Ishopanishad: Encyclopedia - Ishopanishad

Ishopanishad

Isha Upanishad (IAST īśopaniṣad), also known as the Ishavasya (īśāvāsya) Upanishad, is one of the smaller Upanishads but is probably the most often quoted Upanishad.

Ishopanishad - About the Upanishad

Ishopanishad belongs to the Shukla (white) branch of the Yajur Veda, of which only two branches (shākhās) are extant now. It contains just eighteen two-line verses, each of which is called a mantra. Within these it spans the entire spectrum of Hindu philosophy, religion, ritualism, mythology and metaphysics so precisely and succintly that it is cited most often. Mahatma Gandhi used to say, even if every other scripture of Hinduism vanished and this alone survived, Hinduism will survive. The name of the Upanishad derives from the first words of the Upanishad: Ishāvāsyam idam sarvam...

Ishopanishad - A Difficult Upanishad

Upanishads, in general are records of dialogues and conversations held by the ancient Rishis about their spiritual experiences, not only the final ones but intermediate experiences also. In that sense the Upanishads present differing points of view. So when a short Upanishad like Ishopanishad is commented upon by the Acharyas it naturally gives rise to varied interpretations to the thought process embedded in it. The Ishopanishad is difficult in this sense, because its short size coexists with its scholarly, profound and fundamental content.

Ishopanishad - Operational plan for how to live

The first two verses give the operational plan. The entire visible universe is clothed, covered or inhabited by the Lord (Isha, in Sanskrit), the Ruler, the Creator. It is the Lord, i.e., Brahman, in this context, that lies as the transcendental substratum for everything that we see inspite of the flux and variations that present themselves and totally hide the more permanent thing underneath. Enjoy by renouncing it, says the Upanishad. This renunciation is of the attachment to the desires. Because, everything is the Lord's, and there is nothing that is ours, nothing should be coveted by us. One should wish to live a full life of one hundred years, by doing one's duties and being involved in action, in such a way that no action binds us. The way is by enjoying through renunciation of attachment. If we do actions any other way then we are not being concordant with the nature of the Atman, the Self. Its nature is to go back to its source, the Supreme. If we do things which are discordant with that purpose, by being attached to things external to the Self, then we are ‘murderers of the Soul’.. This is the third verse.

Ishopanishad - Two most beautiful verses descriptive of Atman

Verses #s 4 and 5 try to describe the Ultimate Transcendental Self: It (meaning, the Transcendental Reality) never moves, yet it is too swift for the mind. The senses cannot reach it. It is ever beyond their grasp. Remaining still it outstrips all activity. Yet in it rests the breath of all that moves. It moves, it moves not. It is far, yet it is near. It is within all this; and yet without all this.

These statements are characteristic of all the Upanishads. The perception of the One Ultimate Brahman in the many-sided plurality of the visible universe focusses the contrast between the stable and the moving, the eternal and the changing, the immutable and the relative, the far and the near. Even though the mind is faster than anything, before the mind reaches another place, the Self which is already there (and everywhere) may be taken to have reached the place earlier. Thus even though the Self never moves (because it is beyond time and space), it is too swift for the mind. It is beyond the reach of the mind, because it is not the object of contemplation. On the other hand it is the subject that causes contemplation. The vision of the Supreme must be prepared to ignore Time, Space and Matter. It is not a function of any of these three.

Ishopanishad - Stepwise Formula for identification with the Ultimate

By underscoring the harmony of a world-view that is equanimous in every respect, the Upanishad gives us the steps for identification with the Supreme. First we develop a sense of unity with other existences. This makes us give respect to everything, since everything is seen as God. The next step is to identify it with the Self. The respect shown to other beings widens now into compassion and love to the things in which we see our own Self. Verses 6 and 7 say therefore: ‘He who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings, hates none. To the illumined soul, who sees everything as a manifestation of his own Self, how can there be delusion or grief since he sees only oneself?’. To have such a perception at the experiential level, one has to first retreat from the outside world and then see everything in Oneself. The opposite of this is a narrow I-feeling which isolates the individual ‘I’ and thus causes attachment and hate.

Ishopanishad - A most powerful profile of the Self in all of Upanishads

“The Self pervades all. Radiant is He, bodiless, without scar of imperfection, without bone or flesh, pure, untouched by evil. The Seer, the Thinker, the One who is above all, the Self-Existent – he it is that has established perfect order among objects and beings from beginningless time”.

This is Verse #8. But the English translation does not do justice to the original. Each word in this verse is a profound commentary on the Ultimate. The very first word paryagaat has in it two words pari, indicating omnipresence and therefore transcendence and agaat which indicates the immanence of God. The next epithet shukram declares the self-effervescence of God. He does not need any external illumination to illuminate Him. The next three epithets akaayam, avrrinam and asnaaviram show that He is beyond the physical, the subtle, and the causal. He is the Thinker, the Mind among minds. He is the Consciousness which expresses itself both in the actual manifestations as well as in the self-existent Brahman. The former is a descent from Perfection and the latter is the fullness of Perfection. The Consciousness is the same whether it is evolution from the abstract to the concrete or it is involution from the concrete to the abstract.

Ishopanishad - Verses #s. 9 10 and 11

After this comes two units of three verses each, in which the process of experiencing that Reality Ultimate is discussed in a complicated paradoxical language. The first unit says: “They who worship Ignorance go into a blinding darkness; they who worship Knowledge go into an even greater darkness. There are other things which have been said for Knowledge. Others say something else about Ignorance. This is how we have heard from great people (dhiras) who have talked about these things after good counsel and enquiry. He who knows both Knowledge and Ignorance together, transcends death by Ignorance and through Knowledge gains Immortality”.

Ishopanishad - Seven interpretations as a sample

These three verses have been commented upon very elaborately by almost every exponent of Indian philosophy. All the interpretations depend upon what meaning one gives to the key words Vidya, pronounced Vidyā (Knowledge) and Avidya, pronounced Avidyā (Ignorance). The simple meanings do not carry us far. A scriptural text such as the Ishopanishad is amenable to different levels of handling, depending upon the evolution of the speaker, or the writer and the context to which the discussion applies. Seven interpretations of Avidyaa and Vidyaa are given below. These seven are only a representative sample of the different commentaries (Shankara, Aurobindo, & others) on the Upanishad.

• Sense organs of Action versus Sense organs of Perception and Cognition
• Knowledge of Universe through the six pramanas versus Knowledge of God through doing and experiencing
• Performance of Rituals versus Knowledge of Rituals
• Actions done specifically for results versus Worship through the knowledge about deities
• Action versus Meditation
• Spiritual efforts towards Enlightenment versus Scholarliness about Brahman
• Consciousness of multiplicity versus Consciousness of unity.

A simplistic interpretation above says that the performance of rituals alone would not take one to salvation; it will take one only down the scale of evolution. But perhaps this is better than having only a knowledge about rituals from books and not doing any of them! Such knowledge without practice would only take one to greater darkness. This way we have to understand each of the seven interpretations above. Not all the interpretations may appeal to the same person or even to a person at all times. Thus there is no right or wrong interpretation.

In Ignorance there is no Light. In Knowledge there is no darkness. Ignorance is represented by the organs of action; following them exclusively will make you blind to the Supreme. Knowledge is represented by the organs of perception; following them exclusively will make you lame. Knowledge of the universe obtained by the senses is Avidyaa. Depending upon that exclusively will only increase our desires, effort and karma and end up in attachment and hate. Knowledge of God through the organs of cognition is Vidyaa. But real Godhead is beyond these organs. Action is Ignorance; it takes you to what you don’t have. Worship is Knowledge. It shows you what you already have. Seeing the universe is avidyaa; seeing the maker of the universe is vidyaa.

