has been explained to us by the ṛṣi with more emphasis and practical assertions.

~Chinmayananda

This is a corollary to what has already been said before. Yasmin sarvani bhutaniatmaivabhud vijanatah – ‘When one realizes that that Supreme Self is the inner reality of all beings, when one realizes that all beings are verily his own Self,’ Tatra ko mohah kah shokah ekatvam anupashyatah- ‘Such a person, who is established in complete Oneness, when he sees that all is One, where in him is the place for delusion and where is the place for sorrow?’

~Sri M

As all beings have become the Self alone for the seer who understands, what attachment and what sorrow is there for that one who sees unceasingly such oneness?

~Isa Upanishad 7 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 8 Translation Fantasia

sa paryagach chukram akaayam avranam asnaaviram shuddham apaapa viddham kavir manishi paribhuh

svayambhur yathatathyatorthan vyadadhac chashvatibhyas samabhyah.

सः – he; पर्यगात् – all-pervading; शुक्रम् – bright; अकायम् – bodiless; अव्रणम् – scatheless, without wound; अस्नाविरग्म् – without muscles; शुद्धम् – pure; अपापविद्धम् – unpierced by evils; कविः – wise; मनीषी – omniscient; परिभूः – transcendent; स्वयम्भूः – self-existing; याथातथ्यतः – respectively; अर्थान् – functions, duties; व्यदधात् – allotted; शाश्वतीभ्यः – eternal; समाभ्यः – for years to come (figuratively the Creators that is Prajāpatis)

He, the Ᾱtman, is all-pervading, bright, bodiless, scatheless, without muscles, pure, unpierced by evils, wise, omniscient, transcendent and self-existing. He alone allotted respective functions (duties) to the various eternal Creators. 

Here is a stanza typical of the literature of Upaniṣads which attempts at a complete and exhaustive definition so as to give to the readers, if not a word painting of the Eternal, at least a sufficient amount of data to give a sincere student an intuitive understanding of the all comprehensive factor called Life or Ᾱtman. The great commentator, Śaṅkara, has himself more than once used this stanza and the expressions therein in his commentaries to indicate the Self in us.

It is this Self or pure Consciousness that is the power and the strength behind the laws of all natural phenomena. If the movement of the planets, the regularity of the seasons, the harmony in nature, the rhythm in reproduction have all been strictly followed without exception all around the globe for millions of years now, it is because of the unquestionable authority of the law giver and His law. That authority, might or power belongs to the supreme Reality, the Self.

~Chinmayananda

It is He who pervades all-He who is bright and bodiless, without scar or sinews, pure and by evil unpierced; who is the Seer, omniscient, transcendent and uncreated. He has duly allotted to the eternal WorldCreators their respective duties.

WHO PERVADES ETC: Brahman interpenetrates everything and pervades the phenomenal universe as fragrance pervades sandal-paste. BRIGHT: Refers to the luminosity of the pure Self. BODILESS: Without a subtle form. WITHOUT SCAR ETC: Without any defect. Brahman is devoid of a gross form. PURE: Free from a causal body. BY EVIL UNPIERCED: Uncontaminated by such limitations of prakriti as dharma (righteousness) and adharma (unrighteousness). As a witness, He watches the modifications of prakriti; He is not impressed or troubled by them. SEER: He sees all in detail as well as in its totality. OMNISCIENT: The ruler of the mind, which is the· organ of understanding. TRANSCENDENT: Beyond all manifestations.

~Nikhilananda

He (the Self) is all-encircling, resplendent, bodiless, spotless, without sinews, pure, untouched by sin, all-seeing, all-knowing, transcendent, self-existent; He has disposed all things duly for eternal years. 

This text defines the real nature of the Self. When our mind is cleansed from the dross of matter, then alone can we behold the vast, radiant, subtle, ever-pure and spotless Self, the true basis of our existence.

~Paramananda

That is all-pervading and resplendent; formless, unscathed, and without muscle; pure, spotless, and omniscient; transcendent, self-existent, and perfectly allotting all things throughout an eternity of time. 

~Isa Upanishad 8 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 9 Translation Fantasia

andhantamaḥ praviśanti ye’vidyāmupāsate, tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāgṁratāḥ. (

अन्धम् – blinding; तमः – darkness; प्रविशन्ति – enter; ये – who; अविद्याम् – avidyā (see commentary for details); उपासते – worship; ततः – than that; भूयः – greater; इव – as though; ते – they; तमः – darkness; ये – who; उ – verily; विद्यायाग्म् – in vidyā (see commentary for details); रताः – devoted, engaged in

They who worship avidyā alone fall into blindening darkness, and they, who worship vidyā alone fall, as though, into even a greater darkness.

In this stanza, the ṛṣi has opened up the problem and he is to summarise his conclusions in the following three mantras.

Those who are following the path of upāsanā or introvert life, who meditate deeply, seeking nothing but the all-pervading Reality seem to fall as though into a still greater darkness because such hasty and unprepared meditators may overdo the negation aspect of the technique of meditation and reach a destination of blind non-existence! In this connection, the term ‘as though a greater darkness’ is very significant; it is not really darkness.

