Isha Upanishad — Verse by Verse

īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat / tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasyasvid dhanam

All this — whatever moves in this moving world — is enveloped by the Lord. Enjoy through renunciation; do not covet anyone's wealth.

The opening mantra holds the whole teaching: the world is sacred because the Divine fills it, so hold things lightly and share freely.

kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ / evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti na karma lipyate nare

Doing verily your works in this world, you may wish to live a hundred years. Thus it is with you — there is no other way: action does not cling to a person.

The Upanishad does not ask you to flee life but to live it fully — a hundred years of work, done in the spirit of Mantra 1, leaves no stain.

anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat / tad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti

It is one and unmoving, yet swifter than the mind; the gods could not overtake it, for it ran before them. Standing, it outruns those who run.

The Self cannot be chased by thought, because it is already here — closer than the mind that seeks it.

tad ejati tan naijati tad dūre tad v antike / tad antar asya sarvasya tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ

It moves and it moves not; it is far and it is near. It is within all this, and it is outside all this.

A string of paradoxes meant to loosen the grip of either/or thinking: the Divine is not located anywhere because it is everywhere.

yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmany evānupaśyati / sarvabhūteṣu cātmānaṁ tato na vijugupsate

One who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, feels no revulsion toward anything.

The ethical heart of the Upanishad: when the same Self looks out of every eye, hatred has nowhere left to stand.

yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ / tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ

When all beings have become the very Self of one who knows, what delusion, what sorrow can remain for one who sees oneness?

Sorrow and delusion feed on separation; this mantra points to the seeing in which they starve.

hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṁ mukham / tat tvaṁ pūṣann apāvṛṇu satyadharmāya dṛṣṭaye

The face of truth is covered by a golden vessel. O Pushan, uncover it, so that one whose dharma is truth may see.

Truth is not absent — it is veiled, and the veil is golden: beautiful things can hide the deepest thing.

pūṣann ekarṣe yama sūrya prājāpatya vyūha raśmīn samūha / tejo yat te rūpaṁ kalyāṇatamaṁ tat te paśyāmi yo 'sāv asau puruṣaḥ so 'ham asmi

O Pushan, sole seer, O Yama, O Sun, son of Prajapati — gather and withdraw your rays. That most radiant form of yours I long to see. The Person who is there — that am I.

The prayer ends in identity: the light worshipped in the sun is the same light looking out of the worshipper.

vāyur anilam amṛtam athedaṁ bhasmāntaṁ śarīram / oṁ krato smara kṛtaṁ smara krato smara kṛtaṁ smara

May this breath merge into the immortal wind; then let this body end in ashes. Om — O mind, remember; remember what has been done; remember, O mind, remember.

Spoken at the threshold of death, it asks the mind to carry forward only what was done in truth.

agne naya supathā rāye asmān viśvāni deva vayunāni vidvān / yuyodhy asmaj juhurāṇam eno bhūyiṣṭhāṁ te nama uktiṁ vidhema

O Agni, lead us by the good path to prosperity, O God who knows all our ways. Take from us crooked sin; to you we offer our fullest word of salutation.

The closing prayer is simple: lead us by the good path. The whole Upanishad is commentary on that one request.