Shukla Yajur Veda
The Isha Upanishad, all eighteen verses
Start with eighteen verses. Finish them tonight.
The Isha Upanishad is eighteen verses long and is chapter 40 of the Shukla Yajur Veda Samhita. It opens with ishavasyam idam sarvam, "all this is to be covered by the Lord", and is recited between two readings of the purnamadah invocation. Below is the whole text, verse by verse, with Shankara's reading of the hard ones.
The text
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
oṃ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇātpūrṇamudacyate |pūrṇasya pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate ||oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||
That is whole. This is whole. From the whole, the whole comes out. Take the whole from the whole, and the whole is what remains. Om, peace, peace, peace.
ॐ ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ॥
oṃ īśā vāsyamidaṃ sarvaṃ yatkiñca jagatyāṃ jagat |tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasyasviddhanam ||
Cover all of this with the Lord, everything that moves in this moving world. Let it go, and sustain yourself that way. Do not reach for anyone's wealth.
कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः ।एवं त्वयि नान्यथेतोऽस्ति न कर्म लिप्यते नरे ॥
kurvanneveha karmāṇi jijīviṣecchataṃ samāḥ |evaṃ tvayi nānyatheto'sti na karma lipyate nare ||
Doing your work here, wish to live a hundred years. For you, as you are, there is no other way than this, and so the work does not cling to you.
असुर्या नाम ते लोका अन्धेन तमसाऽऽवृताः ।तांस्ते प्रेत्याभिगच्छन्ति ये के चात्महनो जनाः ॥
asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasā''vṛtāḥ |tāṃste pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātmahano janāḥ ||
There are worlds called sunless, wrapped in blind darkness. Those who kill the Self go to them after death.
अनेजदेकं मनसो जवीयो नैनद्देवा आप्नुवन्पूर्वमर्षत् ।तद्धावतोऽन्यानत्येति तिष्ठत्तस्मिन्नपो मातरिश्वा दधाति ॥
anejadekaṃ manaso javīyo nainaddevā āpnuvanpūrvamarṣat |taddhāvato'nyānatyeti tiṣṭhattasminnapo mātariśvā dadhāti ||
It does not move. It is one, and faster than the mind. The senses never caught it; it was always ahead of them. Standing still, it passes all that run. In it the wind sets every action going.
तदेजति तन्नैजति तद्दूरे तद्वन्तिके ।तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य तदु सर्वस्यास्य बाह्यतः ॥
tadejati tannaijati taddūre tadvantike |tadantarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ ||
It moves, and it does not move. It is far, and it is near. It is inside all of this, and it is outside all of this.
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥
yastu sarvāṇi bhūtānyātmanyevānupaśyati |sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṃ tato na vijugupsate ||
One who sees every being in the Self, and the Self in every being, shrinks from no one after that.
यस्मिन्सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मैवाभूद्विजानतः ।तत्र को मोहः कः शोक एकत्वमनुपश्यतः ॥
yasminsarvāṇi bhūtānyātmaivābhūdvijānataḥ |tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ ||
When every being has become the Self for one who knows, what confusion is left, and what grief, for one who sees that it is one?
स पर्यगाच्छुक्रमकायमव्रणमस्नाविरं शुद्धमपापविद्धम्।कविर्मनीषी परिभूः स्वयम्भूर्याथातथ्यतोऽर्थान् व्यदधाच्छाश्वतीभ्यः समाभ्यः ॥
sa paryagācchukramakāyamavraṇamasnāviraṃ śuddhamapāpaviddham|kavirmanīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūryāthātathyato'rthān vyadadhācchāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ ||
He has gone everywhere. He is bright, without a body, without a wound, without sinews, pure, untouched by wrong. The seer, the knower of minds, present everywhere, born of himself, he set every thing in its right place for all the years to come.
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते ।ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'vidyāmupāsate |tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyāṃ ratāḥ ||
Those who follow avidya enter blind darkness. Those who delight only in vidya enter a darkness deeper still.
अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्ययाऽन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥
anyadevāhurvidyayā'nyadāhuravidyayā |iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nastadvicacakṣire ||
One result comes from vidya, they say, and another from avidya. So we heard from the wise who explained it to us.
विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते ॥
vidyāṃ cāvidyāṃ ca yastadvedobhayaṃ saha |avidyayā mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā vidyayā'mṛtamaśnute ||
One who knows vidya and avidya together crosses death by avidya and reaches the deathless by vidya.
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते ।ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye'sambhūtimupāsate |tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyāṃ ratāḥ ||
Those who worship the unmanifest enter blind darkness. Those who delight only in the manifest enter a darkness deeper still.
अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् ।इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥
anyadevāhuḥ sambhavādanyadāhurasambhavāt |iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṃ ye nastadvicacakṣire ||
One result comes from the manifest, they say, and another from the unmanifest. So we heard from the wise who explained it to us.
सम्भूतिं च विनाशं च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह ।विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्याऽमृतमश्नुते ॥
sambhūtiṃ ca vināśaṃ ca yastadvedobhayaṃ saha |vināśena mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā sambhūtyā'mṛtamaśnute ||
One who knows the manifest and its passing away together crosses death by the passing away and reaches the deathless by the manifest.
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् ।तत्त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥
hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṃ mukham |tattvaṃ pūṣannapāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye ||
The face of truth is hidden by a golden lid. Pushan, open it, so that I who hold to truth may see.
पूषन्नेकर्षे यम सूर्य प्राजापत्य व्यूह रश्मीन् समूह तेजः ।यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥
pūṣannekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīn samūha tejaḥ |yatte rūpaṃ kalyāṇatamaṃ tatte paśyāmi yo'sāvasau puruṣaḥ so'hamasmi ||
Pushan, lone traveller, Yama, Sun, child of Prajapati, spread your rays apart and draw in your blaze. I see your form, the most blessed one. That person there, I am he.
वायुरनिलममृतमथेदं भस्मान्तं शरीरम् ।ॐ क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर क्रतो स्मर कृतं स्मर ॥
vāyuranilamamṛtamathedaṃ bhasmāntaṃ śarīram |oṃ krato smara kṛtaṃ smara krato smara kṛtaṃ smara ||
Let my breath go to the deathless air, and let this body end in ash. Om. Mind, remember. Remember what you have done. Mind, remember. Remember what you have done.
अग्ने नय सुपथा राये अस्मान् विश्वानि देव वयुनानि विद्वान् ।युयोध्यस्मज्जुहुराणमेनो भूयिष्ठां ते नमौक्तिं विधेम ॥
agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān |yuyodhyasmajjuhurāṇameno bhūyiṣṭhāṃ te namauktiṃ vidhema ||
Agni, god who knows every way, lead us by the good road to what we have earned. Keep the crooked wrong away from us. We bow to you again and again in words.
The Isha and the Gita
Bhagavad Gita 5.10: act and offer the work, untouched like a lotus leaf by water; compare verses 1 and 2.
Bhagavad Gita 6.29: the one who sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self; compare verse 6.
Bhagavad Gita 3.8: do your work; compare verse 2.
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Questions people ask
- How many verses are in the Isha Upanishad?
- Eighteen, with the purnamadah invocation recited before and after them.
- Which Veda does the Isha Upanishad belong to?
- The Shukla Yajur Veda. It is chapter 40 of the Vajasaneyi Samhita, which makes it the only principal Upanishad that sits inside a Samhita.
- Why is it called Isha or Ishavasya?
- From its first words, ईशा वास्यम्, "to be covered by the Lord". Both names are used.
Sources and method
Sanskrit from the Wisdom corpus, read against the sanskritdocuments.org editions (and GRETIL where it has the text); where the two differ, the proofread edition is used and the difference is listed for review. English is Wisdom’s own, drafted from the Sanskrit with Shankara’s commentary (S. Sitarama Sastri’s public-domain English) and checked for tone against Swami Paramananda (1919). Verse 12 in the corpus repeated verse 9 by mistake; it is restored here from the edition (असम्भूतिम्, सम्भूत्याम्).
Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, under human review.