The context here would demand that we take vidyā to be the ‘higher meditation’, and avidyā to be ‘all sādhanās’ that prepare one, by exhausting one’s existing vāsanās, to have a peaceful mind that can readily be brought to the seat of meditation. 

~Chinmayananda

Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone.

All manifestation proceeds by the two terms, Vidya and Avidya, the consciousness of Unity and the consciousness of Multiplicity. They are the two aspects of the Maya, the formative self-conception of the Eternal. Unity is the eternal and fundamental fact, without which all multiplicity would be unreal and an impossible illusion. The consciousness of Unity is therefore called Vidya, the Knowledge.

Those who are devoted entirely to the principle of multiplicity and division and take their orientation away from oneness enter into a blind darkness of Ignorance. To turn away from the progression towards Oneness is to turn away from existence and from light.

Those who are devoted entirely to the principle of indiscriminate Unity and seek to put away from them the integrality of the Brahman, also put away from them knowledge and completeness and enter as if into a greater darkness. They enter into some special state and accept it for the whole, mistaking exclusion in consciousness for transcendence in consciousness.

~Aurobindo

They enter into blind darkness who worship Avidya (ignorance and delusion); they fall, as it were, into greater darkness who worship Vidya (knowledge).

Those who follow or "worship" the path of selfishness and pleasure (Avidya), without knowing anything higher, necessarily fall into darkness; but those who worship or cherish Vidya (knowledge) for mere intellectual pride and satisfaction, fall into greater darkness, because the opportunity which they misuse is greater.

~Paramananda

Into a blind darkness they enter who are devoted to ignorance (rituals); but into a greater darkness they enter who engage in knowledge [of a deity] alone.

BLIND DARKENESS: It is characterized by an absence of knowledge because it is opposed to knowledge. IGNORANCE: The word avidya in the text signifies karma, or ritualistic action, such as the Agnihotra sacrifice. GREATER DARKNESS: The result of meditation on the deities without any ritual leads to a greater darkness. KNOWLEDGE: The word knowledge here means knowledge or contemplation of a deity. It does not signify Supreme Knowledge.

The following interpretation of the text is adapted from Sankara's com:mmentary: "The first verse of the Isa Upanishad refers to devotion to the Knowledge of Brahman through renunciation of all desires. The second verse lays down devotion to action (rituals) for those who are ignorant, desirous of a long life on earth, and incapable of cultivating devotion to Knowledge." Verse nine condemns ignorant people with a view to harmonizing work with knowledge of a deity.

~Nikhilananda

Note: There are three interpretations presented here: Shankara via Nikhilananda (Vedic ritual and meditation); Aurobindo (Integral Yoga); Chinmayananda (BMI Advaita).

Those who follow avidya fall into its blinding ignorance but those who engage with vidya alone enter as though into a greater darkness.

~Isa Upanishad 9 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 10 Translation Fantasia

anyad evahur vidyaya anyad ahur avidyaya

iti shushruma dhiranam ye nas tad vichachakshire.

अन्यत् – different; एव – definitely; आहुः – (they) say; विद्यया – by vidyā; अन्यत् – different; आहुः – (they) say; अविद्यया – by avidyā; इति – thus; शुश्रुम – (we) have heard; धीराणाम् – of the wise; ये – who; नः – to us; तत् – that; विचचक्षिरे – explained

One thing, they say, is verily obtained from vidyā, another thing they say from avidyā; thus we have heard from the wise who explained that to us.

Both vidyā and avidyā, in fact, are bondages. Knowledge is certainly a release from the shackles of ignorance, but knowledge itself is a painful limitation upon the Absolute. One may get over the confusions of ignorance with knowledge but, in itself, this will find us only chained by the limitations of knowledge. To transcend both is to reach the state of absolute Perfection.

~Chinmayananda

Other, verily, it is said, is that which comes by the Knowledge, other that which comes by the Ignorance; this is the lore we have received from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.

By Vidya one may attain to the state of the silent Brahman or the Akshara Purusha regarding the universe without actively participating in it or to His self-absorbed state of Chit in Sat from which the universe proceeds and towards which it returns.

By Avidya one may attain to a sort of fullness of power, joy, world-knowledge, largeness of being, which is that of the Titans or of the Gods;, of Indra, of Prajapati. This is gained in the path of self-enlargement by an ample acceptance of the multiplicity in all its possibilities and a constant enrichment of the individual by all the materials that the universe can pour into him.

~Aurobindo

They say that the result of knowledge is different from the result of ignorance. This, we have heard from the wise, who have explained it to us.

The rishi is talking in humble terms. He does not say, ‘I am saying this.’ He says, ‘This has been explained to me by the wise, from whom we have heard that there are two results.

~Sri M

One thing, they say, is obtained from knowledge; another, they say, from ignorance. Thus we have heard from the wise who have taught us this.

ONE THING: That is to say, the Plane of the Deities. ANOTHER, ETC: The Plane of the Fathers (Pitriloka). THIS: Both rituals and knowledge of the deities. The instruction given in this verse has come down through a succession of teachers.

~Nikhilananda

Indeed what they say by knowledge is different and what they say by nescience is different. Thus we have heard from the wise who reveal that to us.

~Isa Upanishad 10 (tx-aumdada)

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Isavasya 11 Translation Fantasia

vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yastadvedobhayagṁsaha, 

avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtamaśnute. 

विद्याम् – vidyā; च – and; अविद्याम् – avidyā; च – and; यः – who; तत् – that; वेद – known; उभयग्म् – both; सह – together; अविद्यया – by avidyā; मृत्युम् – death; तीर्त्वा – crossing; विद्यया – by vidyā; अमृतम् – immortality; अश्नुते – enjoys, obtains

He, who knows at the same time both vidyā and avidyā, overcomes death by avidyā and obtains immortality by vidyā.

Selfless dedicated work (avidyā) prepares one for contemplation, and through contemplation vidyā is fulfilled in direct apprehension of the Self. Thereafter the perfect one undertakes karma as a sacred satisfying fulfilment of his Realisation and spiritual experience.

Having gained vidyā in this very life, there is a period when we are to live in this world as a liberated soul, a prophet, a God-man. His duty thereafter is not to run away incognito into some secret cave of contemplation, to enjoy the serene joys of his own realisation. On the other hand, he has to fulfil his Self-realisation in and through his activities in the world outside.

~Chinmayananda

He who knows at the same time both Vidya and Avidya, crosses over death by Avidya and attains immortality through Vidya.

In the subsequent verses Vidya and Avidya are used in something the same sense as "faith" and "works" in the Christian Bible; neither alone can lead to the ultimate goal, but when taken together they carry one to the Highest. Work done with unselfish motive purifies the mind and enables man to perceive his undying nature. From this he gains inevitably a knowledge of God, because the Soul and God are one and inseparable; and when he knows himself to be one with the Supreme and Indestructible Whole, he realizes his immortality.

~Paramananda

Knowledge and ignorance, he who knows the two together crosses death through ignorance and attains life eternal through knowledge.

[Shankara] makes out that by the performance of rites we overcome death and by the meditation on deities we attain immortality, which is becoming one with the deity meditated upon.

Vedanta Desika quotes a verse where it is said that by austerity we destroy sins and by wisdom we attain life eternal. 

The knowledge of discursive reason is essential, but it has to be transcended into the life of spirit. Avidya must be transcended in Vidya. Avidya has its place. Without it there is no individual, no bondage, no liberation.

~Radhakrishnan

He who is aware that both knowledge and ignorance should be pursued together, overcomes death through ignorance and obtains immortality through knowledge.

According to verse eleven, it appears that those who harmonize both attain, in the end, the status of a deity and dwell in the heavenly world as long as the cycle lasts, enjoying, as gods, what is called relative immortality.

~Nikhilananda

But one who knows these two together, knowledge and ignorance, crosses death through ignorance and attains life eternal through knowledge.

To understand ignorance means to understand the implications of the meaning of ignorance. And when you have understood that, you are free of death. When you have understood that the Supreme Being which pervades everything, which pervades the entire universe, is no different from your Self, then there is no death for you.

Even a yogi or a rishi who has understood or has taught the Upanishad dies physically. Physical death is there for everyone. But the yogi understands that his inner Self does not die. Therefore, he ‘crosses over death.’ Amrita does not mean ‘to be free from physical death’; it means, ‘to understand that the inner Self or the inner Consciousness does not cease to exist with the demise of the physical body.’

~Sri M

He who knows That as both in one, the Knowledge and the Ignorance, by the Ignorance crosses beyond death and by the Knowledge enjoys Immortality.

Avidya becomes one with Vidya. By Avidya man passes beyond that death, suffering, ignorance, weakness which were the first terms he had to deal with, the first assertions of the One in the birth affirming Himself amid the limitations and divisions of the Multiplicity. By Vidya he enjoys even in the birth the Immortality.

By immortality is meant the consciousness which is beyond birth and death, beyond the chain of cause and effect, beyond all bondage and limitation, free, blissful, self-existent in conscious-being, the consciousness of the Lord, of the supreme Purusha, of Sachchidananda.

~Aurobindo

There is vidya and avidya and that who knows both together. By avidya, death is overcome and by vidya, immortality is attained.

~Isa Upanihad 11 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 12 Translation Fantasia

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye’sambhūtimupāsate, tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyāgṁratāḥ.

अन्धम् – blindening; तमः – darkness; प्रविशन्ति – enter into, fall; ये – who; असम्भूतिम् – unmanifest (prakṛti, the primal material cause); उपासते – worship; ततः – than that; भूयः – greater; इव – as though; ते – they; तमः – darkness; य – who; उ – verily; सम्भूत्याग्म् – in the manifest (Brahman meaning Hiraṇyagarbha – see commentary); रताः – devoted

They fall into blindening darkness who worship the unmanifest (prakṛti); but those who devote themselves to the manifest (Hiraṇyagarbha) fall, as though, into greater darkness.

Mantras 12, 13 and 14 are again another triad in which the same idea described earlier has been brought out for the purpose of better clarification. It is so very important that it is necessary for every seeker of Vedānta to understand correctly what is the exact relationship between vidyā and avidyā.

The pair of words used in this section is unmanifest (asambhūti) and manifest (sambhūti). The ‘unmanifest’ would be easier for you all to understand as the impersonal God, and the ‘manifest’ as the personal God.

Just as we have seen that there is no controversy between vidyā and avidyā and that they are complementary to each other, so too, jñāna and bhakti are not contradictory. In fact, each in the lap of the other grows stronger and gets more established.

~Chinmayananda

They fall into blind darkness who worship the Unmanifested and they fall into greater darkness who worship the manifested.

This particular Upanishad deals chiefly with the Invisible Cause and the visible manifestation, and the whole trend of its teaching is to show that they are one and the same, one being the outcome of the other hence no perfect knowledge is possible without simultaneous comprehension of both.

~Paramananda

Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the unmanifest and into still greater darkness, as it were, enter those who delight in the manifest!

There are those who worship the unmanifest. They also enter into darkness, but not as great a darkness as those who worship only the manifest. ‘Worshipping the unmanifest’ means worshipping that which is the cause of the manifest world. The Upanishadic teaching is that one has to transcend both, the manifest and the unmanifest. 

When they speak of the unmanifest they are speaking about the Supreme Reality as a creator, destroyer and so on. It is unmanifest because it is behind the manifestations that we see before us. It is the operator of all that operates. The Upanishad says that you can remain at that level, but the Truth, which is Light, is beyond both, the manifest as well as the unmanifest.

~Sri M

Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Non-Birth, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Birth alone.

Exclusive attachment to Non-Birth leads to a dissolution into indiscriminate Nature or into the Nihil, into the Void, and both of these are states of blind darkness. For the Nihil is an attempt not to transcend the state of existence in birth, but to annul it, not to pass from a limited into an illimitable existence, but from existence into its opposite. The opposite of existence can only be the Night of negative consciousness, a state of ignorance and not of release.

On the other hand, attachment to Birth in the body means a constant self-limitation and an interminable round of egoistic births in the tower forms of egoism without issue or release. This is, from a certain point of view, a worse darkness than the other; for it is ignorant even of the impulse of release. It is not an error in the grasping after truth, but a perpetual contentment with the state of blindness. It cannot lead even eventually to any greater good, because it does not dream of any higher condition.

~Aurobindo

Those who worship the unmanifest fall into a blinding darkness but those who devote themselves to the manifest alone enter as though into a greater darkness.

~Isa Upanishad 12 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 13 Translation Fantasia

anyadevāhuḥ sambhavāt anyadāhurasambhavāt, iti śuśruma dhīraṇāṁ ye nastadvicacakṣire. 

अन्यत् – different; एव – definitely; आहुः – (they) say; सम्भवात् – from the manifest; अन्यत् – different; आहुः – (they) say; असम्भवात् – from the ummanifest; इति – thus; शुश्रुम – (we) have heard; धीराणाम् – of the wise; ये – who; नः – to us; तत् – that; विचचक्षिरे – explained

One thing, they say, is verily obtained from the worship of the manifest. Another thing, they say, from the worship of the unmanifest; thus have we heard from the wise who have explained that to us.

Just as in the second mantra of the earlier triad (mantras 9 to 11), here also the ṛṣi is trying to explain to us that what we generally understand by the terms manifest and unmanifest are not exactly what they connote in the technique of self-perfection, but that they have some special significance. This new orientation of the idea is again vouchsafed here as not merely a whiff of the ṛṣi’s own personal opinion, but that it has the sanction of the entire hierarchy of experienced Masters and their worthy disciples.

~Chinmayananda

Indeed what they say by the manifest is different and what they say by the unmanifest is different. Thus we have heard from the wise who reveal that to us.

~Isa Upanishad 13 (tx-aumdada)

Isavasya 14 Translation Fantasia

sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca yastadvedobhayagṁsaha,

vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā sambhūtyāmṛtamaśnute.

सम्भूतिम् – impersonal God; च – and; विनाशम् – personal God; च – and; यः – who; तत् – that; वेद – knows; उभयग्म् – both; सह – together; विनाशेन – by personal God; मृत्युम् – death; तीर्त्वा – crossing; सम्भूत्या – by impersonal God; अमृतम् – immortality; अश्नुते – enjoys, obtains

He who knows that both the unmanifested prakriti and the manifested Hiranyagarbha should be worshipped together, overcomes death by the worship of Hiranyagarbha and obtains immortality through devotion to prakriti.

The result of combining the two kinds of worship described in the text is, first, the attainment of supernatural powers through devotion to Hiranyagarbha, and second, the attainment of immortality (relative) by merging in prakriti. The attainment of this immortality is the culmination of the efforts of a man or a god. It is the highest achievement in the relative universe.

~Nikhilananda

He who worships the impersonal God and the personal God together, overcomes death through the worship of the personal and obtains immortality through the worship of the impersonal.

Here Śrī Śaṅkara takes sambhūti to mean the ‘primordial matter’ (mahat tattvaṁ) which we may call as prakṛti or nature, which is not in its expression an effect but the very cause for the entire manifested prakṛti. By the term asambhūti, Śaṅkara understands as the kārya (effects), the saguṇa Brahman, the conditioned reality. We need not go into the philosophical hair-splitting and exhaust ourselves at present.

One very satisfying explanation I had heard was from my Gurudev, Śrī Swami Tapovana Mahārāja. It beautifully reconciles this confusing contradiction. He suggested to us to recognise sambhūti and sambhava as meaning the birth of a new spiritual life, and asambhūti and vināśam as referring to the cessation and destruction cessation of the creation of new vāsanās and the total destruction of the entire existing vāsanās.

~Chinmayananda

He who knows at the same time both the Unmanifested (the cause of manifestation) and the destructible or manifested, he crosses over death through knowledge of the destructible and attains immortality through knowledge of the First Cause (Unmanifested). 

This particular Upanishad deals chiefly with the Invisible Cause and the visible manifestation, and the whole trend of its teaching is to show that they are one and the same, one being the outcome of the other hence no perfect knowledge is possible without simultaneous comprehension of both.

By work, by making the mind steady and by following the prescribed rules given in the Scriptures, a man gains wisdom. By the light of that wisdom he is able to perceive the Invisible Cause in all visible forms. Therefore the wise man sees Him in every manifested form. They who have a true conception of God are never separated from Him. They exist in Him and He in them.

~Paramananda

He who understands the manifest and the unmanifest both together, crosses death through the unmanifest and attains life eternal through the manifest.

To be absorbed in the world around without turning to the principle at the base of it is one extreme; to be absorbed in the contemplation of the transcendent infinite indifferent to the events of the manifested world because they are likely to disturb inward serenity and self-complacency is another extreme. This verse asks us to lead a life in the manifested world with a spirit of non¬ attachment, with the mind centred in the unmanifest. We must live in this world without being choked by it. We must centre our thoughts in the eternal remembering that the eternalis the soul of the temporal. 

~Radhakrishnan

He who understands the manifest and the unmanifest together, crosses death.

This is said because one could otherwise become one-sided and forget the world and concentrate only on the unmanifest! This is almost impossible because it requires a great deal of physical, mental, and psychological preparation. 

Understanding the unmanifest and the manifest together

means to live where you are, and simultaneously go on with your studies and your search for the Truth, giving enough importance to the manifest as well as the unmanifest, until you begin to understand the truth that the Supreme Being is the only living reality, and is all-pervading.

So, one has to go carefully. Keep the manifest in view, keep the unmanifest in view, balance the two and move forward. When one is completely convinced, then one can drop the manifest. In fact, you do not even have to drop it. Maya pushes you out; you don’t have to even try!

~Sri M

There is unmanifest and the manifest and that who knows both together. By the manifest, death is overcome and by the unmanifest, immortality is attained.

~Isa Upanishad 14 (tx-aumdada)

Isvayasa 15 Translation Fantasia

hiranmayena pātreņa satyasyāpihitam mukham, 

tattvam pūşannapāvṛņu satyadharmāya dıştaye. (15)

हिरण्मयेन - golden; पात्रेण by the vessel (which acts like a lid); सत्यस्य - of Truth; अपिहितम् covered; मुखम् face; तत् - that; त्वम् you; पूषन् O Sun; अपावृणु - do open; सत्यधर्माय - the practitioner of Truth; दृष्टये for beholding

The face of Truth is covered by a golden lid; remove, O Sun that (covering) for me, the practitioner of Truth, so that I may behold It.

It is interesting to note that there are two recensions for this Upaniṣad; the Kāṇva and Mādhyandina. According to the latter this is the last mantra, while the Upaniṣad, as it stands, full with its 18 mantras, is acceptable in the Kāṇva reading.

Prayer in Vedānta is only an attempt of the ego centre to attune itself to the supreme Consciousness in the individual. Addressing the supreme Consciousness, the ego centre in the individual is chanting this mantra. 

The Sun is the centre of the entire universe, itself motionless and inactive and yet by its very presence, it balances the entire movement of the universe around it. Being the nourisher and the source of all energy in the cosmos, it represents in the seeker's inner world - the nourisher and illuminator - the Atman.

As Śrī Śańkara says, it is certainly the last prayer of the dying individual but the individual meant here is the ego centre. We are not to understand it, that it is literally a prayer of the dying old man on his death bed. It is the last prayer of the active spiritual seeker in his meditation seat when he, in his divine effort, is shaking off the last vestige of ego which is lingering to veil the Self in him.

~Chinmayananda

The door of the Truth is covered by a golden disc. Open it, O Nourisher! Remove it so that I who have been worshipping the Truth may behold It.

Referring to the manifestation of Brahman in the sun. The sun is often used as a symbol of Brahman. "That which is Truth is that sun." (Br. Up. V. v. 1-4.) Here the sun includes earth, heaven, and the interspace and is known also by the name of Vyariti. The sun is personified, with earth, heaven, and the interspace as its head, two arms, and two feet. The worship prescribed in this and the following verses is the symbolic worship of Brahman through the sun.

~Nikhilananda

The face of the Supreme Truth is covered by a golden disc. O Pushann, O Surya, O controller of everything, remove this golden disc that covers your face, so that I, who love the Truth, may perceive It!

This ‘golden disc’ that covers the face of Truth is the captivating glamour and glitter of the world. Often, most of us are carried away by the shining ‘golden disc.’ So this prayer is, ‘I can do nothing about this golden-disc except plead; please remove it O Pushann, O Controller, so that I may see you as you are, as the Real Truth!’ 

Since Pushann also means Surya, the Sun-God, the ‘golden disc’ could also figuratively refer to the golden color of the sun when it rises in the morning and sets in the evening. ‘Remove that golden disc so that I may see your face.’ It also means, ‘Remove all the attributes so that I may see you as the Attributeless Supreme Being.’ This is the second interpretation.

The second part of this prayer, which is, ‘I, who am the lover of Truth,’ is important. If one is not the lover of ‘Truth’ then one can be happy with that golden disc alone. One does not want to look beyond it.

~Sri M

Isvayasa 16 Translation Fantasia

pūşannekarşe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmin samūha, tejo yatte rūpaṁ 

kalyāņatamam tatte paśyāmi yo'sāvasau puruṣaḥ so'hamasmi.

पूषन् O! Pūsan; एकर्षे Controller; सूर्य O! sole seer; यम Ο! O! Sūrya; प्राजापत्य O! Son of rays; समूह Thy; रूपम् gather form; that; ते - thy; this; असौ this; पुरुषः Prajāpati; व्यूह - disperse; रश्मीन् up; तेजः - light; यत् what; ते कल्याणतमम् most auspicious; तत् पश्यामि - (I) see; यः who; असौ Puruşa; सः - he; अहम् - I; अस्मि am

O! Pūşan (sun, nourisher), O! sole seer, O! controller of all, O! Sūrya, O! son of Prajāpati, disperse Thy rays and gather up Thy burning light, I behold Thy glorious form, the Puruşa within Thee, He am I.

It is to be noted that Lord Sun was the Guru of Sage Yājñavalkya, the compiler of the Śukla Yajurveda Samhitā; and Īśāvāsyopaniṣad belongs to it. The samhita itself was taught to him by Lord Sun. The Sun is the greatest nourisher, disinfector, the 'great filler' who fills life with flavour. 'By Thy grace may I reach nearer the Iśa who indwells everywhere, including Thee,' seems to be here, the cry of the heart at meditation.

Before this final experience of oneness 'He am I', we have been shown how there is a lower state of realisation that 'I behold Thy glorious form', wherein the ego still remains, experiencing a divine exaltation. This state is called savikalpa samādhi. This precedes the final stage of the total end of the ego when the seeker rediscovers himself to be the sought the supreme Self. This stage of experience of oneness is called the nirvikalpa samādhi.

~Chinmayananda

O Pushan! O Sun, sole traveller of the heavens, controller of all, son of Prajapati, withdraw Thy rays and gather up Thy burning effulgence. Now through Thy Grace I behold Thy blessed and glorious form. The Purusha (Effulgent Being) who dwells within Thee, I am He. 

Here the sun, who is the giver of all light, is used as the symbol of the Infinite, giver of all wisdom. The seeker after Truth prays to the Effulgent One to control His dazzling rays, that his eyes, no longer blinded by them, may behold the Truth. Having perceived It, he proclaims: "Now I see that that Effulgent Being and I are one and the same, and my delusion is destroyed." By the light of Truth he is able to discriminate between the real and the unreal, and the knowledge thus gained convinces him that he is one with the Supreme; that there is no difference between himself and the Supreme Truth

~Paramananda

O Nourisher, lone Traveller of the sky! Controller! O Sun, Offspring of Prajapati! Gather Your rays; withdraw Your light. I would see, through Your grace, that form of Yours which is the fairest. I am indeed He, that Purusha, who dwells there.

PURUSHA: Lit., Person. It also refers to the Godhead, who lies in the hearts of all, or who fills the whole universe with life and consciousness.

~Nikhilananda

Isvayasa 17 Translation Fantasia

vāyuranilamamṛtamathedam bhasmāntagṁśarīram,

omkrato smara kṛtagṁsmara krato smara krtagmsmara

वायुः air (prāņa); अनिलम् to the air reduced to ashes; (universal); अमृतम् - immortal; अथ now; इदम् - this; भस्मान्तग्म् शरीरम् - body; ॐ – Om (prolonged sound); क्रतो O my mind; स्मर (you) remember; कृतग्म् - what you did, your deeds; स्मर - (you) remember; क्रतो O my mind; स्मर (you) remember; कृतग्म् - what you did, your deeds; स्मर - (you) remember

Let my prāņa merge into the all-pervading air (and) now let this body be burnt (by fire) to ashes. Om, O my mind! remember, remember what you did! O my mind! remember, remember what you did!.

A man, after the realisation of the Self, will thereafter face death as happily as he would face life and its changing vicissitudes. Thereafter, to him death is not a tragic culmination but, in fact, is a joyous beginning of an immortal existence.

As regards his mind, he cries: 'May you remember all that you have done in the past' meaning, the great achievement, the supreme experience.

Even at the moment of departure let not our mind be distracted by any other thought; let us get ourselves established in the continuous experience of that moment of fulfilment as a human creature.

~Chinmayananda

May my life-breath go to the all-pervading and immortal Prana, and let this body be burned to ashes. Om! O mind, remember thy deeds! O mind, remember, remember thy deeds! Remember!

