pūrṇam adaḥ (īśa 1)

The śānti mantra which begins with “pūrṇam adaḥ, pūrṇam idam” is one of the most famous expressions in vedantic literature. Though bhāṣyakāra has not directly commented upon this verse, it is well-understood. The explanations of cinmayānanda and dayānanda sarasvatī are readily available on the internet.

pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idam, pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate |
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya, pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate ||

In saṁskṛt literature, this explanation has been captured in the upaniṣan-maniprabhā commentary of amaradāsa at the beginning of the īśāvāsyopaniṣad. Here are some excerpts:

• adaḥ = nirupādhikaṁ parokṣaṁ tat-padārtha-rūpaṁ brahma
• idam = nāma-rūpopādhi-viśiṣṭaṁ vyavahārāpannaṁ tvaṁ-śabdārtha-rūpam
• nirupādhyātma-rūpeṇaiva pūrṇam
• viśeṣarūpaṁ brahma pūrṇāt udgacchati
• pūrṇasya kāryātmanaḥ brahmaṇaḥ pūrṇatvaṁ gṛhītvā, pūrṇam eva kevalaṁ brahma avaśiṣyate

In short

• adaḥ = tat, the unqualified brahman, the sākṣī
• idam = tvam, the qualified brahman, or all objects
• only the unqualified aspect of idam is truly pūrṇam
• the tvam aspect is born out of the tat sākṣī brahman
• when the tvam aspect is separated from the tat aspect, all that we have is the unqualified tat aspect (tvam has no independent existence from tat)

This is a seeming non-sequitur until we realize that all the nouns in this mantra must be qualified as either nirupādhika or sopādhika. Once we do this, a logical meaning is realized. Thankfully, the maṇiprabhā has captured the traditional understanding.