ISHA VAASYA UPANISHAD – SATSANGH PART 2
Namaskar Mahatmas!
We will continue our discussion on the opening prayer of the Ishavaasya Upanishad. As requested by few friends, I have added the word to word meaning of the sloka. This week we will meditate on the first two lines of the prayer.
OM! POORNAMADAH POORNAM IDAM
POORNAAT POORNAMUDACHYATE
POORNASYA POORNAM AADHAAYA
POORNAM EVAA VASISHYATE
OM SHANTI! SHANTI! SHANTIH!
“Purnam” =complete “Adah” =that (Brahman, Supreme Soul)
“Purnamadah” =”that” is complete
“Idam” =”this” (Atman, the individual Soul)
“Purnam Idam”=”This” is also Complete
Poornam or Complete means which is self sufficient; which is Eternal; which IS always there; which does not need any external agency to support it; which is self-effulgent; which is without a second.
Purnam adha purnam idam – “That” is Full; This is Full.” “This” does not mean just the human-being – it means every living and non-living things and even beyond that.
Thus, “Purnamadah Purnamidam” can be understood as Supreme Soul (The Lord) and the Individual Soul both are Complete i.e. whole and identical.
We are not different from Brahman. Vedas say ‘soham soham hamsa:’ meaning ‘I am He and He is me’. In Bhagavat Gita the Lord says that: ‘To this world, I am the grandsire, father, mother, the abode, the friend, the final destination, the support (Pitaham asya Jagato; Gatir bharta prabuh saakshi – chapter 9 slokas 17 & 18) and I am that imperishable seed (Bheejam maam sarva bhootaanaam – chapter 7 sloka 10). Everything in this world has Him within.
“Purnat” =from (that) complete referring to “Supreme Soul”
“Purnam” = (this) complete referring to “Individual Soul”
“Udachyate” = has “come out” or emerged
This means from the “Supreme Soul” (which is complete by itself) [In Vishnu Sahasranamam also we call Lord as ‘poornah’ meaning He is ever full. The Lord is Ever-full with His own glories and powers. The infinite is ever the same. Though things are apparently emerging out of It, still the supreme remains irreducible and without a change], this “Individual Soul” (Complete) has emerged.
The Ocean is full of water. Thus referring to ocean we can say that (the ocean) is complete (Purnam)= full here.
From this, the small vessel is filled with water. Thus referring to the vessel also we can say this is Complete (Purnam) = full here.
Thus, we can say that the ocean is complete (full of water) and the vessel is also complete (full of water).
Purnat Purnam Udachyate meaning
from the Supreme Soul this Individual Soul is emerged.
“From That Completeness has come about This Completeness.” This is a manner of saying that It is Infinite and Full and Complete and that no part can be taken out of It. If we think we are taking a part out, we are not really taking any part out from anywhere; there is no movement from this place to that place. It is Full.
When Shankaracharya asked the Chandala to move from the way, he asked Shankara “Where do you want me to move? If you ask this body to move, it is made up of the same five elements (earth, water, fire, space, air) of which your body is made. If you ask the Atman to move, show me the place where it is not there” – That is the vision of Poornatvam. There is no place where It is not there.
We have heard about this same thought in Ramana Maharishi’s life too. Ramana had Arthritis problem. He used to always stretch his legs and sit. One day, a child was sitting before Ramana with his legs stretched towards Ramana. The parents immediately corrected the child and asked the child to sit properly. Before the parents completed the sentence, Ramana too folded his legs and sat in Sukhasan. The parents went to Ramana and asked him why he did so. He said ‘if I am the Lord to the child, the same Lord is in him too. So, that advice holds good for me too’.
Everyone and everything has come out of that one source. If we understand and live with that truth, all our sorrows end; all our desires end. The nature of world is to change. And we expect something permanent from this world which will never happen. (Sugar can never become sour or bitter) As long as this is not accepted, the sorrow continues in our life. What is the need and where is the need when one feels/understands that one is full? We have come across many stories in Bhagavatham and other Puranas which explains the happiness of a bhakta without any worldly richness or comfort. As long as we have the Lord inside our heart and when we are convinced that we belong to Him, we are complete. Our dependency on the world for happiness ends. In whichever place we are, we will be happy or nothing can disturb our happiness when this ‘completeness’ comes into our lives.
What is the pUrNAt pUrNam?
We all know that cloth is born from the cotton. The cloth does not differ from cotton. The cloth is cotton. Does that mean that there are now two things, cotton and cloth? No. Just one thing. Cotton is there. Cotton appearing as cloth – are one single nondual reality (if we remove cotton, the cloth cannot exist). That is all creation is about. The cotton is the substratum, the base for the cloth to exist. Similarly from the Supreme Brahman, everything is born (Poornaat poornam). Like cotton which pervades the whole of cloth, the Brahman pervades the whole of the creation.
Whether it is a gold bangle or a gold chain or a gold ring or an gold idol, it has all the qualities of gold within it. The names and forms if removed, the gold alone remains.
Although everything appears to be incomplete in our eyes (because of desires), in its true Essence, everything is Complete, Full. That means, when the so-called ‘limited’ being (Jiva, we thinking that ‘I am the body), recognizes and realises his inner Essence, he begins to know and understand that he is not different from the Absolute Essence, understands that they are also infinite and therefore both are Full!
The king who acts in a drama as a beggar knows in his heart of heart that he is not the beggar and the big palace and riches are his place. Similarly the ultimate knowledge is the vision of Poornatvam.
Arjuna had all confusions to fight against the Kauravas because of his wrong identification with the body. The Lord in the second chapter tells Arjuna that he is the atman and not the body; the body has a beginning and end whereas the atman has neither birth nor death; in this changing body there is a changeless, witnessing consciousness and shows him who really he is throughout the Gita in various ways. When this completeness is understood, like Arjuna we can face the war of life with a smiling face. The gain and loss; victory and defeat; heat and cold; pleasure and pain has nothing to do in our life. We become a witness to all experiences and remain in inner peace.
This is the only solution to all our problems. Now we know how futile it is to fulfill our desires. How ignorant to have desires at the first place!!!!!!
How many of us forward the mails which says that ‘if you forward it to five or seven people best luck will knock at our door the same day’ – thinking that we will become prosperous or something wrong will come to us if we don’t send. When we are convinced that we are complete, these mails we will delete immediately. The fear or desire can be erased only with knowledge.
In this mantra, it has been declared that every living being is complete in itself as the Supreme Atma is. There may be difference in size and form, but in essence and quality there is no difference.
We will meditate on this and we will meet next week and continue on the next two lines of the invocation mantra.
HARI OM!