Seek not fleeting results as the reward of thy actions, O mind! Strive only for the Imperishable. This Mantram or text is often chanted at the hour of death to remind one of the perishable nature of the body and the eternal nature of the Soul. When the clear vision of the distinction between the mortal body and the immortal Soul dawns in the heart, then all craving for physical pleasure or material possession drops away; and one can say, let the body be burned to ashes that the Soul may attain its freedom; for death is nothing more than the casting-off of a worn-out garment.

~Paranananda

Isavasya 18 Translation Fantasia

agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān,

yuyodhyasmajjuhurāṇameno bhūyisthām te nama uktim vidhema.

अग्ने - O Agni; नय lead; सुपथा by a good path; राये - wealth; अस्मान् - us; विश्वानि all; देव- O God; वयुनानि ways; विद्वान् - knower; युयोधि – remove; अस्मत् - from us; जुहुराणम् - crookedly attracting; एनः - sin; भूयिष्ठाम् -best; ते - to you; नम उक्तिम् - prayer; विधेम – offer

O Agni! Lead us on to 'wealth' by a good path, as Thou knowest, O God, all the many ways. Remove the crooked attraction of sin from us. We offer Thee our best salutations.

Let bhaktas understand that true Vedānta is no enemy to them; let true Vedāntins come to feel ashamed of themselves when they cry down bhakti in the name of their sacred faith, the religion of Vedānta. At the time of the Vedas, Agni was the God; here the prayer is an invocation to Agni devatā - the fire God.

Here, in this stanza, Lord Agni has been invoked to lead us to wealth. The materialist need not understand that this wealth means the sterling or the dollar! It is not the wealth of the economist that is meant here, but it is the riches of the spiritual seeker that is in the mind of the rsis. Wealth is thus to be understood as standing for bliss or mukti or beatitude. The seeker's death bed request is only for the attainment of the supreme felicity. The rest of the expressions are amply self-evident.

~Chinmayananda

O god Agni, knowing all things that are manifested, lead us by the good path to the felicity; remove from us the devious attraction of sin. To thee completes speech of submission we address.

There is in and behind all our errors, sins and stumblings a secret Will, tending towards Love and Harmony, which knows where it is going and prepares and combines our crooked branchings towards the straight path which will be the final result of their toil and seeking. The emergence of this Will and that Light is the condition of immortality.

This Will is Agni. Agni is in the Rig-veda, from which the closing verse of the Upanishad is taken, the flame of the Divine Will or Force of Consciousness working in the worlds. He is described as the immortal in mortals, the leader of the journey, the divine Horse that bears us on the road, the "son of crookedness" who himself knows and is the straightness and the Truth. Concealed and hard to seize in the workings of this world because they are all falsified by desire and egoism, he uses them to transcend them and emerges as the universal in Man or universal Power, Agni Vaishwanara, who contains in himself all the gods and all the worlds, upholds all the universal workings and finally fulfils the godhead, the immortality. He is the worker of the divine Work. It is these symbols which govern the sense of the two final verses of the Upanishad.

~Aurobindo

O Fire, lead us by the good path for the enjoyment of the fruit of our action. You know, O god, all our deeds. Destroy our sin of deceit. We offer, by words, our salutations to you. 

FIRE: During Vedic times twice-born householders worshipped fire and offered their oblations in it. Fire was considered as the intermediary god through whom oblations to the other gods were made.

The following is adapted from Sankara's commentary: "Some take exception to our interpretation of these verses. We shall now try briefly to answer their objections. The objector asks why one should not, by knowledge, mean the Knowledge of the Supreme Self, and by immortality, the ultimate Liberation. The Upanishad here explicitly lays down, they say, the injunction to pursue together the Knowledge of the Supreme Self and ritualistic worship. The words of scripture are the final authority. Though Knowledge and ignorance (ritualistic worship) are said to produce contradictory results, yet this objection cannot stand in view of the clear statement of the Upanishad referred to above.

"To this objection we answer that Knowledge and ignorance cannot, by any means, be reconciled, because they are contradictory both as to their nature and as to their ultimate result. The cause of ignorance is false identification of Atman with the body and the rest, but true Knowledge is completely different. The result of ignorance is entanglement in the world, and that of Knowledge, liberation from the world. Therefore they cannot be harmonized. It cannot be contended that Knowledge and rituals may be pursued alternately, because no sooner does a man attain Self-Knowledge than his identification of the Self with the body disappears."

~Nikhilananda

A. Chinmayananda on Isa Structure

Chinmayananda on the structure of the Isa Upanishad:

The thought flow in the Īśāvāsyopaniṣad gallops on to its vivid goal in seven distinct waves. Because of the brevity of the expressions, which are made to convey an entire philosophy at once sublime in thought, divine in concept, and scientific in treatment, to a hasty reader the Īśāvāsyopaniṣad would be a confusing medley of rambling thoughts and, perhaps, would seem to contain only some wrecked, half expressed ideas.

This conclusion has become very familiar especially with alien commentators because each new adventurer, reaching the portals of this scripture, gets himself all the more confused because some of the expressions used in the Upaniṣad, though looking familiar, bear in themselves special significance and particular connotations in the context of the stanzas.

