ISAVASYA UPANISHAD (ISHA UPANISHAD)

A simple blog entailing two versions of the Isavasya Upanishad:

ISAVASYA UPANISHAD (ISHA UPANISHAD)

INVOCATION

That is whole; this is whole;

From that whole this whole came;

From that whole, this whole is removed,

What remains is whole.

The whole (Brahman) is all that is invisible. The whole (Brahman) is all that is visible. The whole (Hiranyagarbha) was born out of the whole (Brahman). When the whole (the universe) is absorbed into the whole (Brahman) the whole alone (Brahman) remains.

ISAVASYA (ISHA) UPANISHAD

The Inner Ruler

1 The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all.

The Lord is the supreme Reality.

Rejoice in him through renunciation.

Covet nothing. All belongs to The Lord

All this - whatsoever moves in this universe (and those that move not) is covered (indwelt or pervaded or enveloped or clothed) by The Lord. That renounced, enjoy. Do not covet anybody's wealth (or - do not covet, for whose is wealth)

2 Thus working may you live a hundred years.

Thus alone will you work in real freedom.

Should one wish to live a hundred years on this earth, he should live doing karma. While thus, (as) man, you live, there is no way other than this by which karma will not cling to you.

3 Those who deny the Self are born again

Blind to the self, enveloped in darkness,

Utterly devoid of love for The Lord.

Those births partake of the nature of the Asuras and are enveloped in blind darkness. After leaving the body they who kill their Atman attain them.

4 The Self is one. Ever still, the Self is

Swifter than thought, swifter than the senses.

Though motionless, He outruns all pursuit.

Without the Self, never could life exist.

It is motionless, one, faster than mind; and the devas (the senses) could not overtake it which ran before. Sitting it goes faster than those who run after it. By it, the all pervading air (Sutratman) supports the activity of all living beings.

5 The Self seems to move, but is ever still.

He seems far away, but is ever near.

He is within all, and He transcends all.

It moves, it is motionless. It is distant, it is near. It is within all, it is without all this.

6 Those who see all creatures in themselves

And themselves in all creatures know no fear.

Who sees everything in his Atman and his Atman in everything, by that he feels no revulsion.

7 Those who see all creatures in themselves

And themselves in all creatures know no grief.

How can the multiplicity of life

Delude the one who sees its unity?

When to the knower; all Bhutas become one with his own Atman, what perplexity, what grief, is there when he sees his oneness.

8 The Self is everywhere. Bright is the Self,

Indivisible, untouched by sin, wise

Immanent and transcendent. He it is

Who holds the cosmos together.

He pervaded all, resplendant, bodiless, scatheless, having no muscles, pure, untouched by sin; far-seeing, omniscient, transcendent, self-sprung, (He) duly allotted to the various eternal creators their respective functions.

9-11 In dark night live those for whom

The world without alone is real; in night

Darker still, for whom the world within

Alone is real. The first leads to a life

Of action, the second to a life of meditation

Cross the sea of death through action

And enter into immortality

Through the practice of meditation.

So have we heard from the wise.

They who worship Avidya alone fall into blind darkness; and they who worship Vidya alone fall into even greater darkness. One result is predicated of Vidya and another of Avidya. We have so heard from wise men who taught us both Vidya and Avidya. He who simultaneously knows both Vidya and Avidya gets over death by Avidya and attains immortality by Vidya.

12-14 In dark night those for whom The Lord

Is transcendent only; in night darker still,

For whom He is immanent only.

But those for whom He is transcendent

And immanent cross the sea of death

With the immanent and enter into

Immortality with the transcendent.

So have we heard from the wise.

They fall into blind darkness who worship the unborn Prakriti. They fall into greater darkness who are bent on Karya Brahman Hiranyagarbha. They say one thing results from the worship of Hiranyagarbha and another from worship of Prakriti. We have thus heard it stated by wise preceptors who taught us that. Those who worship the unmanifested Prakriti and Hiranyagarbha together; get over death through the worship of Hiranyagarbha and attain immorality through the worship of Prakriti.

15 The face of truth is hidden by your orb

Of gold, O sun. May you remove your orb

So that I, who adore the true, may see

The glory of truth.

The entrance of the True is covered as if by a golden vessel, Remove, O sun, the covering that I who have been worshipping "The True" may behold it.

16 O nourishing sun,

Solitary traveler, controller,

source of life for all creatures, spread your light

And subdue your dazzling splendor

So that I may see your blessed Self.

Even that very Self am I!

O sun, sole traveller of the heavens, controller of all, Surya, son of Prajapati remove thy rays and gather up thy burning light. I behold thy glorious form; I am he the purusha within thee.

17 May my life merge in the immortal

When my body is reduced to ashes.

O mind, meditate on the eternal Brahman.

Remember the deeds of the past.

Remember, O mind, remember.

(let my) Prana melt into the all pervading Air, the eternal Sutratman; and let this body be burnt by fire to ashes; Om. O mind, remember, remember my deeds; O mind, remember, remember my deeds.

18 O god of fire, lead us by the good path

To eternal joy. You know all our deeds.

Deliver us from evil, we who bow

And pray again and again.

O Agni, lead us to the good path to the enjoyment of the fruits of our deeds, knowing O God, all our deeds. Remove the sin of deceit from within us. We offer thee many prostrations by word of mouth.

OM shanti shanti shanti

The Isavasya Upanishad derives its name from the opening word of the text 'Isavasya' or 'Isa', meaning 'Lord' that encloses all that moves in the world. Greatly revered, this short Upanishad is often put at the beginning of the Upanishads and marks the trend toward monotheism in the Upanishads. 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 says that renouncing the world and not coveting the possessions of others can bring joy. The Isha Upanishad concludes with a prayer to Surya (sun) and Agni (fire).

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The Lord is God of both Heaven and Earth and all that is in them. The Lord is not connected with karma as He is untouched by sin. In realizing the true nature of God we remove our natural ignorance and produce in us the knowledge of the oneness; uprooting delusion and grief, the assistants of Samsara (cyclic rebirth).