This whole world is to be dwelt in by the Lord,
whatever living being there is in the world.
So you should eat what has been abandoned;
and do not covet anyone’s wealth.
Just performing works in this world,
you should desire to live your hundred years.
Thus, and not otherwise, in fact,
does work not smear off on you.
“Demonic” are those worlds called,
in blind darkness they are cloaked;
Into them after death they go,
all those people who kill the self.
Although not moving, the one is swifter than the mind;
the gods cannot catch it, as it speeds on in front.
Standing, it outpaces others who run;
within it Mātariśvan places the waters.
It moves – yet it does not move
It’s far away – yet it is near at hand!
It is within this whole world – yet
it’s also outside this whole world.
When a man sees all beings
within this very self,
and his self within all beings,
It will not seek to hide from him.
When in the self of a discerning man,
his very self has become all beings,
What bewilderment, what sorrow can there be,
regarding that self of him who sees this oneness.
He has reached the seed – without body or wound,
without sinews, not riddled by evil.
Self-existent and all-encompassing,
the wise sage has dispensed objects
through endless years.
Into blind darkness they enter,
people who worship ignorance;
And into still blinder darkness,
people who delight in learning.
It’s far different from knowledge, they say,
Different also from ignorance, we’re told –
so have we heard from wise men,
who have explained it to us.
Knowledge and ignorance –
a man who knows them both together,
Passes beyond death by ignorance,
and by knowledge attains immortality.
Into blind darkness they enter,
people who worship non-becoming;
And into still blinder darkness,
people who delight in becoming.
It’s far different from coming-into-being, they say,
Different also from not coming-into-being, we’re told –
so have we heard from wise men,
who explained it all to us.
The becoming and the destruction –
a man who knows them both together;
Passes beyond death by the destruction,
and by the becoming attains immortality.
The face of truth is covered
with a golden dish.
Open it, O Pūṣan, for me,
a man faithful to the truth.
Open it, O Pūṣan, for me to see.
O Pūṣan, sole seer!
Yama! Sun! Son of Prajāpati!
Spread out your rays!
Draw in your light!
I see your fairest form.
That person up there,
I am he!
The never-resting is the wind,
the immortal!
Ashes are this body’s lot.
OṂ!
Mind, remember the deed!
Remember!
Mind, remember the deed!
Remember!
O Fire, you know all coverings;
O god, lead us to riches,
along an easy path.
Keep the sin that angers,
far away from us;
And the highest song of praise,
we shall offer you!
– Īśā Upanishad,
translated by Patrick Olivelle in Upanishads, 248-251
See also: Isha Upanishad, Prajapati
