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Īśā Upaniṣad • Chapter 01

The Complete Eighteen Mantras

ईशावास्योपनिषत् (समग्र-मन्त्राः)

The 18 verses of the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad articulating the harmony of knowledge (Vidyā) and action (Avidyā), renunciation and enjoyment.

Total: 18 Verses • Citations: IU 1.1–18 • 1 Lexicon Terms
ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ॥१॥
English Translation
All this is for habitation<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The opening mantra establishes the central vision of the Īśā Upaniṣad. The world is not denied, rejected, or negated; it is affirmed as pervaded and inhabited by Īśa. Renunciation here is not withdrawal from life, but freedom from possessiveness. Enjoyment is sanctioned only through tyāga, the relinquishment of the ego’s claim. Thus, the Upaniṣad begins by dissolving the false opposition between the Divine and the world.
कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः ।
एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥२॥
English Translation
Doing verily<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
Action is not an obstacle to liberation when performed in the right consciousness. This mantra rejects escapism and affirms a life of works lived in inner freedom. Karma binds only when motivated by desire and appropriation; when rooted in the vision of Īśa, action leaves no residue. The hundred years symbolise fullness of earthly life, not mere longevity.
असूर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः ।
तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥३॥
English Translation
Sunless<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
This verse introduces the negative possibility: worlds of darkness reached by those who destroy the soul’s inner truth. Ātma-hanah does not signify physical suicide but spiritual self-negation — the denial of the Self by immersion in ignorance, ego, or mechanistic existence.
अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन्पूर्वमर्षत् ।
तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥४॥
English Translation
One unmoving that is swifter than Mind, That the Gods reach not,
for It progresses ever in front. That, standing, passes beyond others as they run.
In That the Master of Life<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The Absolute is described through paradox. It is unmoving, yet swifter than mind. It precedes the gods — the powers of sense and intellect. The Divine Life-force establishes the cosmic principles within That which itself does not move. The verse reveals a reality that transcends motion while sustaining all motion.
तदेजति तन्नैजति तद्दूरे तद्वन्तिके ।
तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्यास्य बाह्यतः ॥५॥
English Translation
That moves and That moves not; That is far and the same is near;
That is within all this and That also is outside all this.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
Here the Upaniṣad intensifies the paradox: the One moves and does not move, is distant and near, within all and outside all. These are not contradictions but descriptions of a consciousness that is simultaneously transcendent and immanent. The intellect cannot seize this reality, but vision can.
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥६॥
English Translation
But he who sees everywhere the Self in all existences
and all existences in the Self, shrinks not thereafter from aught.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
This mantra describes the ethical and psychological consequence of realisation. When one sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self, hatred, fear, and revulsion disappear. Compassion arises naturally, not as moral injunction but as direct perception of unity.
यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतानि आत्मैवाभूद्विजानतः ।
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥७॥
English Translation
He in whom it is the Self-Being that has become all existences
that are Becomings,<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The culmination of Self-knowledge is expressed here. When all becomings are experienced as the Self alone, delusion and grief become impossible. Sorrow arises only from division; unity abolishes its very basis.
स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रणमस्नाविरं शुद्धमपापविद्धम् ।
कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भूर्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान् व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥८॥
English Translation
It is He that has gone abroad—That which is bright, bodiless,
without scar of imperfection, without sinews, pure, unpierced by evil.
The Seer, the Thinker,<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
This verse offers a majestic description of the Divine Reality. It is luminous, bodiless, flawless, untouched by evil. As Kavi and Manīṣī, it possesses both direct vision and ordering intelligence. The universe is not chaotic but arranged according to truth from eternity.
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥९॥
English Translation
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.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The Upaniṣad now warns against one-sided pursuits. Exclusive devotion to ignorance leads to darkness, but exclusive devotion to knowledge leads to an even subtler darkness. Knowledge divorced from life becomes sterile and self-enclosed.
अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्यया अन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥१०॥
English Translation
Other, verily,<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
This verse clarifies that Knowledge and Ignorance lead to radically different results. Their integration is not confusion but completeness. The wise transmit this teaching as lived realisation, not mere doctrine.
विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।
अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययामृतमश्नुते ॥११॥
English Translation
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.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
True liberation comes from holding Knowledge and Ignorance together. Ignorance here signifies action and becoming; Knowledge signifies inner illumination. Action enables transcendence of death; knowledge opens immortality.
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥१२॥
English Translation
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.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The warning is repeated at a higher metaphysical level. Fixation on the Unmanifest alone negates life; fixation on manifestation alone binds consciousness. Both extremes lead to darkness.
अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥१३॥
English Translation
Other, verily, it is said, is that which comes by the Birth,
other that which comes by the Non-Birth; this is the lore we have received
from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
Birth and Non-Birth are again distinguished as leading to different outcomes. The teaching insists on integration, not exclusion. The Absolute must be realised both as manifest and unmanifest.
सम्भूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।
विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्यामृतमश्नुते ॥१४॥
English Translation
He who knows That as both in one, the Birth and the dissolution of Birth,
by the dissolution crosses beyond death and by the Birth enjoys Immortality.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
Dissolution and manifestation together enable transcendence. Death is crossed through the dissolution of limited forms, while immortality is enjoyed through conscious participation in becoming.
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् ।
तत्त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥१५॥
English Translation
The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid;
that do thou remove, O Fosterer,<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The seeker now turns to prayer. The golden lid symbolises the brilliance of mental illumination that still veils the highest Truth. The prayer is not for knowledge, but for the removal of the final obstruction to vision.
पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन् समूह ।
तेजो यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥१६॥
English Translation
O Fosterer, O sole Seer, O Ordainer, O illumining Sun,
O power of the Father of creatures, marshal thy rays, draw together thy light;
the Lustre which is thy most blessed form of all, that in Thee I behold.
The Purusha there and there, He am I.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The prayer deepens into identity. The seeker recognises the supreme Purusha within the solar Truth and declares unity with Him. This is not egoistic assertion but the culmination of self-effacement in Truth.
वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।
ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥१७॥
English Translation
The Breath of things<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
As life departs, the body returns to ashes, but the Life-principle remains immortal. The invocation to Kratu, the divine Will, affirms continuity of conscious force beyond physical dissolution.
अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान् विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् ।
युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नमउक्तिं विधेम ॥१८॥
English Translation
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.<sup data-note=
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
The final prayer seeks guidance along the straight path of truth. Sin is deviation, not moral failure. Complete submission to Agni, the divine Will-force, allows the soul to be led toward felicity and fulfilment.
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