Ishavasyam idam sarvam: all this, covered by the Lord
Ishavasyam idam sarvam ("all this is to be covered by the Lord") is the first verse of the Isha Upanishad, which is chapter 40 of the Shukla Yajur Veda Samhita. It goes on: let go, and live by that letting go; do not reach for anyone’s wealth. The whole Upanishad is eighteen verses long.
Isha Upanishad 1
ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत् ।तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् ॥
īśā vāsyam idaṃ sarvaṃ yat kiñca jagatyāṃ jagat |tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasyasvid dhanam ||
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.
Who said it, and to whom
No speaker; the Upanishad opens with it
There is no story. The Isha begins with this verse as an instruction. Its eighteen verses move from seeing the Lord in everything, to a full life of work that does not cling (verse 2), to the person who sees every being in the Self (verse 6), and close with a prayer at the hour of death.
How the acharyas read it
Shankara
Shankara reads "cover" as a way of seeing: clothe every moving thing in the thought of the Lord, the Self, the way the scent of sandalwood covers a damp smell, and the sense of a separate world drops away. Tyaktena is renunciation, and bhunjitha means protect or sustain yourself by it. For him this verse is for the one ready to renounce; verse 2 is for the one who must keep working.
Where others read it differently
Vedanta Desika, writing in Ramanuja’s line, reads ishavasyam as "to be dwelt in by the Lord": the world is his body and lives in him. Enjoy what he gives, and leave what belongs to another.
Writing it out
- ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वम्īśā vāsyam idaṃ sarvamAs the text has it
- ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वम्īśāvāsyam idaṃ sarvamAs often printed, joined
The text prints ईशा वास्यम्: "by the Lord" and "to be covered". The joined ईशावास्यम् is also seen and gives the Upanishad its other name, Ishavasya.
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ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत्
īśā vāsyam idaṃ sarvaṃ yat kiñca jagatyāṃ jagat
Cover all of this with the Lord, everything that moves in this moving world.
Isha Upanishad 1
The same thought in the Gita
Read next to Bhagavad Gita 5.10: Krishna: one who acts, offering the work to Brahman and letting go of attachment, is untouched by wrong, as a lotus leaf by water.
One line each morning
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Send my weekKeep reading
- Purnamadah purnamidam: that is whole, this is wholeIsha Upanishad, invocation
- Tat tvam asi: you are thatChandogya Upanishad 6.8.7
- Aham brahmasmi: I am BrahmanBrihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10
- Who am I: a 7-verse planSeven lines from seven Upanishads, one a day.
- The UpanishadsWhat they are, how many, and where to start.
Questions people ask
- What does ishavasyam idam sarvam mean?
- All of this, whatever moves in the world, is to be covered by the Lord. The verse continues: let it go and sustain yourself that way; do not reach for anyone’s wealth.
- How long is the Isha Upanishad?
- Eighteen verses, with the purnamadah invocation recited before and after. You can read it whole on our Isha page in one sitting.
Sources and method
Isha Upanishad 1, Shukla Yajur Veda. Sanskrit from the Wisdom corpus, read against the sanskritdocuments.org edition (KB up_isha.1).
The English is Wisdom's own, drafted from the Sanskrit with Shankara's commentary (S. Sitarama Sastri's public-domain English) and checked against Swami Paramananda (1919) for tone. Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, under human review.