पूर्णम् अदः पूर्णम् इदम् पूर्णात् पूर्णम् उदच्यते पूर्णस्य पूर्णम् आदाय पूर्णम् एव अवशिष्यते खम् ब्रह्म खम् पुराणम् वायुः खम् इति ह स्माह कौरव्यायणीपुत्रः वेदः अयम् ब्राह्मणाः विदुः वेद एनेन यत् वेदितव्यम्
pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idam pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate kham brahma kham purāṇam vāyuḥ kham iti ha smāha kauravyāyaṇīputraḥ vedaḥ ayam brāhmaṇāḥ viduḥ veda enena yat veditavyam
"That is Full, this is Full: from the Full the Full is taken; the Full having been taken from the Full, the Full alone remains." "Space is Brahman; space is primordial; space is full of wind," so used to say the son of Kauravyāyaṇī. This [space] is the Veda: the brāhmaṇas know it; by it I know all that is to be known.
d0b69fded711 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:19:47 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fifth book — a "supplementary" one (khila), a scattering of small vidyās — opens with the greatest of the śānti-mantras: pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idam — "That is Full, this is Full; from the Full the Full is taken — the Full remains". The arithmetic of the Infinite: subtract fullness from Fullness, and Fullness remains; creation did not diminish the Creator, the world is no hole in God but the Full from the Full, with no loss to the Source.
This formula became the gateway to the reading of the Īśopaniṣad (its invocation) and a cornerstone of Vaiṣṇava Vedānta: the Lord expands Himself into countless full forms and worlds and remains Full (advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam); acintya-bhedābheda stands on this line as on a rock. And its application is modest and deep: kham brahma — "space is Brahman": the nearest image of the Fullness from which no taking can take anything away — the expanse over our heads.