Mahatma Gandhi once said that if all the Vedic scriptures were to burn to ashes, and only the first mantra of the Ishavasya Upanishad remained in the memory of the Hindus, Hinduism would continue to thrive. Such is the incandescent brilliance packed into this slender text comprising just 18 mantras.

This holy scripture transcends time, offering wisdom that remains profoundly relevant in today’s world. It teaches us how to live peacefully in the midst of life’s challenges—how to see God not as separate from creation, but as pervading every speck of it and much more. In his luminous commentary, Swami Mukundananda brings out the timeless truths of the Ishavasya Upanishad with clarity, depth, and contemporary relevance. This blog offers a glimpse into that spiritual treasure.  The verses in it are as deep as the ocean; may we touch their shore and begin our exploration.

Light of the Upanishads

In Bhagavad Gita Verse 4.38, Shree Krishna declares: “There is nothing in this world as purifying as true knowledge.” If this holds for knowledge in general, how much more transformative the wisdom of the Upanishads must be! Being a section of the Vedic scriptures, the Upanishads are manifestations of the knowledge energy of the Supreme Almighty Himself. They explore life’s deepest questions: Who am I? Why am I in this world? What is my relationship with the Divine? 

While the world gropes in darkness, the Upanishads shine as beacons—revealing the truth of existence and how to live it. Their transcendental wisdom has even inspired western thinkers, like, Schopenhauer to Prof. Max Müller.

In the Vedic structure, the first Upanishad, Ishavasya Upanishad stands out for its comprehensive approach. It distills the essence of the three main paths of spirituality: Karm (rituals), Gyan (knowledge), and Bhakti (devotion), outlined in the Vedas. Its poetic name, Ishāvāsyam—“enveloped by God”—captures its message: the Upanishad of the All-Pervading God. Fittingly, it is also called the Ishopanishad. 

Perfect Imperfection

Drawing from Swamiji’s commentary, let us reflect on the opening insight from the Shanti Path: Since God is perfect and complete, whatever emanates from Him, including this world, is also complete. At first glance, this may seem counterintuitive. How can a world rife with suffering and conflict be called complete?

Swamiji unravels this paradox by shedding light on the divine purpose behind creation.

The world is not meant to be free from pain, but to serve as a perfect training ground for the soul’s evolution across lifetimes. In that sense, it is complete; designed to nurture our journey towards spiritual perfection. Swamiji shares the example of eagles in the Rocky Mountains. They build nests lined with soft cotton over thorny ironwood. As chicks grow, the mother eagle removes the padding, making the nest uncomfortable, and eventually pushes them off the cliff. In falling, the chicks discover their wings. Without discomfort, they would never learn to fly. Likewise, the world’s imperfections manifest as life’s challenges to awaken our inner strength and spiritual wings. Thus, adversity becomes the very instrument of growth. With this wisdom, we learn to meet suffering not with despair, but with purpose.

Swamiji beautifully unpacks the verse further—God is complete, and so is this creation, flowing from that same source of completeness and perfection. That includes us, the souls within it. We are not flawless but perfectly placed on our journey. We may feel broken, yet in God’s eyes, we are exactly where we need to be—just as an unborn child seems perfect to its mother. God does not judge by our present state but by our potential. Even the Buddha once told his disciples, “Forty lifetimes ago, I was like that sinner you condemn.” In God’s grand design, all souls are destined for perfection. Thus, the world, with all its thorns and storms, is the sacred nest from which our souls will one day soar.

Unique Gift of the Ishopanishad

A distinctive feature of the Ishopanishad is that it takes up extreme and apparently contrary viewpoints and skilfully resolves them.

Take Mantra 5 for example:

tadejati tannaijati taddūre tadvantike tadantarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasyāsya bāhyatah

It states a stunning juxtaposition regarding the attributes of the Supreme Almighty. God resides within everything, tadantarasya sarvasya, which implies that every speck of creation carries His presence. He is often referred to as ghata-ghata vāsī, meaning ‘One Who resides in every little particle.’ But He is outside the entire world, tadu sarvasyāsya bāhyatah. All creation exists within the Supreme. Also, at the time of dissolution of creation, God absorbs it back into Himself. Thus, the Divine is omnipresent—within the world as well as outside of it.

Another mind-bending contradiction follows: God is far, yet He is also near; taddūre tadvantike—a mystery that begs to be unraveled. Such depth of wisdom is brought out through powerful examples in Swamiji’s commentary.

For instance, in Bhagavad Gita Verse 9.29, Shree Krishna declares: 

“I am equally disposed to all living beings; I am neither inimical nor partial to anyone.”

From this perspective, ‘God is unmoved’, being equal to all.  Yet, in the very next line, He states: 

“But the devotees who worship Me with love reside in Me, and I reside in them.”

Swamiji clarifies: God administers justice through the Law of Karma, maintaining order without bias. Still, disparities persist. For example, rain falls equally everywhere, but its effect varies based on the recipient: it yields grain in fertile fields, thorns in deserts, dirty water in gutters, and pearls in oysters. The rain is neutral; the difference lies in the nature of the recipient. Similarly, God is equally disposed to all living beings. However, souls who love Him unconditionally, get specially graced with divine knowledge, bliss, and love. Under the sway of their selfless devotion, He engages in sweet pastimes with them. Consider this: while all souls are bound by His maya (material energy), Shree Krishna allows Mother Yashoda to tie Him up to a wheel. The Omnipotent is bound due to Yashoda’s unconditional maternal love. Such pastimes reflect that devotion melts God’s heart.

One in All

With rich spiritual insights, Swamiji illuminates the truth of divine omnipresence through the timeless Puranic story of Narsingh Bhagavan.

The demon king, Hiranyakashipu, was fed up with his son Prahlad’s devotion, and asked him, ‘Where is this God you worship?’  Prahlad responded saying God is everywhere, even in the stone pillar. Hiranyakashipu then questioned, ‘If God is in the stone pillar, then why can I not see Him?’ Saying this, he boxed the pillar, which cracked, and God in Nrisingh avatar, manifested from it! Through this divine leela, the Lord revealed that He actually resides everywhere—in living as well as non-living things of this world. 

However, this brings us to the question that if God is everywhere, then why can’t we perceive Him?

Swamiji answers this with a powerful analogy in Mantra 1.

A patient suffering from jaundice is given sweet sugarcane juice but he insists that it tastes bitter. The problem is not with the juice; it is with their perception. The senses of the patient are impaired in that state of illness. In the same way, God is all-pervading and divine, but our senses like the eyes, ears, mind are material and hence, incapable of perceiving Divinity. Yet, saints who have purified their senses through spiritual practice bear unanimous testimony: “Wherever we look, we see only Shree Krishna,” say also the Gopis of Vrindavan.

The Darshan Shastras teach us ‘to see things in proper light,’ to cultivate the vision that the Lord resides in all. The Vedas go further, declaring that the world itself is God’s veritable form. Mantra 6 presents a striking analogy: From earth, trees spring forth. The mud becomes the tree, and when the tree dies, it returns to mud. In the same way, God unravels His material energy to become the world, and eventually, the world dissolves back into Him. When we begin to perceive God as the source and substance of all creation, our entire being transforms—our vision, emotions, and actions. This divine awareness reflects in our thoughts and behavior. One who sees this truth of divine omnipresence does not harbor hatred toward anyone, for nothing is separate from the Divine. Moreover, everything in the world becomes sacred and worthy of worship. 

Swami Mukundananda’s commentary does not merely explain—it awakens!

A Harmonious Balance

In Mantra 11, Swamiji unveils another compelling guiding principle—one especially relevant today. It is the need to harmonize material and spiritual dimensions in life. Like a train runs on two tracks, we too must embrace both, rejecting neither God nor the world.

He illustrates this with the story of the Buddha.

When the Buddha witnessed the defects of human existence—birth, disease, old age, and death, he renounced the world. Subsequently, he relinquished efforts to maintain the body. Engaging in intense austerities in the forests, he ignored all bodily needs to the point that He grew weak. As hunger and dizziness set in, meditation became difficult. One day, some village women were singing a song as they passed by. The meaning was: ‘Tighten the strings of the tanpura (Indian musical instrument) and make them sound sweet. But do not tighten them so much that they break.’

On hearing this, the Buddha had a profound realization: ‘This wisdom applies to the body too. We must tighten it through austerities, but not to the extent that the body itself perishes.’  In His subsequent efforts, the Buddha was mindful of his physical needs for maintenance. He made it one of the core insights in his ideology, which became known as the ‘Middle Path’.  Interestingly, the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, used almost similar terminology. Advocating the principle of the ‘Golden Mean’, he spoke against both gross avidity and extreme denial. At the same time, Swamiji points out one must accept materialism only to the extent that it meets basic bodily needs. Otherwise, desires never cease, and we end up chasing an ever-receding mirage.

Call of Devotion

In the latter part of the text, the flame of bhakti rises high. The devotee yearns not merely for God’s presence, but for beholding His personal form, which he perceives to be veiled by effulgent light.

When we gaze at the sun, we see only its blinding light, not the details of its abode. Similarly, the brahmajyoti or the effulgent light is but the bodily glow of the Supreme. To behold His rasamaya form—sweet, smiling, beautiful—is far more fulfilling to the soul than the brilliance of the divine light. When Vibheeshan saw Bhagavan Ram, the Reservoir of all beauty, he was so dumbfounded he even forgot to blink and kept gazing at the divine form.

The soul’s longing for Lord’s darshan matures into viraha bhav—an intense separation where life feels empty without God. At that point, the devotee surrenders completely, saying:

idam śharīram bhasmāntam “O Lord of my life-breath! Let this body turn to ash.”

This virahāgni—a fire-like yearning for God—becomes the very force of transformation. Here, the devotee wants to make the highest offering in his devotional penance: that of his own life force. The ultimate goal is then not just darshan; it is to serve Him, selflessly and eternally, in His divine abode. Such is the culmination of the Ishopanishad’s journey—from light to love, from awe to intimacy.

Conclusion

The profound insights of the Ishopanishad, as revealed through Swami Mukundananda's commentary, beckon us to transcend the boundaries of the material world and dive into the ocean of divine love. May its teachings inspire us to walk the path of righteousness, to see God in all, and to love all as part of God's creation. As we conclude this journey through the Upanishadic verses, may its light continue to guide us, its love continue to inspire us, and its wisdom continue to transform us, now and forevermore. This blog barely skims the surface. If these glimpses touched you, explore the full commentary.

Call to Action

Some books are read. This one is meant to be lived.

Get your copy of Swami Mukundananda’s commentary on the Ishavasya Upanishad. Whether you are seeking inner peace, clarity of purpose, or a deeper connection with the Divine, this spiritual treasure will illuminate your path.

Resources

●       Shree Krishna’s 3 Questions to You – Unlock Your Destiny Through The Upanishads | Swami Mukundananda

●       Shree Krishna’s ULTIMATE Plan for You – God’s Purpose Behind Your Sufferings | Swami Mukundananda