Iherited Wisdom- The Isa Upanishad

The Isa Upanishad - the Jewel of the Vedanta

The Spiritual and Faith Traditions are part of our common and inherited wisdom. Spirituality pre-dates the formal Religions or Faith Traditions by at least 50000 or more years. However, the most ancient of the formal religions is Hinduism.

The Vedas are the Holy Scriptures of the Hindu Faith Tradition. They are the oldest recorded scriptures and contain many pearls of wisdom. The Upanishads are referred to as the Vedanta - the end of the Vedas. They are the jewels of Hindu Scripture and its Spiritual Teaching. One of the shortest but most concise, precise and beautiful, is the Isa Upanishad.


Sister Ishpriya has recorded some reflections on this Upanishad in her series Take Fullness from Fullness. These are available in CD format or can be downloaded and/or ordered on the Media portion of the
ISA website http://www.international-satsang.org/


The Scriptures of all the Faith Traditions are Universal Wisdom. They belong to all peoples for all times. They are part of our common inheritance. Whenever and wherever people are 'touched by the Spirit' and record these experiences, they are relevant for all. Christians inherited the Jewish Scriptures and find comfort and wisdom in these. Islam, acknowledges much of the Old Testament and Sikhism, incorporates Islamic and Hindu Scripture into its Guru Granth Sahib ( The Holy Book) . So being inspired by the Scriptures of other Traditions is a well known experience.

Take Fullness from Fullness

Reflections on the Isa Upanishad

Take Fullness from Fullness is a series of CDs downloadable from the ISA Website www.international-satsang.org They are some wonderful reflections by Sister Ishpriya on the Isa Upanishad. Her first talk in the series, ‘WHY ?’ , sets the series and the Isa Upanishad in a context . These notes are merely added as many may be interested in the Upanishads and their background.


Although we may come from different Faith Traditions, those of us who are committed and serious about our chosen spiritual path derive great comfort and inspiration from the Sacred Scriptures. In addition we know that the One we seek is in many ways ‘unknowable’ . God, the Supreme Spirit, Ultimate Reality Allah, Satguru or by whatever name we call Him is in many ways a sacred mystery. Our Muslim friends talk about the 99 names of God and Hindus talk of the 1000 faces of Brahman.



                                                            Boat on the Sacred Ganges at Varanasi

So each Faith Tradition provides a ‘window’ onto the Reality and each also has a strong history or tradition which dwells on the ‘Mystical’ aspect of God. In Islam, this is perhaps best represented by the Sufi Mystics and Masters. In Christianity we have the long tradition of the Desert Fathers, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen and Mother Juliana of Norwich to mention but a few. In Hinduism this mystical strand is found in the life and teachings of the Rishis ( seers) and many Sannyasis ( monks and nuns). However, they reach the peak of the essence of the teaching in the great Upanishads.


The Upanishads are part of the Vedanta ( the end of the Vedas), whilst the Vedas themselves come from a Sanskrit word ( to know or to possess) The Upanishads are considered to be the ‘pearls of the Hindu teachings’ A very literal translation of the Sanskrit word Upanishad is ‘to sit at the feet of the Master. There are many hundreds of these ‘epistles’ or Upanishads. Their authors are unknown and they stretch back at least 3000 years. However, there are about twenty or so which are considered to be spiritual masterpieces and in most compilations the Isa Upanishad, although the shortest and by no means the oldest, is considered to be the most concise and prosaic of them all, in fact it is ‘ the jewel in the crown of the Upanishads’ . It is almost always the first one in any edition of the Upanishads. Unlike the great Bhagavad Gita, many of the Upanishads are not as well known but they do contain wisdom of equal validity and relevance.

The 18 verses plus the opening Shanti Patha ( Invocation for Peace) are contained in the following two pages.

Sannyasi near Rishikesh

ISAWASYA UPANISAD:- THE ISA UPANISHAD

SHANTI – PATHA :- The Invocation of Peace

Fullness is here; Fullness is there.

When Fullness is taken from Fullness

Fullness still remains

OM Shanti – Shanti - Shanti

1. Behold the Universe in the glory of God: and all that lives and moves on earth.Leaving the transient, find Joy in the Eternal: Set not your heart on another’s possessions.

2. Working thus, a man may wish for a life of a hundred years. Only actions done in God bind not the soul.

3. There are demon haunted worlds, regions of utter darkness. Whoever in life denies the Spirit falls into that darkness of death.

4. The Spirit, without moving, is swifter than the mind.The senses cannot reach him: He is ever beyond them all. Standing still, he overtakes those who run. To the ocean of His being, the Spirit of Life leads the streams of action.

5. He moves, and he moves not. He is far, and He is near. He is within all, and he is outside all.

6. The one who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear.

7. When a wise one sees this Great Unity and his own Self has become all beings.What delusion and what sorrow can ever be near him?

8. The Spirit filled all with his radiance. He is without form and invulnerable, pure and untouched by evil.
He is the supreme seer and thinker, immanent and transcendent. He placed all things in the path of Eternity.

9. Into deep darkness fall those who follow action. Into deeper darkness fall those who follow knowledge.

10. One is the outcome of knowledge and the other is the outcome of action. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us.

11. He who knows both knowledge and action, with action overcomes death and with knowledge reaches immortality.

12. Into deep darkness fall those who follow the immanent. Into deeper darkness fall those who follow the transcendent.

13. One is the outcome of the transcendent and the other is the outcome of the immanent. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us.

14. He who knows both the transcendent and the immanent, with the immanent overcomes death and with the transcendent reaches immortality.

15. The Face of Truth remains hidden behind a circle of Gold. Unveil it, O God of Light, that I, who love the True, might see!

16. O life giving sun, off-spring of the Lord of Creation, solitary seer of heaven! Spread Thy Light and withdraw Thy blinding splendour, that I might behold Thy radiant form.That Spirit far away within Thee is my own inmost Spirit.

17. May Life go to immortal life, and the body go to ashes. Oh my soul, Remember past strivings, Remember! Oh my soul, Remember past strivings, Remember!

18. By the Path of Good lead us to final bliss, O Fire Divine, thou god who knows all ways. Deliver us from Wandering Evil. Prayers and adoration we offer unto thee.

Translation by Juan Mascaro(Penguin Books)

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