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Om Purnamadah Purnamidam

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Evening aarti in a temple: a priest holds a five-wick brass lamp before the decorated deities, with devotees’ hands folded
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  1. Shanti mantra

    ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते। पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते॥ ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥

    Om poornamadah poornamidam poornaatpoornamudachyate | Poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaavashishyate || Om shaantih shaantih shaantih ||

    Word by word: purnam, full; adah, that (beyond the senses); idam, this (what is before us); purnat, from the full; purnam udachyate, the full comes forth; purnasya, from the full; purnam adaya, taking away the full; purnam eva avashishyate, the full alone remains. Meaning: That is full; this is full. From the full, the full comes forth. When the full is taken from the full, the full alone remains. Om, peace, peace, peace.

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Meaning, sources and more prayers: sanatanbodh.in/en/prayers/om-purnamadah/

In short

“Om Purnamadah Purnamidam” is the first verse of the fifth chapter of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (5.1.1). It says that that is full, this is full, from the full the full comes forth, and when the full is taken from the full, the full alone remains. By tradition it is recited as a shanti (peace) mantra before and after the Isha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads.

On the text: in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (5.1.1) the verse goes on with the lines beginning “Om kham brahma”; as a shanti path only the first two lines and ‘Om shantih shantih shantih’ are said. The verse is not in the text of chapter 40 of the Shukla Yajurveda (the Isha Upanishad itself), but by tradition the recitation of the Isha Upanishad begins with it. Some popular prints read ‘purnamuchyate’; the Upanishad reads ‘purnamudachyate’ (comes forth). A common reading takes ‘that’ as the Supreme (Brahman) and ‘this’ as the world that comes forth from it.

Frequently asked questions

Which text is this mantra from?

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 5.1.1, an Upanishad of the Shukla Yajurveda. By tradition it is also the shanti path of the Isha Upanishad.

What does ‘when the full is taken from the full, the full remains’ mean?

On a common reading, the Supreme (Brahman) is full and the world that comes forth from it is also full; its coming forth takes nothing away from that fullness.

When is this mantra recited?

By tradition as a shanti mantra at the beginning and end of the recitation of the Isha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. Many people also say it at the end of a puja or a lesson.

Sources

  1. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1 (text on sanskritdocuments.org; Swami Madhavananda’s edition on wisdomlib.org)
  2. Shanti path of the Isha Upanishad (shlokam.org)
  3. Checked: Shukla Yajurveda, Vajasaneyi Samhita, chapter 40 (Sanskrit Wikisource)

Something wrong? Report a mistake

Text checked against: sanskritdocuments.org, wisdomlib.org, shlokam.org, sa.wikisource.org