In the first wave (stanza-1), an entire chapter of ideas has been summarised by the great teachers to expose the theory of Truth and how it can be gained via the path of renunciation, and how the realised Truth can be maintained and consistently enjoyed through values of life founded upon a complete detachment from all the material glory, passing successes, and flimsy popularity!

In the second wave (stanza-2), the Master indicates the path of action which, according to the seers, must be sincerely pursued by all others who cannot follow the earlier advocated path of renunciation.

In the third stanza (stanza-3), which forms the third wave, it is even hinted that to refuse to walk either of these two paths, is to go astray into an abyss of pain and darkness!

In the fourth swing, comprising of five stanzas (4-8) of the seer’s poetic brush, his word pigments have gathered a transcendental shine to indicate vividly to his students what exactly is the goal of life as indicated in the first stanza, and how one who has gained that goal will thereafter live in his inner world of subjective ‘Truth-experience’.

Immediately following these immortal verses explaining the infinite qualities of the ‘Subject’, the ṛṣi, in the following six stanzas (9-14), is exhausting the fifth wave. Here he indicates to the students that knowledge and action (meditation and worship) are to be taken together, hand in hand, if they are to be coaxed to yield their maximum dividend. Neither of them is to be practised to the exclusion of the other, but they are to be faithfully followed one after the other as a harmonious and integrated programme. Then alone can one of them be reinforced by the other, and in its turn, vitalise the other. Thus, mutually strengthening each other, ultimately the pair takes the individual seeker to the state of Self-recognition, or Self-awareness.

The next three stanza (15-17) together constitute the sixth wave of thought in the scripture, which is a call of the mortal man to the glory of the immortal Self in himself to reveal Itself in the joy of Self-experience.

The last stanza (18) in itself represents the seventh wave of thought. After explaining the highest goal, both the teacher and the taught together pray to the Supreme for guidance and help on the path of Self-development.

B. Isa Selected Translation

1. That Supreme Being pervades everything here. That which moves and That which does not move. Therefore, let go and rejoice! Whose wealth is this anyway? (M)

2. If a man wishes to live a hundred years on this earth, he should live performing action. For you, who cherish such a desire and regard yourself as a man, there is no other way by which you can keep work from clinging to you. (N)

3. After leaving their bodies, they who have killed the Self go to the worlds of the Asuras, covered with blinding ignorance. (P)

4. That One, though motionless, is swifter than the mind. The senses can never overtake It, for It ever goes before. Though immovable, It travels faster than those who run. By It the all-pervading air sustains all living beings. (P)

5. The Ᾱtman moves and It moves not; It is far and It is near; It is within all this, and It is also outside all this. (C)

6. He who sees all beings in the Self itself, and the Self in all beings, feels no hatred by virtue of that realization. (G)

7. To the seer, all things have verily become the Self: what delusion, what sorrow, can there be for him who beholds that oneness? (N)

8. He, the Ᾱtman, is all-pervading, bright, bodiless, scatheless, without muscles, pure, unpierced by evils, wise, omniscient, transcendent and self-existing. He alone allotted respective functions and duties to the various eternal Creators.  (C)

9. Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone. (A)

10. One thing, they say, is verily obtained from vidyā, another thing they say from avidyā; thus we have heard from the wise who explained that to us. (C)

11. Knowledge and ignorance, he who knows the two together crosses death through ignorance and attains life eternal through knowledge. (R)

12. Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the unmanifest and into still greater darkness, as it were, enter those who delight in the manifest! (M)

13. One thing, they say, is verily obtained from the worship of the manifest. Another thing, they say, from the worship of the unmanifest; thus have we heard from the wise who have explained that to us. (C)

14. He who worships the impersonal God and the personal God together, overcomes death through the worship of the personal and obtains immortality through the worship of the impersonal. (C)

15. The door of the Truth is covered by a golden disc. Open it, O Nourisher! Remove it so that I who have been worshipping the Truth may behold It. (N)

"Īśāvāsyopaniṣad had two recensions: Kāņva and Madhyandina. The former recension has the entire eighteen mantras, but in the Mādhyandina, the fifteenth stanza here is the concluding mantra." ~C

16.  O Pushan! O Sun, sole traveller of the heavens, controller of all, son of Prajapati, withdraw Thy rays and gather up Thy burning effulgence. Now through Thy Grace I behold Thy blessed and glorious form. The Purusha (Effulgent Being) who dwells within Thee, I am He.  (P)

17. May my life-breath go to the all-pervading and immortal Prana, and let this body be burned to ashes. Om! O mind, remember thy deeds! O mind, remember, remember thy deeds! Remember! (P)

18. O Fire, lead us by the good path for the enjoyment of the fruit of our action. You know, O god, all our deeds. Destroy our sin of deceit. We offer, by words, our salutations to you. (N)

 

Translators
A: Aurobindo
C: Chinmayananda
G: Gambhirananda
M: Sri M
N: Nikhilananda
P: Paramananda
R: Radhakrishnan

C. Best Isa Upanishad Translations

LINKS:

TRANSLATORS

Chinmayananda

Gambhirananda

Gambhirananda

Nikhilananda

Paramananda

Aurobindo

Radhakrishnan

Sri M