SatyaVeda: All about the Veda

This is the s’Anti mantram of the Is’A vAsyOpanishat. This is a part pf the vAjasanEya samhita of the s’ukla yajurvEda.

This part of the vEdA had no part at all in the karma kAnDa. It is meant only for knowledge of the nature of the brahman.

AUM pUrNamadah pUrNamidam pUrNat pUrNamudacyatE

pUrNasya pUrNamAdAya pUrNamEvAvas’iSyatE.

AUM s’Antih, s’Antih, s’Antih.

One of the interesting things about chanting this santi mantram is that all the vedic swaras in it are anudAttas and udAttas. There are no svaritAs and dwisvaritAs in it at all! See Siksha Vedanga.

Source : Eka Akshara on Facebook

AUM – is the divine sound, praNava nAda that Brahma meditates on and utters when at the beginning of his day, the beginning of our kalpa, when it is time for him to engage in creation. This divine sound is chanted as the first sound by all who wish to start a holy activity.

(There is some resemblance in AUM to Amen the biblical ‘yes’, aam the sanskrit and telugu ‘yes’ and to aama the tamil ‘yes’ , ‘aan’ in Telugu, It is possible that all these other sounds have their origin in AUM or OM as we normally write it).

pUrNam – complete, adah – that, idam – this, udacyate – comes, rises, is generated, AdAya – having taken, eva – alone, avas’isyate  - remains.

Literal Translation :

AUM, this is complete and that is complete. From completeness, completeness arises.

Having taken completeness of completeness, only completeness remains.

Discussion :

Mathematical Meaning : Completeness refers to infinity. Any fraction of the infinite is infinite. When you subtract infinity from infinity only infinity remains. (Courtesy my grandfather and father : Kandula Nagabhushanam and Kavana Sarma)

Spiritual Meaning : ‘That” refers to brahman (Parabrahma). “This” refers to this manifest universe. What we can sense with our sensory organs. Both are complete. Completeness refers to Perfection. This visible universe that manifests from the perfect brahman is also perfect. When perfect, complete manifest universe is removed from the brahman, only the perfect complete brahman remains. The manifestation of a perfect God cannot be imperfect, it is also perfect. (Courtesy : My Veda Guru)

This has also been interpreted as when the complete manifest brahman is manifested or withdrawn finally into the unmanifest, only the unmanifest complete brahman remains.

My random thoughts :

• The Purusha Suktam Mantram : (RV_10.090.03.2{17} pādo.asyaviśvā bhūtāni tripādasyāmṛtaṃ divi) can be literally understood to say that one fourth of the puruSa is the manifest universe and three fourths is in the immortal heavens. Is there a difference in understanding between nArAyaNa RSih (purusha suktam) and Yajnavalkya (Is’A vAsya upaniSat)? I think we need to look closer and less literally.

• Closed and Open Systems : To take something out of something to somewhere else you need to have an open system. To remove the manifest universe from the brahman you need to put it some where else. See Purusha Suktham (puruSa sUktam) first mantram : sahasra sirsha purushah sahasrakshah saharsah pat. sa bhumim visvatoh vrutva atyatisthat dasangulam. Here too you have a concept of God (purusha) being outside of his creation.
  • Further, all our rituals invite God (dEvatA) into a Vigraha for the duration of our worship. In temples, God is installed and then periodically re-installed into the divya vigraha.
  • We also have another mantram phrase “aham vais’vAnarO bhUtvA prANinAm dEhamAs’ritah” which tells us that God enters life forms and exists there and digests our food as jaTarAgni. (Cooking and eating are yagnyAs!)
  • It is Agni‘s duty to bring along the dEvatAs for worship and then to take our offerings unto them.

Conclusion : As the infinite manifest universe has emerged and separated from the infinite unmanifest Brahman, both continue to be infinite, complete and perfect.

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula