Purna is a Sanskrit word which means Wholeness, Complete, Full, Perfect. Fulfilled, Satisfied. INFINITE.
There is a peace mantra – from the Isha Upanishad. (Isha is a lovely word, meaning Lord in the personal sense, a more intimate attitude than the transcendental conception.)
The translation of the first part of the Isha Upanishad is
OM!That (the Invisible–Absolute) is whole;Whole is this (the visible phenomenal);from the Invisible Whole comes forth the visible whole.Though the visible whole has come out from that Invisible Whole, yet the Whole remains unaltered.OM! PEACE! PEACE! PEACE!
The original Sanskrit is
Om
Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Om.
That is infinite, this is infinite;
From That infinite this infinite comes.
From That infinite, this infinite removed or added;
Infinite remains infinite.
Om. Peace! Peace! Peace
The ”That” is the whole, the unmanifested and the manifested, pure consciousness, Shiva, what was in the beginning and ever shall be.
The ”This” is what we see around us, the energy and matter, Shakti, the material of our embodiment, ”That” manifested as ”This”.
So we are of that whole which is ever undiminished. By being of that, We are whole, and complete, in and of ourselves, just as we are.
This is a great source of peace and inspiration for us to know; we are complete in our essence because we are part of that which is always complete and perfect and infinite and whole.
“Purnam adah: that origin of all things is full;
purnam idam: this entire creation that has come from that origin of all things is also full;
purnat purnam udachyate: from that Full this Full has come;
purnasya purnam adaya: having taken away this Full from that Full;
purnam evavasisyate: the Full still remains unaffected.”
I am not going to post more exploration of this idea, as it is not something to be speculated about, but something to be gradually felt in the heart and known.
I finish on a thought about the connection between Whole and Holy.
Holy comes from the old English word halig. Similar words in other languages include helag (Saxon), helich (Dutch), heilag (Old High German), heiladr (Icelandic).
”The primary meaning of the word (holy) may have been ”that must be preserved whole or intact, that cannot be transgressed or violated,” which would support its relationship to Old English hal or WHOLE, meaning all of a thing, the entirety.” ~ From Chambers Dictionary of Etymology.
Thus, in the essence of the word, ”I am whole” equates with ”I am holy”.
”Love is in fact an intensification of life, a completeness, a fullness, a wholeness of life.”
~Thomas Merton
Generally just Being. Nothing in particular, no claims to fame. I like gardening and the sea, nature, art in all forms from poetry to films and everything in between, and being in the company of my family.
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