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ISAVASYA UPANISHAD
That one (the Self), though never stirring, is swifter than thought. The Devas (senses) never reached it, it walked before them. Though standing still, it overtakes the others who are running. Matarisvan (the wind, the moving spirit) bestows powers on it. (trans. Max Muller)
Unmoving, It is one, faster than the mind. The senses cannot reach It, for It proceeds ahead. Remaining static It overtakes others that run. On account of Its presence, Matarsiva (the wind) conducts the activities of beings. (Panoli)
This verse is the statement of Omnipotence of Isa. Omnipotence is power with no limits. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to God. In the philosophy of most Western monotheistic religions, omnipotence is listed as one of God's characteristics among many, including omniscience, omnipresence, and benevolence. Isa Upanishad defines Isa with exactly these four characteristics.
Act 17:27-29 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent.
MANTRA 5
tadejati tannaijati taddure tadvantike tadantarasya sarvasya tadu sarvasya bahyatah || 5 ||
He moves but does not move; He is far away, yet He is very near; He is everywhere of this and even outside of this.
It stirs and it stirs not; it is far, and likewise near. It is inside of all this, and it is outside of all this. (trans, Max Muller)
The Transcendence and Immanence of Isa are a pair of necessary truths, which must be held together.
To emphasize either side and neglect the other is to fall into serious error. To believe in God's transcendence and to neglect His immanence is to fall into Deism. To believe in His immanence and to neglect His transcendence is to fall into Pantheism.
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