The abundance of Hindu Vedic, Vedāntic, and post-Vedāntic literature is simply overwhelming. Like a child gathering pebbles along a pristine seashore, I often find myself irresistibly drawn to collecting the most intriguing verses from this vast and inexhaustible repertoire.
My choice is, obviously arbitrary, like a child, collecting glistening stones without committing to an order or reason — they are picked as they come by or because of their intrinsic brilliance.
To begin with, I shall take up the Īśha Upaniṣhadh, following the order adopted by Śhaṅkarācārya in his commentaries on the principal Upanishadhs.
Isha Upanishadha derives its name “Isha” from the first word of the first verse — Isha.
Isha simply means “a lord” or “master” and is commonly used as a suffix in many Sanskrit and Hindi words like “ziladhish” (zila + ish) meaning a district magistrate or “nyayadish” (Nyaya + ish) meaning a judge. The Upanishadha has just 18 mantras and most of them have actually been lifted from the 40th chapter — the last one – of Shukla Yajurveda:
सम्भूतिञ्च विनाशञ्च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह।
विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्याऽमृतमश्नुते ॥
Two words sambhutim (सम्भूतिम्) and vināśham (विनाशं) are the bedrock of this mantra and their meaning has been given in more than one way. The AI bots mostly rely on Shankaracharya’s interpretation because that’s what has been fed on the Internet.
The standard translation of the word sambhawa (सम्भव) is “possible”. Shankaracharya in his commentary on Isha Upanishadha defines the word सम्भूतिम् as “सम्भवनम् सम्भूतिः” meaning “all that is possible”, or as Ludwig Wittgenstein said in Tractatus “all that is the case” — the manifested world. The next word Pralay (प्रलय) has been picked from the philosophy of Sankhya and has a technical overtone. Sankhya philosophy, the oldest and the most powerful one amongst the Hindu philosophies lays down a systematic order. According to this philosophy Prakriti (प्रकृति) or Nature unfolds itself or makes itself possible following combination or desirability of Purush or the Supreme Man. Once Prakriti (प्रकृति) or Nature has fully manifested itself, it gradually folds or withdraws itself into primordial proverbial seed. This is called Pralay (प्रलय) or the Doomsday. Somewhat like Genesis and Doomsday, Sankhya philosophy lays down a systematic order of Nature that repeats itself on and on. In Isha Upanishadha mantra 14 above the word Pralay (प्रलय), that is doomsday, has been substituted for vināśham (विनाशं) – meaning annihilation.
Thus, the translation of the Isha Upanishadha mantra 14 works out to mean:
One who fully understands both the manifested world and the immutable principle underlying the cycle of birth and death attains immortality here itself, in this very world and in this embodied existence.
For the benefit of English readers, the essential idea may be expressed as follows: one who has fully comprehended both the phenomenal and the noumenal realms, does not fear crossing from one to the other.
Isha Upanishadha 15
2. The mantra that comes next in Isha Upanishadha is another gem in this series, numbered 15.
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम्।
तत् त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥ 15
As stated above most of mantras of Isha Upanishadha are lifted from Shukla Yajurveda which, Sanskrit linguists say, may have been codified almost a millennium before Isha. In Yajurveda this mantra is numbered 17 and is the concluding mantra of Yajurveda. The brilliance of the mantra just makes it stand out.
हि॒र॒ण्मये॑न॒ पात्रे॑ण स॒त्यस्यापि॑हितं॒ मुख॑म् ।
यो॒ऽसावा॑दि॒त्ये पुरु॑ष॒: सोऽसाव॒हम् ।
ओ३म् खं ब्रह्म॑
The first line of both the mantras is same:
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम्।
Which means simply: “The face of the Truth lies hidden behind glittering, golden lid (of a pot).” The comparison ends there. It is the second line of the verse of Isha and Shukla Yajurveda that makes all the difference.
Isha Upanishadha verse says:
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम्।
तत् त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥ 15
The face of the Truth lies hidden behind glittering, golden lid.
O’ Pushan (Sun/Lord), uncover the Truth for the earnest devotees/seekers.
But to me the second line of the Shukla Yajurveda 40.17 sounds more intriguing. Compare:
हि॒र॒ण्मये॑न॒ पात्रे॑ण स॒त्यस्यापि॑हितं॒ मुख॑म् ।
यो॒ऽसावा॑दि॒त्ये पुरु॑ष॒: सोऽसाव॒हम् ।
ओ३म् खं ब्रह्म॑
The face of the Truth lies hidden behind glittering, golden lid (of a pot).
That, the one who is in core of the Sun, (आदित्ये). That verily am I.
The crucial identification is “सः असौ अहम्” — “that very one am I”: the Purusha in the Sun is identified with the speaker’s own aham (“I”).
Om*—space/ether is Brahman.
In the Isha verse the second line becomes a logical follow up of the first, pleading the Pushan (Sun/Lord) to lift the lid off.
In Shukla Yajurveda 40.17 the second line startles you by an unexpected statement that is loaded with mysticism. Mind you, nearly a millennium separates the composition of these two verses.
The golden pot (हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण)
The opening line, हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम्—“The face of Truth is concealed behind a glittering golden lid”—raises a fundamental question. Is the reference to a “golden lid” merely a descriptive image, or have the words हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण (hiranmayena pātrena), literally “by a golden vessel” or “by a golden covering,” been deliberately employed as a metaphor for our intense attachment to the phenomenal world, whose glitter and allure prevent us from perceiving what lies beyond it? And what, precisely, is the Truth concealed behind this metaphorical golden covering?
A possible clue to these questions may be found in the Bhagavad Gītā (3.29):
प्रकृतेर्गुणसम्मूढाः सज्जन्ते गुणकर्मसु।
तानकृत्स्नविदो मन्दान्कृत्स्नविन्न विचालयेत्॥
Meaning: Those who are bewitched by the phenomenal world labour all day to win it and to retain it. The ones who know the Truth shouldn’t waste time to enlighten such morons.
The verse suggests that our entanglement with the phenomenal world is not simply a consequence of its existence, but of our fascination with its attributes and activities. Bewitched by the play of prakṛti and its gunas, we become absorbed in the world of appearances, mistaking it for the ultimate reality. The glitter of the ‘golden covering’, in this sense, may be understood as a metaphor for the very attraction that holds our attention and obscures our vision of Truth.
As for the nature of that Truth, a suggestive indication appears in the Katha Upanishadha (1.1.17). Here, Yama—the lord of death, who personifies mortality—offers Nachiketa a crucial insight into the possibility of transcending death. His words invite us to look beyond the apparent limits of mortal existence and enquire into what lies beyond them.
*Om will be explained separately.
Kenopanishadha or Kena Upanishadha 5.2
Kena Upanishadha come under Saam Veda and is a part of Talavkar Brahmana also called Jaiminiya Brahmana. Like Isha Upanishadha, the name of Kena Upanishadha also come from the very first word of its first mantra – Kena, literally meaning “by whom”. The Upanishad has a total of 35 mantras (some verses, some prose) distributed across four sections called khandas.
The verse that struck me in the very first reading was its verse number 5 of Khanda 2. It stresses on the primacy of this world and says that those who come to know It/Him here, in this world, are blessed. Those who couldn’t, are doomed, for the ones who know It/Him achieve immortality.
If one knows It/Him here, in this world, then it’s fine. If not, then it’s a great loss. The wise, who have studied people, conclude that those who know the Truth achieve immortality herein and hereafter.
The phrase “इह चेदवेदीत्” — “if here one has known It” is particularly emphatic: इह (here) points to realisation in this present life, rather than merely after death.
The importance of this mantra can be gauged from the fact that it has been repeated in Brahadaranyaka Upanishadha (4.4.14) and Katha Upanishadha (6.4).
The most striking feature of this mantra is its emphatic affirmation of the existential and soteriological significance of this world. It is here, in this embodied and phenomenal existence, that the consequences of one’s karma are experienced and its fruits are reaped. The mantra thus appears to accord a distinctive value to earthly existence, rather than treating it merely as a transient stage to be transcended.
Kena Upanishadha 4.4
I often wonder how the word philosophy could possibly have come to be translated into Sanskrit or Hindi as darśana. The two words appear to have entirely different origins, etymologies, and, more importantly, conceptual orientations.
Both origin and etymology of the word “philosophy” is quite distinct from what the Sanskrit word “darshan” denotes and connotes. The word “philosophy” is a portmanteau of Ancient Greek philein (meaning to love) and sophia (meaning wisdom). In Latin the word was called philosophia, the French borrowed it and called it philosophie and finally the English called it Philosophy. With all said and done, the meaning of word “philosophy” in the West still remains essentially unchanged: the “love of wisdom.”
Darśana, by contrast, seems to carry a considerably more solemn and experiential connotation than the mere “love of wisdom.” Derived from the Sanskrit root √drś, “to see,” darśana literally signifies “seeing,” “vision,” or “beholding.” In the Indian intellectual and spiritual traditions, however, the term came to denote not merely the act of seeing with the physical eye, but a deeper apprehension of reality—a direct vision or insight into what lies beyond ordinary perception.
The closest word for “darshan” in English, I think, would be “Revelation”. Having originated from the Latin verb revelare, which means “to unveil, to uncover, or to lay bare.”
Darshan, I think, is what Moses had on Mount Horeb (Sinai). There was a flash of lightening and God appeared to him in “a bush that burned without being consumed.” God revealed His identity as “I AM WHO I AM” (Yahweh). So darshan is in fact revelation.
Now compare this with the verse 4 of chapter 4 in Kenopnishadh.
तस्यैष आदेशो यदेतद्विद्युतो व्यद्युतदा ३ इतीति न्यमीमिषदा ३ इत्यधिदैवतम् ॥ ४ ॥
His order/directive/commandment: it’s like clap of lightening—all over; it is like a blink of an eye. It’s Divine.
Here विद्युत् (vidyut) and न्यमीमिषत् (nyamīmiṣat) are strikingly brief and instantaneous images.
That’s Darshan. “Darshan” is when you have a glimpse of something and in that flash of lightening all your riddles stand solved, all your doubts are cleared. It is in such a state of revelation or darshan that an Archimedes yells “Eureka” — and runs out of bathroom, naked!
Verse 4 of chapter 4 in Kenopnishadh leaves a lasting impression on a person because it conjures a vivid image of a divine darshan.