Isha Upanishad 20

20

athedānīmavidvannindārtho 'yaṃ mantra ārabhyate --

Now begins the verse for decrying the man who is devoid of knowledge:

Asuryāḥ, of devils; as compared with the attainment of the non-dual state of the supreme Self, even gods are asuras, devils; and the worlds belonging to them are asuryāḥ. The word nāma is a meaningless indeclinable. Te, those; lokāḥ (lit. worlds)—(derived) from the root luk—means the births in which the results of karma are perceived or enjoyed; āvṛtāḥ, are covered; andhena, by blinding—characterised by blinding—characterised by the inability to see; tamasā, by darkness—in the form of ignorance. Tān, to them—that extend up to the motionless (trees etc.); pretya, after departing, giving up this body; gacchanti, go—in accordance with their karma and meditation (on gods etc.); ātmahanaḥ, those that kill the Self. Who are they? Janāḥ, (the common people) those that are ignorant. How do they kill the eternal Self? Because the Self, which exists, is concealed through the fault of ignorance. The experience of the Self as free from decrepitude and death (present in the realisation, "I am free from decrepitude and death"), that comes as a result of the existence of the Self, remains concealed, as is the consciousness of a person who is killed. So the ordinary and ignorant persons are called the killers of the Self. Because of this fault of slaying the Self, they are subject to birth and death.

Now begins the verse for decrying the man who is devoid of knowledge: