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• Preface
• Remarks Concerning the Translation Its Method and Arrangement
• List of Abbreviations
• Errata
• An Outline of the Philosophy of the Upanishads
• Chapter I: The Place of the Upanishads In the History of Philosophy
• Chapter II: The Upanishads and Their Place In Indian Philosophy
• Chapter III: First Attempts At the Conception of a Unitary World-ground
• Chapter IV: The Development of the Conception of Brahma
• Chapter V: The Development of the Conception of the Atman and Its Union With Brahma
• Chapter VI: The Realistic Conception of the Ultimate Unity, and the Doctrine of Illusion
• Chapter VII: Idealism and the Conception of Pure Unity
• Chapter VIII: The Outcome On Religion and On the Doctrine of Karma
• Chapter IX: The Outcome On Practical Life and On Morals
• Chapter X: The Artificial Method of Unity In Renunciation and In Yoga
• Chapter XI: Concluding Estimate
• BṚihad-ĀraṆyaka Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• ChĀndogya Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka a Glorification of the Chanting of the Sāma-veda 1
• Second PrapĀṬhaka the Significance of the Chant In Various Forms
• Third PrapĀṬhaka Brahma As the Sun of the World-all
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka Conversational Instructions
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning Breath, the Soul, and the Universal Soul
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Śvetaketu By Uddālaka Concerning the Key to All Knowledge
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka the Instruction of Nārada By Sanatkumāra
• Eighth PrapĀṬhaka Concerning the Nature of the Soul
• TaittirĪya Upanishad
• First VallĪ (Śikshā Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Instruction’)
• Second VallĪ (brahmānanda Vallī, ‘bliss-of-brahma Chapter’)
• Third VallĪ (bhṛigu Vallī, ‘chapter Concerning Bhṛigu’)
• Aitareya Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• KaushĪtaki Upanishad 1
• First AdhyĀya the Course of Reincarnation, and Its Termination Through Metaphysical Knowledge 2
• Second AdhyĀya the Doctrine of Prāṇa, Together With Certain Ceremonies
• Third AdhyĀya Doctrine of Prāṇa (the Breathing Spirit)
• Fourth AdhyĀya a Progressive Definition of Brahma 2
• Kena Upanishad 1
• (first KhaṆḌa)
• (second KhaṆḌa)
• (third KhaṆḌa) 3
• (fourth KhaṆḌa)
• KaṬha Upanishad
• First VallĪ 1
• Second VallĪ
• Third VallĪ
• Fourth VallĪ
• Fifth VallĪ
• Sixth VallĪ
• ĪŚĀ Upanishad 1
• MuṆḌaka Upanishad
• First MuṆḌaka Preparation For the Knowledge of Brahma
• Second MuṆḌaka the Doctrine of Brahma-Ātman
• Third MuṆḌaka the Way to Brahma
• PraŚna Upanishad 1
• First PraŚna
• Second PraŚna
• Third PraŚna
• Fourth PraŚna
• Fifth PraŚna
• Sixth PraŚna
• MĀṆḌŪkya Upanishad
• ŚvetĀŚvatara Upanishad
• First AdhyĀya
• Second AdhyĀya
• Third AdhyĀya
• Fourth AdhyĀya
• Fifth AdhyĀya
• Sixth AdhyĀya
• Maitri Upanishad
• First PrapĀṬhaka
• Second PrapĀṬhaka
• Third PrapĀṬhaka
• Fourth PrapĀṬhaka
• Fifth PrapĀṬhaka
• Sixth PrapĀṬhaka
• Seventh PrapĀṬhaka
• A Bibliography of the Upanishads Selected, Classified, and Annotated

ĪŚĀ UPANISHAD1

Recognition of the unity underlying the diversity of the world

• 1.

  By the Lord (īśā) enveloped must this all be—
• Whatever moving thing there is in the moving world.
• With this renounced, thou mayest enjoy.
• Covet not the wealth of any one at all.

Non-attachment of deeds on the person of a renouncer

• 2.

  Even while doing deeds here,
• One may desire to live a hundred years.
• Thus on thee—not otherwise than this is it—
• The deed (karman) adheres not on the man.

The forbidding future for slayers of the Self

• 3.

  Devilish (asurya2 ) are those worlds called,3
• With blind darkness (tamas) covered o’er!
• Unto them, on deceasing, go
• Whatever folk are slayers4 of the Self.5

The all-surpassing, paradoxical world-being

4. Unmoving, the One (ekam) is swifter than the mind.

The sense-powers (deva) reached not It, speeding on before.

Past others running, This goes standing.

In It Mātariśvan places action.6

• • 5.

    It moves. It moves not.
  • It is far, and It is near.
  • It is within all this,
  • And It is outside of all this.1

• • 6.

    Now, he who on all beings
  • Looks as just (eva) in the Self (Ātman),
  • And on the Self as in all beings—2
  • He does not shrink away from Him.3

• • 7.

    In whom all beings
  • Have become just (eva) the Self of the discerner—
  • Then what delusion (moha), what sorrow (śoka) is there,
  • Of him who perceives the unity!

Characteristics of the world-ruler

8. He has environed. The bright, the bodiless, the scatheless,

The sinewless, the pure (śuddha), unpierced by evil (a-pāpa-viddha)!

Wise (kavi), intelligent (manīṣin), encompassing (paribhū), self-existent (svayambhū),

Appropriately he distributed objects (artha) through the eternal years.

Transcending, while involving, the antithesis of knowing

• • 9.

    Into blind darkness enter they
  • That worship ignorance;
  • Into darkness greater than that, as it were, they
  • That delight in knowledge.4

• • 10.

    Other, indeed, they say, than knowledge!
  • Other, they say, than non-knowledge!5
  • —Thus we have heard from the wise (dhīra)
  • Who to us have explained It.6

• • 11.

    Knowledge and non-knowledge—
  • He who this pair conjointly (saha) knows,
  • With non-knowledge passing over death,
  • With knowledge wins the immortal.1

The inadequacy of any antithesis of being

• • 12.

    Into blind darkness enter they
  • Who worship non-becoming (a-sambhūti);
  • Into darkness greater than that, as it were, they
  • Who delight in becoming (sambhūti).

• • 13.

    Other, indeed—they say—than origin (sambhava)!
  • Other—they say—than non-origin (a-sambhava)!
  • —Thus have we heard from the wise
  • Who to us have explained It.

Becoming and destruction a fundamental duality

• 14.

  Becoming (sambhūti) and destruction (vināśa)—
• He who this pair conjointly (saha) knows,
• With destruction passing over death,
• With becoming wins the immortal.

A dying person’s prayer

• 15.

  With a golden vessel2
• The Real’s face is covered o’er.
• That do thou, O Pūshan, uncover
• For one whose law is the Real3 to see.4

16. O Nourisher (pūṣan), the sole Seer (ekarṣi), O Controller (yama), O Sun (sūrya), offspring of Prajāpati, spread forth thy rays! Gather thy brilliance (tejas)!5 What is thy fairest form—that of thee I see. He who is yonder, yonder Person (puruṣa)—I myself am he!

17. [My] breath (vāyu) to the immortal wind (anila)!1 This body then ends in ashes! Om!

• O Purpose (kratu2 ), remember! The deed (kṛta) remember!
• O Purpose, remember! The deed remember!

General prayer of petition and adoration

18. O Agni, by a goodly path to prosperity (rai) lead us,

Thou god who knowest all the ways!

Keep far from us crooked-going sin (enas)!3

Most ample expression of adoration to thee would we render!4

[1 ]So called from its first word; or sometimes ‘Īśāvāsyam’ from its first two words; or sometimes the ‘Vājasaneyi-Saṁhitā Upanishad’ from the name of the recension of the White Yajur-Veda of which this Upanishad forms the final, the fortieth, chapter.

[2 ]Compare the persons called ‘devilish,’ āsura, at Chānd. 8. 8. 5. A variant reading here (accordant with a literalism interpreted in the following line) is a-sūrya, ‘sunless.’

[3 ]The word nāma here might mean ‘certainly’ instead of ‘called.’

[4 ]This idea is in sharp contrast with the doctrine of Kaṭha 2. 19 d (and BhG. 2. 19), where it is stated that ‘he [i.e. the Self] slays not, is not slain.’ The word ātma-han here, of course, is metaphorical, like ‘smother,’ ‘stifle,’ ‘completely suppress.’

[5 ]The whole stanza is a variation of Bṛih. 4. 4. 11.

[6 ]So Com. But apas may refer, cosmogonically, to ‘the [primeval] waters.’

[1 ]The very same ideas as in this stanza, though not all the same words, recur at BhG. 13. 15 a, b, d.

[2 ]This universal presence is claimed by Kṛishṇa for himself at BhG. 6. 30 a, b.

[3 ]The indefinite word tatas may mean ‘from these beings,’ or ‘from this Self,’ or ‘from this time on,’ or pregnantly all these.—The whole line recurs at Bṛih. 4. 4. 15 d; Kaṭha 4. 5 d, 4. 12 d.

[4 ]This stanza is identical with Bṛih. 4. 4. 10.

[5 ]The point here made is that both knowledge and lack of knowledge are inadequate for apprehending the Ultimate.

[6 ]A somewhat more concrete, and perhaps earlier, form of this stanza occurs as Kena 3 e-h.

[1 ]This stanza occurs again in Maitri 7. 9.

[2 ]The sun.

[3 ]For the petitioner (who calls himself ‘satya-dharma’) to see through; or ‘For Him whose law is Truth (or, true) to be seen,’ [as, e. g., for Savitṛi in RV. 10. 34. 8; 10. 139. 3; or the Unknown Creator, RV. 10. 121. 9; VS. 10. 103; or Agni, RV. 1. 12. 7]; or, ‘For that [neuter] which has the Real as its nature [or, essence; or, law] to be seen.’

[4 ]These lines occur with slight variations at Maitri 6. 35 and Bṛih. 5. 15. 1.

[5 ]According to this translation the idea is entirely honorific of the effulgence of the sun. Or, with a different grouping of words, the meaning might possibly be the petition: ‘Spread apart thy rays [that I may enter through the sun (as well as see through—according to the previous petition) into the Real; then] gather [thy rays together again, as normal]. The brilliance which is thy fairest form, . . .’ At best the passage is of obscure mystical significance.

[1 ]This formula recurs at Bṛih. 5. 15. The idea that at death the several parts of microcosmic man revert to the corresponding elements of the macrocosm is expressed several times in Sanskrit literature. With the specific mention here, compare ‘his spirit (ātman) to the wind (vāta)’ in the Cremation Hymn, RV. 10. 16. 3a; ‘with his breath (prāna) to wind (vāyu),’ Śat Br. 10. 3. 3. 8; ‘his breath (prāna) to wind (vāta), Bṛih. 3. 2. 13; and even of the sacrificial animal, ‘its breath (prāna) to wind (vāta), Ait. Br. 2. 6.

[2 ]Compare the statement in Chānd. 3. 14. 1, ‘Now, verily, a person consists of purpose (kratu-maya).’

[3 ]Other prayers for freedom from sin (enas, compare also āgas) are at RV. 1. 24. 9 d; 3. 7. 10 d; 7. 86. 3 a, 4 d; 7. 88. 6 c; 7. 89. 5 c, d; 7. 93. 7 c, d; 8. 67 (56). 17; 10. 35. 3 a, c; 10. 37. 12; AV. 6 97. 2 d; 6. 115. 1, 2, 3; 6. 116. 2, 3; 6. 117; 6. 118; 6. 119; 6. 120.

[4 ]This stanza is identical with RV. 1. 189. 1, and the second line also with AV. 4. 39. 10 b.