Explanation of: Om! purnamadah purnamidam …
(The most important shloka of the Vedas)
purnāt purnam-udacyate.
purnasya purnamādāya,
purnam-eva-avashishyate.
A simple translation:
Brahman is infinite, all creatures
are also infinite;
From infinite Brahman, all
creatures come out.
Having come out all
creatures, from the Infinite Brahman;
Brahman still remains
infinite, unlimited, unchanged!
The dictionary meanings of the most important word
"Purnam" in this verse are: full, whole, complete, boundless,
accomplished, powerful, infinite, limitless etc. The word limitless (Anantam)
has been used to describe Brahman in the Vedas and the Upanishads. We have
chosen the word limitless or infinite for the word “Purnam” here.
Mathematically, the word
"infinite or limitless" fits better than any other word to describe
the indescribable Brahman in our opinion. Taittiriya Upanishad (verse 2.1.1)
defines Brahman as: s=ty=], N=n=], an=nt=m=< v=>É [Satyam
(Reality), Jnānam (Knowledge), Anantam
(Infinite, Purnam)]. This Upanishad also states Brahman is that from which
everything comes, and is sustained by, and into which everything enters in the
end (verse 3.1.1).
Reading any literal
translation, a new student or any first time reader of Vedānta can get
confused. But, as we will see, this verse is very profound. It is so profound
that someone said: Let all the Upanishads and Vedic literatures disappear from
the face of the earth, I don’t mind so long as this one verse survives and
remains engraved in the mind of even a single individual. This is not an
ordinary verse. It contains the Vedic vision, the universal Truth of oneself.
It answers the fundamental question: Who am I and how can I live a peaceful and
happy life in this world full of difficulties?
The first part of this great
mantra says that everything— unknown Spirit (Adah,
That, Ātmā or I, Jagadish) and known objects of the world (or Idam,
all this, Jiva and Jagat)— is nothing but the limitless (Brahman, Purnam). The Bhagavad-Gita also says
in verse 7.24: Everything is Brahman (vāsudevah sarvam-iti). There is nothing that is
not Brahman or Purusha. There is Brahman only and nothing else in the universe
and that Brahman is limitless, infinite, one of a kind, and the source and sink
of the entire cosmos.
Our experience indicates that all the objects that we
see seem to be limited in space, time, and in many other ways. Then how can
everything in the universe and the world be unlimited? Ātmā or spirit
is considered limitless, but how can visible objects, such as the world and our
bodies, be called infinite? Can we call everything as infinite? The ocean can
be called limitless, but not the waves. Some waves are quite large, some are
small, all are limited in time and space, but not in numbers!! The waves appear
limited as long as we look at the waves and the ocean as separate or
"dual" entities. If we consider the wave as part and parcel of the ocean,
or consider both the ocean and the wave as water only, then the wave is
limitless like the ocean.
From a non-dualistic viewpoint if ocean is limitless,
so is the wave, because both the ocean and the wave are a single, non-dual
entity. Thus from a dualistic view point, the wave
"appears" incomplete, and limited, but is really infinite as the
ocean itself. Thus, if there is only a single entity, then the question of one
being infinite or complete and the other limited or finite does not arise at
all. If we consider we are not the body, but the infinite spirit
residing in the bodies, then, we are limitless and infinite. Duality is apparent, not real.
The negation of
duality means negation of the reality of duality, but not the negation of
appearance or experience of duality. The experience of duality that we see in real life
is apparent or relative, called unreal in Vedānta. From a dualistic
viewpoint, a small wave is afraid of being swallowed by the large wave and
prays to the ocean for protection from large waves. This is what prayers and
worships are. From a non-dualistic point of view, there is no such fear.
Everything in the world is an interaction, a play, a cosmic drama, only.
Vedānta acknowledges duality as apparent—not real—experience of difference
between various objects. The Unity appears diversified. The experience of
non-duality brings joy and bliss. Even a temporary escape from duality and the
experience of non-duality during Samādhi (or super-conscious state of mind) brings
bliss and peace. The elimination of duality in Samādhi is temporary and beyond the reach of everyone. A
complete and full negation of the reality of duality has a permanent, wonderful,
blissful, effect on our entire psyche. It comes after the true Knowledge of the
Self.
The experience of duality
does not create a problem as long as we fully understand that duality is apparent and not real.
And I am not different or separate from the world, and the world is not
different from me. Everything is Brahman only. The limitless, infinite or non-dual Brahman also means
that no entity other than Brahman exists in the cosmos and Brahman is both the creator and
the creatures. In other words, Brahman is both the material and
efficient or instrumental cause of the creation, the cosmos. There is no other
cause or existence, except Brahman.
Vedānta cites two
beautiful examples of how one and the same entity can be both the material and
instrumental cause of creation. One example is that of the female spider who
creates its web from the material within herself. The female spider is both: the creator and
creation, the web. The entire creation, both visible and
invisible, comes out during the creative cycle and gets dissolved or drawn into
Brahman during great dissolution (see BG 9.07). Brahman brings the
material from within, weaves the beautiful and wonderful tapestry called the
cosmos, and takes it all within again and again, just as the spider does.
Another example is the dream
world where the dreamer’s
mind is both the material and instrumental cause of the dream world.
The cosmos is created as the cosmic mind’s dream creation. When we dream, both
the subject (or the seer of the dream-world) and the objects of the dream-world
both happen to be the dreamer himself. The dreamer’s mind is both the material
and creative cause of the dream-world. When we fight a dream-war in a
dream-battlefield, the warriors on both sides—the bombs, bullets, rocky
terrain, the land mines, nurses, ambulance, medical supplies as well as the
seer of the dream-world—are all none other than the dreamer’s mind.
Thus, the first half of this great Upanishadic verse
beautifully tells in a nutshell that the limitless Brahman is both the material
and efficient cause of creation. The creation comes from the
creator, and both the creation and the creator are infinite and the same.
There is no entity in the cosmos other than the creator. He has become all, and
He is all, and He is in all. The Creator undergoes no real change to become the creation.
Now, what happens to the
infinite when infinite creations come out of it during creation and goes into
it during dissolution is explained in the second half of the verse that states:
purnasya
purnamādāya, purnam-eva-avashishyate
After taking away the infinite creation from the
infinite Brahman during the creative cycle or adding infinite universes to the
infinite Brahman during the great dissolution, the infinite Brahman alone
remains in His infinite Universal form. This can be mathematically expressed
as: infinity plus or minus infinity, equals infinity. This infinite Universal
form of
The limitless
Brahman remains unchanged even after countless universes come out of it. What kind of change does
the limitless transcendental form have to undergo to produce limitless visible
and invisible worlds? Actually, there is no real change during the process of
this transformation because nothing is created or destroyed in the universe. It
just changes form, and a name-change goes with the new form. According to the law of
conservation of energy, energy or matter can never be created or destroyed, but
only can be transformed from one form to another; from the invisible form to
the visible form and vice-versa. Much later, Einstein came up with the same
conclusion when he proposed his famous equation: E= mc2. Thus
Brahman does not undergo any intrinsic change when infinite, visible cosmos
come out of it. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita that the visible
infinite world is just a tiny fraction of His energy (BG 10.41-42).
Several examples can be
given of such a change. The dreamer does not undergo any change when the objects of
the dream-world come out of him. Cotton appears as cloth without undergoing
a real change. The cloth is nothing but cotton in a different form. The gold chain is
made from gold without any real change in gold itself. Similarly, clay becomes
a pot. Clay
remains clay before the creation of the pot, during the creation of the pot,
and after the pot is destroyed. There was no pot ever; it was clay all the
time. Clay appeared as pot. Water appears as ocean, waves and bubbles; gold became a
chain; dreamer became dream objects without undergoing any real change.
Similarly, the rope
appears as a snake in the darkness of night, and the non-dual Brahman appears
as a dual world due to our mental conditioning created by the darkness of
ignorance. The visible world and all its objects are nothing but the
invisible—but not formless—Brahman only.
Unreal duality is temporarily
superimposed on Reality like a wave is superimposed on the ocean, snake on the
rope, and body on the Spirit!! Temporary superimposition is called Mithyā
in Sanskrit. This verse
leads us to discover that I am not this body, but the limitless Spirit which I
longed to be. This discovery
is called Moksha in Upanishads.
Thus, the creation, an
effect, is not different from its material and instrumental cause, the
imperishable Brahman (see BG Chapters 13 and 15). The objects of the
world do not have to be eliminated, given up, or even completely negated, as
dream-objects, to see Brahman everywhere and in everything (BG 6.30).
The chain need not be melted to see the gold in it. Similarly, one need not
leave the world to find God. In a piece of cloth, the weaver is not hidden inside the cotton or the
yarn. However, in the creation, the creator is not only the
material and the efficient cause, but He is present in every atom of the creation, in every
cell of our body (Ishāvāsyam idam sarvam). This is the difference
between human engineering and the cosmic engineer. The cosmic mind manifests
Himself in different forms. This is the Knowledge of transcendental science, so
simple and beautiful.
The entire creation is His
body, a divine manifestation that one must learn to love, respect and revere.
There is no sin or sinner, just different masks of the supreme. The sinner is
the one who is like an unripe mango, very sour and bitter; while a true saint
is the juicy, sweet and flavorful, like a ripe mango.
This
understanding of spirituality will bring a fresh outlook, a refreshing breeze
of fresh air of understanding persons of other faiths, cultures, and countries.
It will enrich our individual lives, it cannot change the world overnight. It can
be concluded that an understanding of non-duality is spirituality; and duality
is the partial knowledge and understanding of the creator in any religion. This
partial knowledge of the so called religions has created conflicts and
religious wars that can only be eliminated with the Vedic science of non-dual,
transcendental, metaphysical Knowledge—so beautifully explained in the Vedic
scriptures such as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Upanishads. This single
Upanishadic verse is the essence of spirituality and the true religion. It can
bring peace, understanding, and harmony in the world and in our personal lives.
One does not have to change one’s religion to become spiritual. From infinite Brahman, infinite universes come out and
get dissolved, but infinite Brahman remains infinite. Just like infinite number
of waves come up and go down in the ocean, but ocean ever remains the same. Because
ocean and the wave are, indeed, always
One only—that’s neither ocean nor the
wave, but water!!
************* 11.2.2023 *************
Appendix: Gita also says in verse 13.19: Know that both Prakrti and Purusha are beginningless and endless or infinite, because both are parts of Energies of Purushottama, who is the Source of both. Also read Gita Verses 7.04-06.
During creative cycle, Lord’s
power of Maya takes
a small fraction of the vast invisible Conscious Energy of Purusha and makes it as
Infinitely large number of visible manifestations (Jiva and Jagat, or matter). And
during destructive cycle it converts back to its original invisible Energy form. Thus, infinite
Brahman does not undergo any real change during the cycles of creation
and destruction. It’s only a change of His Energy to matter and vice-versa inside the infinite Cosmic Bubble!
The
creation is not in Brahman, but it is Brahman that exists in the form of
creation. Creation is the visible part of transcendental body of Brahman.
Because humans cannot see Brahman, the mind makes us believe that creation is
separate and different from Brahman. Thus appearance of duality (or the
world) is nothing but a creation of mind or Maya like a dream world is a
creation of mind.
Om! Tat Sat