विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा संभूत्यामृतमश्नुते ॥ १४ ॥
vināśena mṛtyuṃ tīrtvā saṃbhūtyāmṛtamaśnute || 14 ||
Isha Upanishad Home
Isha – Sri Shankara’s Introduction
Isha – Invocation
Isha – 1-īśāvāsyamidaṃ sarvaṃ
Isha – 2-kurvanneveha karmāṇi
Isha – 3-asuryā nāma te lokā
Isha – 4-anejadekaṃ manaso
Isha – 5-tadejati tannaijati
Isha – 6-yastu sarvāṇi
Isha – 7-yasminsarvāṇi bhūtāny
Isha – 8-sa paryagāc chukram
Isha – 9-andhantamaḥ praviśanti
Isha – 10-anyad evāhur vidyayā
Isha – 11-vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca
Isha – 12-andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti
Isha – 13-anyad evahūḥ
Isha – 14-sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ
Isha – 15-hiraṇmayena pātreṇa
Isha – 16-pūṣann ekarṣe yama
Isha – 17-vāyur anilam amṛtam
Isha – 18-agne naya supathā
Commentary by Sri Adi Sankaracharya – Translated in English
As this is so, this mantra declares the desirability of combining the worship of Prakriti and Hiranyayarbha as they combine to secure the one aim of the individual. ‘Vinasa’ means that active object whose characteristic attribute is Destruction, the abstract being here used for the concrete. ‘By vinasa’ means ‘by the worship of Hiranyagarbha.’ ‘Gets over death’ means ‘gets over the defects of vice, desires and anaisvaryam (limited powers) and attains anima and other siddhis which are the result of the worship of Hiranyagarbha. Having thus overcome anaisvaryam, death, etc., he, by the worship of Prakriti, attains immortality, i.e., absorbtion into Prakriti. It should be noted that the word Sambhutih is an apheresis for Asambhutih agreeably to the results predicated, i.e., absorption into Prakriti.
Commentary by Swami Sivananda
Here the word Sambhuti is an aphesis for Asambhuti. The taking away of a letter or syllable at the beginning of a word is aphesis. The letter ‘a’ in Asambhuti is taken away. Here Sambhuti really means Asambhuti. Vinasa means Hiranyagarbha. The abstract is used here for the concrete. ‘Death’ here means limited powers, desires, vices. By worship of Hiranyagarbha he gets Aisvarya (Siddhis). Immortality here means absorption into Prakriti. The desirability of combining the worship of Hiranyagarbha and unborn Prakriti is mentioned in this verse, just as the desirability of combining the worship of Avidya and Vidya is declared in verse 11.
Ishavasya Upanishad – Verse 14 – Isha – 14-sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ – In Sanskrit with English Transliteration, Meaning and Commentary by Adi Shankaracharya (Sankara Bhashya) and Swami Sivananda – Ishavasya-14