Śruti / The twelve Upaniṣads / Īśā · 1 of 12

1. Covered by the lord

Īśā (ईशा)

The Īśāvāsya (ईशावास्य) belongs to the white Yajurveda. It is chapter 40 of the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā (वाजसनेयि संहिता). The verse shelf follows the Kāṇva (काण्व) order: eighteen mantras. The Mādhyandina (माध्यन्दिन) recension has seventeen mantras. It places Kāṇva 12–14 before 9–11, and it ends differently, folding the golden-dish and Pūṣan verses into one closing verse. There is no dialogue. The chapter is a saṃhitā chapter that is also an upaniṣad, which is why the four layers were taught as a reading order and not as four sealed boxes.

The first mantra puts the lord in all that moves, and then it tells the hearer to enjoy by what has been renounced, and not to covet. The second mantra, on the shelf, says: doing the rites here, wish to live a hundred years. Renunciation and action are set side by side. Mīmāṃsā will ask what is to be done. Vedānta will ask what Brahman is. This short book does not award the quarrel. It leaves the two mantras next to each other.

The middle mantras say that the one is unmoving and swifter than mind, far and near, and that the person who sees all beings in the self has no delusion left to nurse. The closing mantras pray that the face of truth, covered by a golden dish, be uncovered. Those mantras are sat in full on the verse shelf. This sitting keeps the breakthrough in one place: the world is already inhabited, so taking and abandoning are two descriptions of one life, and the last prayer is to see truly at the hour of leaving.

ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं यत् किं च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्य स्विद् धनम् īśāvāsyam idaṃ sarvaṃ yat kiṃ ca jagatyāṃ jagat |
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam

All this, whatever moves in the world, is to be inhabited by the lord. By that renounced thing you should enjoy. Do not covet. Whose, indeed, is the wealth. The split words are on Īśā 1.

नेपालीमा

ईशावास्य शुक्ल यजुर्वेदको वाजसनेयि संहिताको चालिसौँ अध्याय हो। पदको सङ्ग्रह काण्व क्रममा छ, अठार मन्त्र। माध्यन्दिनमा सत्र मन्त्र छन्। १२–१४ लाई ९–११ अघि राख्छ, र अन्त्य फरक छ। संवाद छैन। संहिता र उपनिषद् एउटै पाठ हुन्।

पहिलो मन्त्रले भन्छ: यस जगत्मा जे-जति चराचर वस्तु छन्, ती सबै परमात्माद्वारा व्याप्त छन्। त्यसैले त्यागपूर्वक उपभोग गर्नुपर्छ, कसैको धनमा लोभ गर्नुहुँदैन। दोस्रो मन्त्रले भन्छ: यस लोकमा मनुष्यले निष्काम कर्म गर्दै सय वर्ष बाँच्ने इच्छा राख्नुपर्छ। त्याग र कर्म सँगै छन्। सत्यको मुख सुनको पात्रले छोपिएको छ भन्ने प्रार्थना अन्त्यमा छ। पूर्ण पद ईशाको सङ्ग्रहमा छ।

Where it sits

The eighteen mantras begin at Īśā 1 and the book is mapped on the Īśā hub. The next narrative is the Kena.