Purnamadah purnamidam: that is whole, this is whole
Purnamadah purnamidam ("that is whole, this is whole") is the invocation of the Isha Upanishad and also opens the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1, both in the Shukla Yajur Veda. It says the whole comes out of the whole, and when the whole is taken from the whole, the whole remains.
Isha Upanishad, invocation
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
oṃ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate |pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate ||
That is whole. This is whole. From the whole, the whole comes out. Take the whole from the whole, and the whole is what remains.
Who said it, and to whom
Recited before and after the Isha Upanishad
It is chanted at the start and end of the Isha, and of other texts of the Shukla Yajur Veda, as a peace chant. In the Brihadaranyaka it opens the fifth chapter and is followed at once by "Om, Brahman is space".
How the acharyas read it
Shankara
Commenting on Brihadaranyaka 5.1.1, Shankara takes "that" as Brahman beyond every condition, and "this" as the same Brahman seen through name and form. Both are whole. The world comes out of Brahman without making it any less, and when knowledge removes the limiting forms, only the whole remains.
Where others read it differently
Other schools keep the image of fullness and read it as the Lord’s fullness, which loses nothing in making and holding the world.
Writing it out
- पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम्pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idamFirst words
- पूर्णमेवावशिष्यतेpūrṇam evāvaśiṣyateLast words: the whole remains
In the text the words are joined: पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते. The visarga (ः) after पूर्णमद is part of the word अदः, "that"; keep both dots.
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पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate | pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate ||
That is whole, this is whole. Take the whole from the whole, and the whole remains.
Isha Upanishad, invocation
The same thought in the Gita
Read next to Bhagavad Gita 9.4: Krishna: this whole world is pervaded by me, in my unmanifest form.
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Send my weekKeep reading
- Ishavasyam idam sarvam: all this, covered by the LordIsha Upanishad 1
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- Asato ma sadgamaya: lead me from the unreal to the realBrihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28
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Questions people ask
- Where is purnamadah purnamidam from?
- It is the invocation (shanti path) of the Isha Upanishad, and the opening of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1.
- What does purnam mean?
- Whole, full, lacking nothing. The verse uses it for both "that" (Brahman) and "this" (the world as it appears).
Sources and method
Isha Upanishad, invocation, Shukla Yajur Veda. Sanskrit from https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_upanishhat/iisha.html.
The English is Wisdom's own, drafted from the Sanskrit with Shankara's commentary (S. Sitarama Sastri's public-domain English) and checked against Swami Paramananda (1919) for tone. Wisdom translation, edited by Ankur Shukla. Commentary AI-drafted, under human review.