Talk:Commentary on Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad: Spiritual Wisdom and Karm
By Vishal Agarwal
Context
The following triad of mantras, numbered 9 to 11, clarifies the relative significance and the mutual necessity of Action, designated here as avidyā, and Spiritual Wisdom, designated as vidyā. After the exposition of the nature of Brahman and the characteristics of the Jīvanmukta in the earlier mantras, a possible confusion may arise regarding the role of action and knowledge in spiritual life. These verses address that concern by explaining that neither action nor spiritual wisdom, when pursued in isolation, is sufficient, and that liberation requires a proper integration of both.
Mantra 9
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते । ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥
Translation
Into blinding darkness they enter who are absorbed in worldly wisdom and karm alone. Into still greater darkness they surely enter who are absorbed in spiritual wisdom alone.
Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 9
Mantra 10
अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्याया अन्यदाहुरविद्याया । इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद्विचचक्षिरे ॥ १० ॥
Translation
Different indeed, they say, is the result of spiritual wisdom, and different, they say, is the result of worldly wisdom and karm. Thus we have heard from the wise ones who explained this clearly to us. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 10
Mantra 11
विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयं सह । अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते ॥
Translation
He who knows both spiritual wisdom and worldly wisdom together transcends death through worldly wisdom and attains immortality through spiritual wisdom. Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 11
Purport and Notes on Mantras 9–11
It is essential to possess both spiritual wisdom, designated as vidyā, and worldly or mundane knowledge that gives rise to the performance of karm, designated as avidyā. The performance of karm guided by mundane knowledge, when carried out in accordance with dharm as taught in the Śāstras, enables one to overcome obstacles of worldly existence and gradually leads one to the threshold of mokṣa. Spiritual wisdom, vidyā, then enables one to enter fully into the state of mokṣa.
If spiritual wisdom is completely neglected and one remains absorbed only in mundane knowledge and the performance of duties, one eventually descends into darkness, ignorance, and sorrow, as already indicated earlier in the Upaniṣad. Conversely, if one devotes oneself exclusively to spiritual wisdom while ignoring svadharm, namely duties towards oneself and others, and neglects worldly knowledge altogether, one falls into an even graver condition. Without the performance of duties and the application of worldly knowledge, the maintenance of life itself becomes impossible.
The expressions overcoming death and attaining immortality essentially refer to the same truth, though the former is stated indirectly and the latter positively. Death manifests not only as the physical end of life but also as conditions such as poverty, severe illness, humiliation, and other afflictions that obstruct spiritual progress. Worldly wisdom and the conscientious performance of karm reduce the likelihood of such impediments and help one cross these forms of death. True immortality, however, arises only from spiritual wisdom.
The third mantra of this triad therefore teaches that karm performed according to dharm and guided by worldly knowledge enables one to cross the miseries of life, including death itself, while spiritual wisdom alone leads one into the state of immortal bliss. Knowing both together implies that one’s actions must be aligned with spiritual wisdom, and that spiritual wisdom must inform and illumine one’s actions, so that the two function in harmony rather than in opposition. This mantra also occurs in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.10 , where the surrounding passages emphasise that mokṣa is attained solely through vidyā.
The central teaching of these three mantras is that one should diligently perform karm in accordance with dharm, using worldly knowledge appropriately, while simultaneously pursuing spiritual wisdom and enlightenment, ensuring that karm and vidyā complement and support each other.
Notes
Many translations render vidyā simply as knowledge and avidyā as ignorance, but such renderings are misleading. Vidyā does not signify mere information or intellectual familiarity with spiritual doctrines. It denotes spiritual wisdom that has been fully assimilated into one’s being. No one is entirely devoid of mundane knowledge or awareness of duties, but most beings lack spiritual wisdom. Avidyā therefore signifies non spiritual knowledge, including knowledge of the world and even scriptural injunctions related to dharm, when one believes that supreme good, immortality, and lasting happiness arise solely from such knowledge and the actions based upon it.
Major traditional commentaries interpret the term avidyā in these mantras as karm, and this understanding is adopted here, since all actions arise from worldly knowledge and the injunctions of dharm. Other scriptural texts also employ avidyā as a synonym for karm. The Upaniṣad does not reject the performance of allotted duties or the value of worldly wisdom. On the contrary, it affirms their necessity, while declaring unequivocally that spiritual wisdom alone finally frees one from despair, ignorance, and suffering.
Vidyā and Avidyā in the Atharvaveda and the Upaniṣads
The complementary pair of Vidyā and Avidyā occurs significantly in the following mantra of the Atharvaveda.
विद्या वा अविद्या च यच्चान्यदुपदेष्यम् । शरीरं ब्राह्मणोऽविशत् सामाथर्वो यजुः ॥
Translation
Vidyā, Avidyā, and whatever else is fit to be taught, the Brahma, Ṛk, Sāma, and Yajus mantras entered the body.
Atharvaveda (Śaunaka Śākhā) 11.8.23
In this Atharvavedic mantra, the term Avidyā cannot reasonably mean ignorance, since that sense does not fit the context. It may denote a category of knowledge distinct from Vidyā, or it may signify karm, because the Vedas teach spiritual wisdom, karm, and also other forms of knowledge derived from worldly experience.
The interpretation of Avidyā as the belief that ritual action alone leads to mokṣa is supported by the following verses of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad.
अविद्यायामन्तरे वर्तमानाः स्वयं धीराः पण्डितंमन्यमानाः । जङ्घन्यमानाः परियन्ति मूढा अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः ॥ ८ ॥
Translation Abiding in Avidyā, yet thinking themselves to be wise and learned, they wander repeatedly, deluded, like the blind led by the blind.
Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.8
अविद्यायां बहुधा वर्तमानाः वयं कृतार्था इत्यभिमन्यन्ति बालाः । यत्कर्मिणो न प्रवेदयन्ति रागात् तेनातुराः क्षीणलोकाश्च्यवन्ते ॥ ९ ॥
Translation Dwelling in manifold Avidyā, these immature ones imagine, “We have attained our goal.” Because ritualists do not know the truth due to attachment, they fall back when the worlds gained through actions are exhausted and again become miserable.
Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.9
The Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad presents a more comprehensive perspective, one that does not reject karm but regards it as essential. The shared teaching of the two Upaniṣads is that exclusive reliance on Avidyā, understood as ritual action and other prescribed activities, while neglecting Vidyā, spiritual wisdom, and believing that action alone leads to the supreme good, is erroneous.
Vidyā - Avidyā in Other Upaniṣads
The third mantra of this triad, corresponding to Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 11, also occurs in the Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad 7.8 in a context that criticises non Vedic doctrines which deny the existence of the ātmā and admit nothing beyond the physical body. The narrative found there, as retold by later teachers, is as follows.
During the Devāsura saṅgrāma, the great battle between the Devas and the Asuras, a stage was reached at which many Asuras were slain, tipping the balance of victory in favour of the Devas. At this point, Śukrācārya, the preceptor of the Asuras, resolved to intervene. He withdrew into the forest to perform austerities in order to acquire Sañjīvanī Vidyā, by which he could revive the fallen Asuras.
When Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of the Devas, learned of this plan, he reflected that the revival of the Asuras would lead to grave calamity for the Devas. He therefore acted pre emptively. Assuming the form of Śukrācārya through deception, Bṛhaspati appeared among the remaining Asuras. Believing that their teacher had returned, they welcomed him with reverence.
Bṛhaspati, in the guise of Śukrācārya, then proclaimed that he had discovered the highest good. He taught that for a happy life one should eat, drink, and enjoy, that there is no such reality as the ātmā, and that the Vedas and all scriptures are false. Having thus deluded them, he caused the bodies of the slain Asuras to be cremated and departed, thereby preventing their revival and saving the Devas from defeat.
When the real Śukrācārya returned and discovered what had occurred, he attempted to remove these teachings from the minds of the Asuras, but by then they had become firmly rooted in their consciousness.
The pair Vidyā and Avidyā also appears in another Upaniṣad.
अक्षरे ब्रह्मपरे विद्याविद्ये निहिते यत्र गूढे । क्षरं ह्यविद्या मृतं तु विद्या विद्याविद्ये ईशते यस्तु सोऽन्यः ॥
Translation Two, Vidyā and Avidyā, are hidden in the imperishable, transcendent Brahman. Avidyā is perishable, whereas Vidyā is immortal. He who rules over Vidyā and Avidyā is distinct from them.
Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.1
In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, several mantras present a triadic framework consisting of the inanimate universe, the living jīvātmā, and the Lord who governs both. By analogy, the imperishable Vidyā must correspond to the jīvātmā, which is eternal, while the perishable Avidyā relates to the inanimate, ever changing physical universe. In this context, Avidyā cannot signify ignorance, as is often assumed. Rather, it denotes knowledge of the perishable world, or the perishable world itself, together with karm undertaken to appropriate its fruits, including those of higher physical realms such as heaven. To suggest that the Lord rules over ignorance would be philosophically incoherent.
Vidyā, on the other hand, may signify the jīvātmā itself, for it is sentient and functions as knower and experiencer, as well as knowledge pertaining to it. Both Vidyā and Avidyā are said to be concealed within the Lord to indicate that He governs and sustains them. The context indicates a pre creative state, in which, during pralaya, both the jīvātmās and the universe exist in an extremely subtle condition without manifest expression. Hence they are described as hidden. Subsequent mantras then unfold the process of creation and the continued lordship of the Divine over the manifested cosmos and individual beings.
For this reason, the expression Akṣare Brahmapare may also be understood as referring to the Imperishable who transcends creation, since this Upaniṣad uses the term Brahman at times to denote the created order as well. Accordingly, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.1 employs the pair Vidyā and Avidyā in a sense closely aligned with that of Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad 9–11, affirming the necessity of recognising both while understanding their proper scope and hierarchy.
Illustrations
Story Brahmā’s Teaching to Indra
The following illustration from the Chhāndogya Upaniṣad elucidates the distinction between Vidyā and Avidyā and demonstrates how incomplete understanding of the ātmā leads to error, while sustained inquiry guided by spiritual wisdom leads to liberation.
*“The ātmā which is free from evil, free from old age, free from death, free from grief, free from hunger, free from thirst, which desires the Truth and has resolved to obtain the Truth, that ātmā should be sought. Him one should desire to understand. He who has discovered and has understood that ātmā obtains all the worlds and all desires.”*
Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.7.1
When both the Asuras and the Devas heard this proclamation from Prajāpati Brahmā, they desired to understand the nature of this ātmā. Accordingly, they deputed their respective kings, Virocana for the Asuras and Indra for the Devas, to approach Brahmā and learn the truth. The two arrived together at Brahmā’s abode and lived with him for several years as students. At the end of this period, they requested instruction concerning the ātmā.
Brahmā asked them to adorn themselves with their finest garments and ornaments and then look at their reflections in a vessel filled with water. When they had done so, Brahmā said to them that the reflections they saw, namely their bodies decorated with garments and ornaments, constituted the ātmā, and that this was his teaching.
Both Indra and Virocana were initially delighted and departed to convey this teaching to their respective followers. When Virocana returned to the Asuras, he proclaimed that the ātmā was nothing other than the physical body. On this basis, he taught that adorning the body with ornaments, gratifying it with food and drink, and providing it with pleasure was the highest goal. The Asuras accepted this doctrine without reflection. They became intensely absorbed in physical enjoyment, neglected charity and sacred rites, and abandoned faith in any higher principle. Identifying the body with the ātmā, they even buried ornaments, garments, and perfumes with their dead, believing that these would continue to be enjoyed after death.
Indra, however, paused on his return journey and reflected deeply. He reasoned that if the body itself were the ātmā, then the ātmā would necessarily become blind, lame, diseased, and perish when the body did so. Such a doctrine, he concluded, could not provide lasting security or hope. With this doubt, Indra returned to Brahmā and resumed his discipleship.
Brahmā then taught him that the being who experiences dreams during sleep is the ātmā. Indra was initially satisfied and again set out to return. Yet reflection once more arose in his mind. In dreams, he observed, one may experience flying or falling, wealth or poverty, injury or pleasure, but upon waking, none of these dream experiences affect waking life. He therefore concluded that the dreamer too could not be the true ātmā. He returned yet again to Brahmā and sought further instruction.
This time, Brahmā taught that the ātmā is that which exists in deep sleep, a state in which there is no dream, no sorrow, and no disturbance. Indra reflected again and found this explanation unsatisfactory, for in deep sleep there appears to be no awareness at all, as though one ceases to exist. Such a teaching seemed to imply annihilation rather than fulfillment. He therefore returned to Brahmā once more and expressed his concern that this doctrine offered no meaningful goal, for no one seeks non existence.
Brahmā smiled and praised Indra’s persistence and discernment, observing that Virocana and the Asuras had failed precisely because they were satisfied with a superficial and materialistic understanding. He then revealed the final teaching. The body, he explained, is merely an abode of the ātmā and all its organs are perishable. The ātmā itself has no form and is associated with the body in the manner of a rider with a chariot. Freed from bodily association, the ātmā possesses the capacity to see, hear, and know by its own nature. That which animates the body, never perishes, and experiences all contacts between the senses and their objects is the ātmā. Indra himself, Brahmā declared, was that ātmā and not the body.
With this realization, Indra attained clarity and peace. He now understood that existence extends beyond the limitations of bodily life. He became fearless, knowing that even when the body ages, suffers, and dies, the ātmā endures. Thus, through sustained inquiry and the refusal to settle for incomplete explanations, Indra attained true spiritual wisdom, exemplifying the path of Vidyā distinguished from Avidyā.
Story: Imperfect and Perfect Sevā of Sambandhar and Appar
Appar and Sambandhar once went on a pilgrimage together with their respective retinues and reached a village called Tiruvīlimalai. At that time, the village was afflicted by a severe famine. Unable to bear the suffering of the people, the two saints resolved to remain there and distribute food. They stayed in two different maṭhas along with their attendants and undertook the task of feeding the villagers.
As they possessed no money, they went to the local temple and prayed earnestly to Īśvara. Pleased with their devotion, Īśvara granted them a sovereign gold coin every day, which appeared at the doorstep of their respective maṭhas. The sovereign given to Appar was accepted readily by merchants as pure gold, and the required provisions were easily procured. As a result, food could be distributed to the people well before midday.
The sovereign received by Sambandhar, however, was of inferior purity. Merchants agreed to accept it only at a discount, and therefore the attendants had to return to the maṭha to seek Sambandhar’s consent before making purchases. This caused a daily delay, and food could be distributed only around the afternoon, close to two o’clock. In due course, Sambandhar noticed this difference and inquired into the cause. On learning that the delay was due to the inferior quality of the gold coins he was receiving, he went to the temple and sang ten verses beginning with वाचितीरवे काचनाल्गुवीर्, questioning the Lord as to why he was being given impure gold.
Īśvara, the embodiment of compassion, then replied that Appar was worshipping Him with mind, speech, and deed, whereas Sambandhar was worshipping Him only with mind and speech. Appar, in addition to prayer and song, spent his days cleaning the temple premises and pathways, making them neat and orderly. It was to highlight this distinction, the Lord explained, that the difference in the coins had been arranged.
Indeed, Appar is traditionally depicted carrying a hoe, a long handled gardening tool. Throughout his life, he visited numerous temples and public places and was distressed to see their surroundings neglected and overgrown with weeds. Wherever he went, he cleaned the pathways with devotion, considering such physical service an essential expression of his love for the Divine.
The example of these saints teaches that places of worship and public spaces should be kept clean and that one should not hesitate to perform sevā through direct action when required. The story also illustrates the complementarity of karm and vidyā, showing that spiritual wisdom remains incomplete without corresponding action. Even one who has attained illumination must continue to perform righteous deeds consistently.
यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यमेव तत् । यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम् ॥
Acts of yajñas, charity, and austerity must not be abandoned; they are indeed to be performed. Yajñas, charity, and austerity are purifying for the wise. Bhagavad Gītā 18.5
Story: Spiritual Knowledge Does Not Save the Life of the Paṇḍit
Once, several men were crossing the river Gaṅgā in a boat. Among them was a learned paṇḍit who took pride in displaying his erudition. He spoke at length about having studied many texts, including the Vedas, the Vedānta, and the six systems of philosophy. Turning to one of his fellow passengers, he asked whether he knew the Vedānta. The man replied respectfully that he did not. The paṇḍit then asked whether he knew the Sāṅkhya or the system of Patañjali, and again received the same answer. With a sense of superiority, the paṇḍit remarked that the man seemed to have read no philosophy at all.
The paṇḍit continued in this vain manner while the other passenger remained silent. Suddenly, a fierce storm arose, and the boat began to rock violently, threatening to sink. At this moment of danger, the previously silent passenger turned to the paṇḍit and asked him calmly whether he knew how to swim. The paṇḍit replied that he did not.
The passenger then said that although he did not know Sāṅkhya or the system of Patañjali, he did know how to swim. The implication was clear. Mere intellectual learning, when not accompanied by practical capacity and lived understanding, may fail to save one in moments of real crisis. The story illustrates that spiritual knowledge, if confined only to verbal learning and not integrated with life and action, is insufficient.