The Isha Upanishad (Devanagari: ईशावास्य उपनिषद्,īśa upaniṣad, otherwise Ishopanishad īśopaniṣad or īśāvāsya upaniṣad) is one of the shortest of the Upanishads, consisting of 17 or 18 verses in total; like other core texts of the vedanta, it is considered revealed scripture (Śruti) by diverse traditions within Hinduism. The name of the text derives from the incipit, īśā, "by the Lord (Isha)". The Upanishad constitutes the final chapter (adhyāya) of the Shukla Yajurveda, but is historically one of the latest of the principal (mukhya) Upanishads, dating approximately to Mauryan times.
The short text covers a wide spectrum of philosophy, religion, ritualism and metaphysics.
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The Isha Upanishad is significant amongst the Upanishads for its description of the nature of the supreme being (Ish). It presents a monist or non-dual perspective of the universe, in that it describes this being as[1] "unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated" (verse 8), one who "moves and does not move', who is 'far away, but very near as well'" and who "although fixed in His abode is swifter than the mind" (verses 4 & 5).
The text then asserts the oneness of the supreme self;
and asks;
The later verses take the form of a series of prayers requesting that the speaker be able to see past the supreme light or effulgence in order to understand the true nature of the Supreme Lord.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi thought so highly of this text that he remarked, "If all the Upanishads and all the other scriptures happened all of a sudden to be reduced to ashes, and if only the first verse in the Ishopanishad were left in the memory of the Hindus, Hinduism would live for ever."[2] The shloka Mahatma Gandhi was referring to is as follows.
"This world and everything in this world is all filled by the all pervading Brahman (...Remembering this,) savor the world with renunciation and do not greed upon anyone's wealth."
In the two shakhas of the Shukla Yajurveda (called VSM and VSK) the order of verses 1–8 is the same, however VSK verses 9–14 correspond to VSM verses 12, 13, 14, 9, 10, 11. VSM 17 is a variation of VSK 15, VSK 16 is lacking in VSM, and VSK 17–18 correspond to VSM 15–16. The verse numbers used elsewhere in this article refer to VSK[3] :
| VSK | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| VSM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 10 | 11 | (17) | – | 15 | 16 |
Verse 18 is a Rigvedic verse (RV 1.189.1) invoking Agni.
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