ईशावास्यम् इदं सर्वम्

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The words of the verse

Six key words carry the whole meaning. Tap each one to see its Devanagari, its IAST transliteration and what it means — then the verse reads itself.

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The verse, its meaning and a grammar key

The verse (Īśāvāsya Upanishad, verse 1 — public domain):

ॐ ईशा वास्यम् इदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत्।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम्॥

oṃ īśā vāsyam idaṃ sarvaṃ yat kiñca jagatyāṃ jagat |
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam ||

ईशा (īśā) — by the Lord / the Supreme (instrumental: “by Īśa”).
वास्यम् (vāsyam) — is to be pervaded / enveloped, dwelt-in.
इदं सर्वम् (idaṃ sarvam) — all this; यत् किञ्च (yat kiñca) — whatever.
जगत्याम् जगत् (jagatyāṃ jagat) — the moving (thing) in the moving world.
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथाः (tena tyaktena bhuñjīthāḥ) — therefore enjoy through renunciation (with a spirit of letting go).
मा गृधः कस्य स्विद् धनम् (mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam) — do not covet — whose, after all, is wealth?

Whole meaning: Everything in this ever-moving world is pervaded by the Lord. So enjoy it with detachment — and do not covet anyone’s wealth, for in truth nothing belongs to any one of us alone.

The Divine fills everything. The verse begins by saying the whole world is “covered” by Īśa. Nothing is left out — rivers, forests, food, money, you. Seeing the world this way changes how we treat it.
We are trustees, not owners. If everything belongs to the Whole, then a person is like a caretaker of what passes through their hands — use it well, then pass it on. This idea (आत्म-संयम and trusteeship) was a favourite of thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi.
Enjoy through renunciation (त्याग). This is the surprising part: the verse does not say “give up everything and suffer”. It says enjoy — but without clinging. Take what you genuinely need; do not grab.
Do not covet (मा गृधः). Greed for another’s wealth disturbs the mind and harms others. Contentment (सन्तोष) is the natural result of seeing the world as held in trust.

Common misreading: the verse is not against using or enjoying the world. “Enjoy with renunciation” means enjoy without attachment or greed — a balanced middle path, not a vow of poverty.

सर्वनाम (pronoun). A सर्वनाम stands in for or points to a noun. इदम् is the demonstrative meaning “this” — it points to something near.
Three genders, three forms. Sanskrit nouns have gender, so “this” has three shapes (singular, nominative): masculine अयम् (ayam), feminine इयम् (iyam), neuter इदम् (idam).
Why the verse says इदं सर्वम्. सर्वम् (“all”) is neuter, so the matching “this” is the neuter इदम्. A pronoun always agrees with its noun in gender, number and case.
The particle मा. मा means “do not” and is used for a prohibition: मा गृधः = “do not covet”. (Compare न, which simply negates a statement: न गच्छति = “does not go”.)

Worked example. Choose the right form of “this”: ___ बालकः (boy, masc.) · ___ बालिका (girl, fem.) · ___ फलम् (fruit, neut.).

अयम् बालकः — masculine noun → masculine “this” (अयम्).

इयम् बालिका — feminine noun → feminine “this” (इयम्).

इदम् फलम् — neuter noun → neuter “this” (इदम्), just like इदं सर्वम् in the verse.

Common mistake: do not use इदम् for every gender. इदम् is the neuter form; use अयम् for masculine and इयम् for feminine nouns.

Where you'll meet it

The verse, in everyday life

Caring for the Earth

“All this is pervaded by the Divine” is one of the oldest statements of stewardship. If forests, rivers and air are held in trust, we use them carefully and leave them whole for the next generation — the heart of any environmental movement.

Contentment over comparison

“मा गृधः” — do not covet — is a daily antidote to the habit of comparing our things with everyone else’s. Enjoying what we have with detachment brings a calm the endless chase for “more” never does.

Sharing what we hold

A trustee shares. Families that treat a good harvest, a bonus or extra time as something to share — not hoard — live the verse without ever quoting it.

Check yourself

Competency quiz

A mix of MCQ, assertion–reason and a case study — testing whether you can use the verse’s meaning and grammar, not just recall the words.

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ईशावास्यम्इदं सर्वम्