Explanation
of Om! Purna-madah purna-midam
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Translation and explanation by: revised 5
Jun 22
Ramananda Prasad, Ph.D., International Gita Society,
USA
ॐ पूर्णमदः
पूर्णमिदम् पूर्णात्
पूर्णमुदच्यते.
पूर्णस्य
पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते.
ॐ शान्तिः
शान्तिः
शान्तिः
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!
ॐ
पूर्णमदः
पूर्णमिदम् ,
पूर्णात्
पूर्णमुदच्यते.
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: Satyam
(Reality), Jnaanam (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 Vedanta 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, Atma, 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 verses 7.07,
7.19:
Everything is Brahman (vaasu-devah
sarvam-iti).
There is nothing that is not Brahman. 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? Atma 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, but all are limited in time and
space. 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
it’s 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 Vedanta.
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.
Vedanta 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 Samadhi (or super-conscious state of mind) brings
bliss and peace. The elimination of duality in Samadhi 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, 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 creature. 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. Jiva, Jagata, and Jagadisha are One!
Vedanta 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 of the web 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 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. That
which is One has become All these (RV
8.58.02). The
One is all these, and He is in all. The Creator undergoes no change to become the creation! He is also the creation
(see Gita verse 11.37). The Absolute (ParaBrahma) subsumes both—Kshara beings
and Akshara Brahma—aspects as described in Gita verses 15.16-18.
पूर्णस्य
पूर्णमादाय,
पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते.
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 remains in His infinite trascendental 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 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 the
vapor, the cloud, the rain, the ice, as well as the bubble, the lake, the
river, the wave, and the ocean; gold becames 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 Mithyaa 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 (Ishaa-vaasyam 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 and the same—it’s neither ocean nor the waves, but water. We are all Atma, not our physical bodies. Having understood this, one attains
liberation.
Om Tat Sat
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