Ishopanishad - Practical implications

Anything which is not an end in itself is avidyaa. Action by itself, rituals by themselves, just a secular knowledge of the universe, the efforts towards spiritual growth, etc. are all avidyaa compared to the end towards which they are directed. But the ends themselves are not to be spoken of as great without the effort, or means, or the appearance in the phenomenal world. Thus actions done for specific results are not to be decried, because that may be the only manner in which one can be of service to the rest of mankind. Similarly scholarliness about Brahman may be good in itself but without the efforts for spirituality to be in Brahman, the knowledge is not worth it. Again, the awareness of the One Omnipresent Divinity in all existences is certainly a great objective and is truly the end of all spiritual effort. But the simultaneous consciousness of the multiplicity which stares us in the face and which forms the basis for our own existence in this world cannot be ignored. The very truth that The Impersonal Divinity itself coexists with its own Personal aspect of multiplicity through which it manifests in this world tells us that we cannot throw away the multiplicity in our daily life. To seek the One is not to deny the Many.

Ishopanishad - More Technicalities

Immediately after, the Upanishad gives another unit of three verses (#s12, 13 and 14) which also generate the same type of variation in its interpretations. But now the key words are sambhuti and asambhuti, meaning, Birth and Non-birth, or Becoming and Non-becoming, or the Relative and the Absolute.

Ishopanishad - Winding up with a universal prayer

“The face of Reality is hidden by the golden container. Reveal it, Oh Sun, so that I may visualise the Dharma of the Self as Truth. Oh Lord of Light, the only Seer, Controller of all, the Sun, Giver of life to all, spread apart your rays, gather up your brilliance so that I may perceive the wondrous form of your being; for I myself am That”.

The Sun is the only visible representative of the Supreme Truth, Divine Light, Brahman. Man’s limited consciousness has to open up to the Infinite Consciousness represented by the Sun.

Ishopanishad - Allegory of the Golden Container

The word paatra means ‘container’ and is derived from the meaning ‘that by which we drink’. The philosophical counterpart of this definition is ‘that by which we experience’. Good and bad results of one’s past karma are experienced, from the reservoir (paatra) of one’s Samskaras or Vasanas. This is what brings forth man’s cycle of births and deaths. The Creator Brahma through whom this blossoms in the world as Life, is called Hiranya Garbha (Golden Conception) in this charge of his. So the rays of the Sun which are golden in colour, and which form the blinding factor for not allowing us to see the Sun,the Reality, constitute, as it were, the golden container of our Vasanas. The only Seer is the Creator who sees it all through. Our individuality, our names and forms, our inner organ of Mind with all its ramifications, its accessories in the form of sense organs – all these are created by this Hiranya-Garbha, who gives the Light to all of them. He is therefore their progenitor, the Sun. So we ask him, plead with him and request him to remove the blinding rays from himself , because the seeds of our samskaras are with him, so that we can see Him as He really is. He is the one who can make us transcend our individuality and make us see the Oneness and realise that ‘What I see is Myself: I am this Purusha. I am Brahman'.

Ishopanishad - The final utterance

The last two verses form a prayer to be uttered at the moment of death:

“Let my breath merge with the Cosmic Breath. Ashes are my body’s end. AUM. Remember Oh Mind, remember what has been done. Remember Brahman. Oh Fire, show us the right path. Lead us to eternal freedom, Thou who knowest all. Preserve us from the deceitful attraction of Sin. To thee we offer our salutations with devotion, again and yet again”.

Fire (Agni) is the symbol of the Divine Will, Power and Force. Very often Agni is the messenger who connects the offerings of the humans with their divine destinations and the messages and presents from the Divine to the human world. That is why the prayer to Agni as the last prayer of Man. It is also quite fitting, because, after the soul leaves the body it is to the fire that the body is offered (in Hindu tradition).

Ishopanishad - Sources

S. Radhakrishnan. The Principal Upanishads. George Allen and Unwin Ltd. New York. 1969.

Eight Upanishads, Vol.1. with the commentary of Shankaracharya. Tr. By Swami Gambhirananda. Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 2nd edn. 1989

Aurobindo, The Upanishads. Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. 1972

Categories: Upanishads | Hindu philosophical concepts

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ishopanishad", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki