The Isha Upanishad (Ishopanishad)Eknath Easwaran Translation
("The Inner Ruler")All this is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes.
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.O M shanti shanti shanti
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.
2. Thus working may you live a hundred years.
Thus alone will you work.
3. Those who deny the Self are born again
Blind to the Self, enveloped in darkness,
Utterly devoid of love for the Lord.
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.
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.
6. Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no fear.
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?
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.
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.
But those who combine action with meditation
Cross the sea of death through action
And enter into immortality
Through the practice of meditation.
So have we heard from the wise.
12-14. In dark night live those for whom the Lord
Is transcendent only; in 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.
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
16. The glory of truth. 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!
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.
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 M shanti shanti shanti
1.All this is for habitation by the lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion. By that renounced thou shouldst enjoy; lust not after any man´s possession.
2.Do verily works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years. Thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not to a man.
3.Sunless are those worlds and enveloped in blind gloom whereto all they in their passing hence resort who are slayers of their souls.
4.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 establishes the Waters.
5.That moves and That moves not; That is far and the same is near; That is within all and That is also outside all this.
6.But he who sees everywhere the self in all existence and all existences in the self, shrinks not thereafter from aught.
7.He in whom is the Self-Being that has become all existences that are Becomings, for he has the perfect knowledge, how shall ha be deluded, whence shall he have grief who sees everywhere oneness?
8.It is He that has gone abroad - That which is bright,bodiless, without scar of imperfection, without sinew, pure, unpierced by evil. The Seer, the Thinker, the One, who becomes everywhere, the Self-existent has ordered objects perfectly according to their nature from years sempiternal.
9.Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as of into a great darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone.
10.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.
11.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.
12.Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Non-Birth, they as if into a great darkness who devote themselves to the Birth alone.
13.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.
14.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.
15.The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer, for the law of the truth, for sight.
16.O Fosterer, O sole Seer, O Ordained, 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(breath of life) there and there, He am I.
17.The Breath of things is an immortal Life, but of his body ashes are the end. OM! O will! , remember, that which was done remember.
18.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. Tp thee completest speech of submission we would dispose.
"None hath attained to thy sovereignty and power, None to thine undaunted spirit,--none."
1. This whole universe must be pervaded by a Lord
--Whatever moves in this moving world.
Abandon it, and then enjoy:
Covet not the goods of anyone at all.
2. Performing ritual works on earth a man
May wish to live a hundred years:
This, not otherwise, is true for thee;
A man is not defiled by works.
3. Some worlds there are called "devilish"
In blind darkness swathed:
To these at death such folk pass on
As seek to slay the (Higher) Self.
4. Unmoving--One--swifter than thought (manas),--
The gods could not seize hold of It as it sped before
(them):
Standing, It overtakes (all) others as they run;
In It the wind incites activity.
5. It moves. It moves not.
It is far, yet It is near:
It is within this whole universe,
And yet It is without it.
6. Those who see all beings in the Self,
And the Self in all beings
Will never shrink from It.
7. When once one understands that in oneself
(Of) the greater Self become all beings,
When once one has seen the unity,
What room is there for sorrow?
What room for perplexity?
8. He, the wise Sage, all-conquering, self-existent,
Encompassed that which is resplendent,
Incorporeal, invulnerable,
Devoid of sinews, pure, unpierced by evil:
(All) things He ordered each according to its nature
For years unending.
9. Blind darkness enter they
Who revere only the transcendent (or unrevealed):
Into a darkness blinder yet
(Go they) who delight only in the immanent (or revealed).
10. Other, they say, than what becomes,
Other, they say, than what does not become:
So from wise men have we heard
Who instructed us therein.
11. Coming to be and perishing,--
Who knows these both together,
By "perishing" surpasses death,
By "coming to be" wins deathlessness.
12. Blind darkness enter they
Who reverence unwisdom:
Into a darkness blinder yet
(Go they) who delight in wisdom.
13. Other, they say, than wisdom,
Other than unwisdom (too), they say:
So from wise men have we heard
Who instructed us therein.
14. Wisdom and unwisdom--
Who knows these both together,
By "unwisdom" surpasses death,
By "wisdom" reaches deathlessness.
15. Wind and immortal breath,
And then this body whose end is in ashes:
Om, O mind remember; what's done remember;
O mind remember; what's done remember.
16. Lead us, O god of fire, along fair paths to riches,
Thou who knowest every way;
Repel from us the fault that leads astray.
May we compile for thee a most fulsome hymn of homage.
17. The face of truth is hidden
By the golden vessel (of the sun):
That person yonder (hidden) in the sun,
I in truth am He.
18. O Lord of the Path, single seer, O god of death, O sun,
born of the Lord of Creations,
Display thy rays, diffuse thy light;
That form of thine which is most fair I see:
That Person yonder, (hidden), I am He.