Isha Upanishad

Shanti Patha

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते । पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ।। ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।।

oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇamudacyate | pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate || oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||

That is whole. This is whole. From wholeness, wholeness arises. When wholeness is drawn from wholeness, wholeness alone remains. Om peace, peace, peace.

Mantra 1

ॐ ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् । तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ।। १ ।।

oṃ īśā vāsyamidaṃ sarvaṃ yatkiñca jagatyāṃ jagat | tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasyasviddhanam || 1 ||

All of this, whatever moves in this living world, is pervaded by the Lord. Use it with the spirit of relinquishment, and do not covet anyone's wealth.

Mantra 2

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

kurvanneveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchataṃ samāḥ | evaṃ tvayi nānyatheto'sti na karma lipyate nare || 2 ||

Seek to live a hundred years here, but only through action. For you there is no other path by which action does not bind the person who acts.

Mantra 3

असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसावृताः । ताँस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ।। ३ ।।

asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ | tāṃste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ || 3 ||

Those worlds called the asura realms are wrapped in blinding darkness. The people who destroy the Self go there after death.

Mantra 4

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

anejadekaṃ manaso javīyo nainaddevā āpnuvanpūrvamarṣat | taddhāvato'nyānatyeti tiṣṭhattasminnapo mātariśvā dadhāti || 4 ||

That one does not move, yet it is faster than the mind. The gods could not reach it first; it was already ahead. Standing still, it outruns everything in motion. In it, the wind sustains all living things.

Mantra 5

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

tadejati tannaijati taddūre tadvantike | tadantarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ || 5 ||

It moves. It does not move. It is far. It is close. It is inside all of this. It is outside all of this.

Mantra 6

यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति । सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ।। ६ ।।

yastu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmanyevānupaśyati | sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate || 6 ||

The person who sees all living beings in the Self alone, and the Self in all living beings, feels no revulsion toward anything.

Mantra 7

यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः । तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ।। ७ ।।

yasminsarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūdvijānataḥ | tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ || 7 ||

When, for the person who knows, all beings have become the Self, for one who sees that oneness, where is delusion, and where is grief?

Mantra 8

स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रण- मस्नाविरं शुद्धमपापविद्धम् । कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भू- र्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान् व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ।। ८ ।।

sa paryagācchukramakāyamavraṇa- masnāviraṃ śuddhamapāpaviddham | kavirmanīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhū- ryāthātathyato'rthān vyadadhācchāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ || 8 ||

It has gone everywhere, radiant, bodiless, without wound, without sinew, pure, untouched by any wrong. That seer, that thinker, that all-pervading self-existent one, has set each thing in its place for all time, exactly as it ought to be.

Mantra 9

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते । ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ।। ९ ।।

andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'vidyāmupāsate | tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāṃ ratāḥ || 9 ||

Those who worship ignorance alone enter blind darkness. Those who are absorbed in knowledge alone enter into a darkness that is, if anything, deeper.

Mantra 10

अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्यया अन्यदाहुरविद्यया । इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ।। १० ।।

anyadevāhurvidyayā anyadāhuravidyayā | iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nastadvicacakṣire || 10 ||

Knowledge leads to one result; ignorance leads to another. So we have heard from the wise ones who have explained this to us.

Mantra 11

विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह । अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते ।। ११ ।।

vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ca yastadvedobhayaṃ saha | avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayā'mṛtamaśnute || 11 ||

The one who knows both knowledge and ignorance together, crossing death through ignorance, that person reaches the deathless through knowledge.

Mantra 12

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

andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'sambhūtimupāsate | tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyāṃ ratāḥ || 12 ||

Those who worship the unmanifest alone enter blind darkness. Those absorbed only in the manifest enter into a darkness that is deeper still.

Mantra 13

अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् । इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ।। १३ ।।

anyadevāhuḥ sambhavādanyadāhurasambhavāt | iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nastadvicacakṣire || 13 ||

Worship of the manifest leads to one result; worship of the unmanifest to another. So we have heard from the wise ones who explained this to us.

Mantra 14

सम्भूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह । विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्याऽमृतमश्नुते ।। १४ ।।

sambhūtiṃ ca vināśaṃ ca yastadvedobhayaṃ saha | vināśena mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā sambhūtyā'mṛtamaśnute || 14 ||

The one who knows both the manifest and its dissolution together, crossing death through dissolution, that person reaches the deathless through the manifest.

Mantra 15

हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् । तत्त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ।। १५ ।।

hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṃ mukham | tattvaṃ pūṣannapāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye || 15 ||

The face of truth is covered by a golden disk. O Pushan, remove it, so that I, a follower of truth, may see it.

Mantra 16

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

pūṣannekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīnsamūha tejaḥ | yatte rūpaṃ kalyāṇatamaṃ tatte paśyāmi yo'sāvasau puruṣaḥ so'hamasmi || 16 ||

O Pushan, sole traveler, Yama, sun, son of Prajapati, withdraw your rays, gather your radiance. Let me see your most auspicious form. That person who is there, that is what I am.

Mantra 17

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

vāyuranilamamṛtamathedaṃ bhasmāntaṃ śarīram | oṃ krato smara kṛtaṃ smara krato smara kṛtaṃ smara || 17 ||

Let this breath merge into the immortal air, and let this body end in ash. Om. O Will, remember, remember what was done. Remember, remember what was done.

Mantra 18

अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान् विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् । युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नम-उक्तिं विधेम ।। १८ ।।

agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān | yuyodhyasmajjuhurāṇameno bhūyiṣṭhāṃ te nama-uktiṃ vidhema || 18 ||

O Agni, god who knows all the paths, lead us by the good road to prosperity. Drive away from us the crooked sin that turns us from the way. To you we offer our fullest salutation.