Vedanta - Infinity.
முடிவின்மை
The Shanthi Sloka which I outlined in the earlier blog “The Ultimate Reality” appears to be a very simple hymn. Let us examine the same.
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
English Transliteration
Om Pūrṇam-Adah Pūrṇam-Idam Pūrṇaaat-Pūrṇam-Udacyate |
Pūrṇasya Pūrṇam-Aadaaya Pūrṇam-Eva-Avashissyate ||
Om Shaantih Shanthi Shaantih ||
Literal Meaning/Translation
Translated literally, this Sloka means
That is whole; this is whole;
From that whole this whole came;
From that whole, this whole removed,
What remains is whole.
In Tamil this will be
ஓம் முழுமை தான் அது, முழுமை தான் இது .
அம்முழுமையினில் இம்முழுமை தன் உதயம்
அம்முழுமையினில் இம்முழுமை கழியினும் முழுமை
In the words of Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the eminent Indian Philosopher, “the first reaction that may come to one’s mind could be Upanishads are the prattling of an infantile mind." An innocuous looking verse with a noun, couple of pronouns, few verbs and a particle for emphasis conveying nothing except talking about “whole”. What kind of a hymn is this?
Understanding the Sloka:
Well, however innocuous it looks, the Sloka is loaded with the entire Vedanta bringing out the very essential nature and purpose of existence of human being and his/her relationships with the Universe and the Ultimate Reality. Let us examine meaning of each of the main words before we start our understanding of the Sloka.
The word ॐ - OM:
ॐ (Om): This symbol is a sacred syllable representing Brahman, the impersonal Absolute - omnipotent, omnipresent, and the source of all manifest existence. It is the audible expression of the transcendental, attributeless ground of reality, Brahman. Om, therefore, represents both the unmanifest (nirguna) and manifest (saguna) aspects of God. That is why it is called pranava—meaning that it pervades life and runs through our prana or breath.
The word पूर्णमं – Pūrṇam
“Pūrṇam” is that to which there is no limit; beyond which there can be nothing. The śāstrik meaning of pūrṇam is, that more than which nothing can exist, i.e., it is the infinite. It is a beautiful Sanskrit word which means completely filled - a fullness which (in its Vedic scriptural sense) is wholeness itself, absolute fullness lacking nothing whatsoever.
The words - “adah & idam”
“adah” means “that”; this word is always used to refer to something remote from the speaker in time, place or understanding. Something which is remote in the sense of adah is something which, at the time in question, is not available for direct knowledge; it refers to a thing to be known, a thing which due to some kind of remoteness is not present for immediate knowledge but remains to be known upon destruction of the remoteness. “idam” means “this”; it refers to something not remote but present, here and now, immediately available for perception, something directly known or knowable.
The word udacyate means comes forth and the word Avashissyate means what remains.
With this basic understanding of the words involved, let us revisit the literal translations given above and do a simple substitution as under:
the word “that (அது)” with the word “Ocean (கடல்)”
the word “this (இது)” with the word “wave (அலை)” &
the word “whole (முழுமை)” with the word “ water (நீர்)”
With these substitutions, how do the literal translations look like?
Ocean is Water; Wave is water;
From that Water this Water came;
From that Water, this Water removed,
What remains is Water.
அக்கடல்தான் நீர், இவ்வலைதான் நீர்
அக்கடலில் இவ்வலை தன் உதயம்
அக்கடலில் இவ்வலை கழியினும் நீர்
Are we playing with semantics or are we getting some ideas about what this Sloka conveys? Ocean and wave are essentially one and the same. Why? Ocean is also water. Wave is also water. Both of them are one and the same. But one can also say, wave originates from the ocean. And when you say a wave originates from ocean, what is the standpoint? Not from water stand point because by nature (by svarūpa) they both are water only. From the stand point of name and form (nāma -rūpa) which is from an individual and a total standpoint. Wave is individual nāma -rūpa (called the vyaṣṭi -nāma -rūpa). Ocean is total nāma -rūpa (called the Samaṣṭi - nāma -rūpa) and Nāma -rūpa -dṛṣṭyā (dṛṣṭyā means ‘from that angle’) .
Let us now look at these three words again closely:
pUrNam (water): The nature of pUrNam is wholeness, completeness limitlessness. There cannot be pUrNam plus something or pUrNam minus something. It is not possible to add or to take away from limitlessness. That means we are looking at something which does not have a beginning and an end; that is not defined and bound; something which is eternal and not perishable; something which is omnipresent; something which is responsible for creation/manifestation of that & this and everything else. Something that is not affected by time and space. பூர்ணம் என்பது முழுமை அல்லது நிறைவைக் குறிக்கும். அது காலம், நேரம், பொருளால் வரையறுக்கப்படாதது. பார்க்குமிடமெங்கும் நீக்கமற நிறைகின்ற பரிபூராணந்தம். ஆதி அந்தமிலா அருட் பெரும் ஆண்டவன். இல்லாதது ஒன்றில்லை, எல்லாமே நான் என்று சொல்லாமல் சொல்லி வைத்த பரம்பொருள். We call it the Ultimate Reality or Brahman.
adaH (ocean): From the standpoint of total perspective, we call this as “paramatma”. The term comes from the Sanskrit word parama, meaning “highest” or “supreme,” and atman, meaning “self,” “soul” or “individual spirit.” In English, it is roughly translated to mean “primordial self” or "the self beyond."
Idam (wav): We are looking jivAtma meaning jiva+ atma. This means Human Being meaning Human + Being. The individual self JivAtma refers to the Human part of us that is driven by the intelligence and the mind by the spark of divinity itself which is part of us.
In other words, if we take these two sentences together पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते - the first line of the Sloka, It essentially means that the “separated” Consciousness CAUSED due to the form and shape otherwise called jIvAtma and the “separated” Consciousness CAUSING THE ABOVE due to the form and shape (otherwise called paramAtma) are both whole, complete and same called the Ultimate Reality.
A question may arise as to why is that we have two stand point of views viz.
a) from the stand point of their nature, Svarūpa - dṛṣṭyā
b) from the stand point of nāma and rūpa, Upādhi -dṛṣṭyā
Ideally there should be only one point of view viz. Svarūpa - dṛṣṭyā. Smritis bring out that Brahman through His energy form called Maya/Ignorance brings out the alternate view point in all of us and clouds the reality. We see the gold ornaments in different shapes; but we don’t see the gold inside.
மரத்தை மறைத்தது மாமத யானை
மரத்துள் மறைந்தது மாமத யானை
பரத்தை மறைத்தது பார்முதற் பூதம்
பரத்துள் மறைந்தது பார்முதற் பூதம்
This is an oft quoted verse from Thirumoolar’s Thirumandhiram, dated to around 5th Century CE. When one sees a toy elephant, one doesn’t see the wood out of which the toy is made. The artisan’s skill makes one believe it is an elephant, not a chunk of wood. When one realises that it is nothing but a chunk of wood, the elephant vanishes from sight. Similarly, when one sees only the worldly elements that make up this world, one doesn’t realise the divine. They think that only the elements are real. But when one realises the divine, the elements vanish in the divine. It is therefore part of human nature. To remove this cloud, like we remove the dust from the mirror, we need to look deeply at ourselves. This inward-looking journey of ours is the true meaning of our life. As long as we don’t understand and realise this, we will continue to toil
Now let us examine the next line. पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते. Puurnnasya Pūrṇam-Aadaaya Pūrṇam-Eva-Avashissyate
Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya … Pūrṇam means the essential pūrṇa -svarūpam. Belonging to whom? Pūrṇasya – belonging to both the paramātmā and jīvātmā. Because, paramātmā ’s svarūpam is also pūrṇam . Jīvātmā ’s svarūpam is also pūrṇam. So this pūrṇa -svarūpam, of both paramātmā and jīvātmā , ādāya – when you grasp and segregate or separate (Ādāya means grasping, knowing and separating). That is, when you know the essential nature (water) belonging to the wave and ocean, you grasp, i.e., understand, and separate the water, from wave and ocean. Then what is left behind? Nothing will be left behind except the water.
Therefore the simple looking Shanthi Sloka conveys three main messages. They are:
1) First: jīvātmā and paramātmā are essentially one and the same.
2) Second: jīvātmā and paramātmā have got cause-effect relationship superficially. Essentially they are the same. Essentially no relationship; Superficially, cause-effect relationship. Nirupādhika -dṛṣṭyā aikyam , sopādhika - dṛṣṭyā kārya -kāraṇa -sambandhaḥ .
3) Other than the essential nature of jīvātmā and paramātmā , nothing else (anātmā) exists. No anātmā exists independently. அவனின்றி ஓர் அணுவும் அசையாது.
Anyone with a clear understanding of these essentials will have nothing but Peace, Peace, Peace.