hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

Namasté

the īśāvāsya upaniṣad , 9th śloka informs us of the following:
andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye avidyām upāsate |
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyṁ ratāḥ ||

The definiton of the words will be helpful for a reasonable discussion...
  • andhaṁ or andha अन्ध- blind, dark, darkness; as a noun it is also a name for people
  • tamaḥ or tama तम- darkness
  • praviśanti प्रविशन्ति - moving forth, through, entering ; we can see this in pra+vi+śanti. Note that 'vi' is rooted in 'bhid' to pass through which also means to transgress , violate.
  • ye or yaka यक- who
  • avidyām or avidyā अविद्या - ignorance; unlearned , unwise
  • upāsate or upāsana उपासन - homage, worship; also serving , waiting upon , service , attendance ; as a noun it is 'being intent on or engaged in' .
  • tato or tata which is tad तद् - meaning that, in that manner, therefore
  • bhūya भूय - becoming, being, yet bhū means 'to be transformed into' ; it also means 'to fall to the share or become the property of'
  • iva इव - in the same manner as, as if
  • te , in my view this is iti इति -which means in this manner , thus ; also used as ' as you know'
  • tamo tamaḥ or tama तम-is darkness
  • ya य or yaka यक - who
  • u उ - or, on the other hand (uta); some say 'but' or 'now'
  • vidyāyṁ or vidyā विद्या - knowledge - this can be true or false, yet we think of learning , scholarship , philosophy. Some
    say there are some there are four vidyā-s or sciences i.e. 1. trayī , the triple veda ; 2. ānvīkṣikī , logic and metaphysics ; 3. daṇḍa-nīti or science of government and 4. vārttā , practical arts , such as agriculture , commerce , medicine .Yet we must add a 5th, ātma-vidyā , knowledge of soul or of spiritual truth. Some say there is 14 divisions of this family of vidyā-s : the four vedas , the six vedāṅgas , the purāṇas , the mīmāṃsā. nyāya , and dharma or law ( 4 + 6 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 =14).
  • ratāḥ or ratā रता- delighted; pleased , amused , gratified ; this also means intent upon , fond or enamored of , devoted or attached
We now have a base of defined words. I have also added 4 translations¹ below so one could compare and contrast how others see this. IMHO this śloka suggests the following,
Those who worship (upāsana) ignorance (avidyā) enter/move forth (praviśanti) into blind darkness (andha-tamaḥ);
yet ( 'u' or on the other hand) those that delight (ratā or are enamored) with knowledge ( vidyā or vidyāyṁ) in the same manner (iva) fall into or are possessed ( r become i.e. bhūya) by darkness (tamas).

How can this be? How can one that pursues vidyā fall into greater darkness? How does one then rationalize this śloka with the offering Kṛṣṇa gives us in chapter 4, 38th śloka of the Bhāgavad gītā:
na hi jñānena sadṛṣaṁ pavitram i.e. certainly ~indeed (hi) there is nothing (na) so purifying (pavitram) or suitable (sadṛṣaṁ) then knowledge (jñānena).

There must be something deeper that is being offered in this īśāvāsya upaniṣad, no? Do you have a POV on this matter and how to make sense of this seemingly apparent contradiction?

praṇām

references

4 translations - Three different views of this śloka + one scholarly for good measure

  • svāmi śivānanda
    They who worship avidyā (ignorance) fall into blind(ing) darkness : and they who worship vidyā alone fall into even greater darkness -
  • svāmī muni nārāyaṇa prāsad
    Into a blinding darkness enter those who adore ignorance (avidyā), and more pitch-black as it were is the darkness entered by those who delight in knoweldge vidyā
  • svāmī prabhupāda
    hose who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge
  • Board of Scholars - edited by KL Joshi, O.N. Bimala and Bindia Trivedi
    The persons who are mere devotees to material learning (avidyā) surround in the gross ignorance (darkness); and they also in the same way surround ( trapped) with ignornace who are only devotees to learning ( conscience)