Isha Upanishad: All 18 Mantras in Sanskrit with Meaning

ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किं च जगत्यां जगत्
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्य स्विद्धनम् ॥ १ ॥

Isha vasyam idam sarvam yat kim cha jagatyam jagat
Tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma gridhah kasya sviddhanam

MeaningAll this, whatever moves in this moving world, is to be covered over by the Lord. So enjoy through renunciation, and do not covet anyone's wealth. The first line says the world rests in the Lord. The second tells you how to live in it: take what you need without grasping.

NoteThe first line begins the whole Upanishad and gives it its name: isha, the Lord, and vasyam, to be covered or clothed. Commentators read the idea of covering in more than one way: as seeing the Lord in everything, or as covering the world over with the thought of the Lord.

कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः
एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥ २ ॥

Kurvann eveha karmani jijivishechchhatam samah
Evam tvayi nanyatheto'sti na karma lipyate nare

MeaningGo on doing your work here and wish to live a hundred years. For a person like you there is no other way, and in this way action does not stick to you. The verse sets action and long life against the wish to walk away from the world.

असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः
तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥ ३ ॥

Asurya nama te loka andhena tamasavritah
Tamste pretyabhigachchhanti ye ke chatmahano janah

MeaningThose worlds are called the worlds of the asuras, covered in blind darkness. People who kill the self, who live as if they were not the self, go to them after death.

अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन्पूर्वमर्षत्
तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥ ४ ॥

Anejad ekam manaso javiyo nainaddeva apnuvanpurvamarshat
Taddhavato'nyanatyeti tishthat tasminn apo matarishva dadhati

MeaningIt is one and it does not stir, yet it is faster than the mind. The gods cannot reach it, for it is always ahead. Standing still, it overtakes all others that run. In it the wind-god, Matarishvan, sets the waters in place.

तदेजति तन्नैजति तद्दूरे तद्वन्तिके
तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्यास्य बाह्यतः ॥ ५ ॥

Tad ejati tan naijati tad dure tad v antike
Tad antar asya sarvasya tad u sarvasyasya bahyatah

MeaningIt moves and it does not move. It is far away and it is near. It is inside all of this, and it is outside all of this as well.

यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥ ६ ॥

Yas tu sarvani bhutany atmany evanupashyati
Sarvabhuteshu chatmanam tato na vijugupsate

MeaningThe one who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, does not turn away from anyone because of it.

यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः
तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥ ७ ॥

Yasmin sarvani bhutany atmaivabhud vijanatah
Tatra ko mohah kah shoka ekatvam anupashyatah

MeaningFor the one who knows, all beings have become the Self itself. What confusion is there then, what sorrow, for the one who sees oneness?

स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रणमस्नाविरं शुद्धमपापविद्धम्
कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भूर्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान्व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥ ८ ॥

Sa paryagach chhukram akayam avranam asnaviram shuddham apapaviddham
Kavir manishi paribhuh svayambhur yathatathyato'rthan vyadadhach chhashvatibhyah samabhyah

MeaningThat one has gone everywhere: bright, bodiless, unwounded, without sinews, pure, untouched by evil. It is a seer and a thinker, above all and self-existent, and it has set out the right purposes of things for endless years.

NoteVerse 8 is the Upanishad's fullest description of the Self, or the Lord. Several of its words are negatives (bodiless, unwounded, without sinews), which is a common way for the Upanishads to speak of what cannot be pictured.

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति ये अविद्यामुपासते
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥ ९ ॥

Andham tamah pravishanti ye avidyam upasate
Tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayam ratah

MeaningInto blind darkness go those who follow ignorance (avidya, here ritual and worldly knowledge). Into a darkness that is greater still go those who delight in knowledge (vidya) alone. The two words are read in different ways by commentators, and the next verses explain the pair.

NoteFrom here to verse 14 the Upanishad speaks in two pairs, vidya and avidya, then sambhuti and asambhuti. Teachers have understood them differently over the centuries, and we give the plain words with the main readings.

अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥ १० ॥

Anyad evahur vidyaya'nyad ahur avidyaya
Iti shushruma dhiranam ye nas tad vichachakshire

MeaningThey say one result comes from knowledge and another from ignorance. So we have heard from the wise who explained this to us.

विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह
अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययामृतमश्नुते ॥ ११ ॥

Vidyam chavidyam cha yas tad vedobhayam saha
Avidyaya mrityum tirtva vidyayamritam ashnute

MeaningThe one who knows knowledge and ignorance together crosses death through ignorance and reaches immortality through knowledge. Shankara reads avidya as ritual action and vidya as knowledge of the divine, and says they are to be held together.

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥ १२ ॥

Andham tamah pravishanti ye'sambhutim upasate
Tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u sambhutyam ratah

MeaningInto blind darkness go those who follow the unmanifest source (asambhuti). Into a greater darkness go those who delight in the manifest (sambhuti).

अन्यदेवाहुः संभवादन्यदाहुरसंभवात्
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥ १३ ॥

Anyad evahuh sambhavad anyad ahur asambhavat
Iti shushruma dhiranam ye nas tad vichachakshire

MeaningThey say one result comes from the manifest and another from the unmanifest. So we have heard from the wise who explained this to us.

संभूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह
विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा संभूत्यामृतमश्नुते ॥ १४ ॥

Sambhutim cha vinasham cha yas tad vedobhayam saha
Vinashena mrityum tirtva sambhutyamritam ashnute

MeaningThe one who knows the manifest and its dissolution together crosses death through dissolution and reaches immortality through the manifest. Commentators read sambhuti and asambhuti in different ways, and this page gives only the plain sense of the words.

हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम्
तत्त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥ १५ ॥

Hiranmayena patrena satyasyapihitam mukham
Tat tvam pushann apavrinu satyadharmaya drishtaye

MeaningThe face of truth is covered by a golden disc. Open it, Pushan, so that I who hold to truth may see.

NoteMany teachers read the last four verses as the prayer of a person at the end of life, spoken first to the sun and then to fire. The Upanishad itself does not say who is speaking.

पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन्समूह तेजः
यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥ १६ ॥

Pushann ekarshe yama surya prajapatya vyuha rashmin samuha tejah
Yat te rupam kalyanatamam tat te pashyami yo'sav asau purushah so'ham asmi

MeaningPushan, sole seer, Yama, Surya, child of Prajapati, spread out your rays and gather in your light. Your form is the most radiant one, and that I see. The person who is there, that one am I.

वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम्
ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥ १७ ॥

Vayur anilam amritam athedam bhasmantam shariram
Om krato smara kritam smara krato smara kritam smara

MeaningLet the breath go to the immortal wind, and let this body end in ashes. Om. O mind, remember what has been done, remember what has been done.

अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान्विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान्
युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नम उक्तिं विधेम ॥ १८ ॥

Agne naya supatha raye asman vishvani deva vayunani vidvan
Yuyodhy asmaj juhuranam eno bhuyishtham te nama uktim vidhema

MeaningAgni, lead us along the good path to prosperity. You know all our ways, O god. Take from us the sin that makes us stumble. We offer you the fullest words of homage.