Purna Kumbha Mantra

Pūrna-kumbha mantra

Purna kumbha literally means a “full pitcher” (Purna = full, Kumbha = pitcher). The Purnakumbha is a pitcher full of water, with fresh leaves of the mango tree and a coconut (Sriphala) placed on the top. Purnakumbha is also known as Kalasam.

The four verses of the purna-kumbha-mantra, from na karmanā na prajayā to yah parah sah maheśvarah, are typically chanted when receiving sannyasins, saints. Originally, the purna-kumbha-mantra used to begin with the chanting of an additional section, yo devanamprathamam purastad, followed by these four mantras. Together, these mantras are called the Ācārya-pañcadi.

न कर्मणा न प्रजया धनेन
त्यागेनैके अमृतत्वमानशुः ।
परेण नाकं निहितं गुहायां
विभ्राजते तद्यतयो विशन्ति ॥

na karmaṇā na prajayā dhanena
tyāgenaike amṛtatvamānaśuḥ .
pareṇa nākaṃ nihitaṃ guhāyāṃ
vibhrājate tadyatayo viśanti ..

Not by work, nor by progeny or by wealth, but by renunciation alone have some attained immortality. That (immortality) which is even beyond the heaven, is attained by the self-controlled renunciates (as the Self) shining in their heart.

Amrtatvam anaśuh, amṛtatvam anasire prăptavantah, these people have gained immortality or freedom from death, moksha. They have gained freedom from samsāra. Samsarati iti samsārah. Samsāra is a life that is subject to change, e.g., aham sukhi, I am happy or aham duhkhi, I am unhappy. Freedom from samsāra is amṛtatva. So amṛtatva means moksha, freedom from time, freedom from death.

Who are they who gain this amṛtatva? Tyaginah. Tyagena eke präptavantah, by renunciation some gain. Eke in the plural means a few people. By what means? Tyagena, by tyaga. Tyaga is renunciation for the sake of knowledge. These are sannyasins who have renounced to gain knowledge, to gain moksha. Sannyasa is praised in this mantra. The mantra will explain this further.

Na karmanā, not by karma. One can gain moksha only by knowledge. Karma will bring karmaphala, results, but karma is finite and therefore, karmaphala is also finite. The limited person plus the limited result born of limited karma will continue to be limited. A finite number when added to a finite number will still be a finite number. Therefore, na karmanā, there is no way of getting moksha through karma.

Can karma-yoga lead to moksha?
Yes, you can gain knowledge by karma-yoga, in that it prepares you for knowledge. It is not just another form of yoga. We mistakenly think that we will perform karma-yoga. Nobody can ‘do’ karma-yoga. There is no particular action called karma-yoga. Some people believe that in giving as charity or in doing some sevā, they are doing karma- yoga. Karma-yoga is only possible when your goal is moksha, and the entire life is one of proper attitude. For instance, your conduct and duties in marriage or parenting are also part of karma-yoga. You can thus convert your activities in life into a means for your own growth; that is karma-yoga.

Na prajaya, not by progeny. Na dhanena, not by wealth. There are predominant desires such as the desire for wealth, fame, and power in this world, and the desire for the heavens, etc. Punya-karma is dharma, dhana is artha, and praja is käma. Dharmartha-kama is not moksha. You have to deliberately choose mokşa. Dharma is useful in that it becomes a basis for conducting your life, and then the whole life becomes yoga.

Paramānanda is attained by renunciation
Tyagenaike amṛtatvamanaśuh. Only by tyaga, renunciation of karma, can you gain mokşa. Not doing karma is not renunciation. Even while performing karma, you should discover that you are actionless. That is akarma. You can gain moksha only by knowing that the atman is akartr and that it is Brahman.

Parena nākam. Kam means happiness, su-kham. Even without the prefix ‘su,’ kham means happiness. Akam is na sukham, that is duhkham. Na akam is the absence of duhkha. Akam na vidyate yasmin tad nākam, that in which there is no duhkha is nākam. Nakam is the sukha of heaven, which is mentioned in the Vedas. It is anitya, lasting only for a finite period. Parena nākam means more than the heavenly sukha. It is ananda, limitless. It transcends svarga; it transcends the absence of duhkha and is in the form of ananda, untouched or uninhibited by duhkha. It is paramananda.

Ignorance veils the Lord’s presence in the intellect
Guhayām nihitam-that which obtains as yourself, the atman in your buddhi-guha. Guha means cave. By definition, guha is dark; it stands for darkness. The Lord obtains in the buddhi in the form of ananda, limitlessness or fullness, as the svarüpa or very nature of the atman. However, you do not recognise it due to ignorance. Its presence is hidden for want of light. Therefore, the faculty of knowledge, the buddhi, is called guha.

Brahman is not hidden because everything is Brahman. The knower is Brahman, the knowledge is Brahman, and the known is Brahman. Every thought isBrahman; nothing is outside Brahman. Therefore, Brahman cannot be hidden by anything. One of the Upanişad says that if a person could cover space with a cloth, he would cover Brahman! This means all that is here is Brahman. Even while you say, “I don’t know Brahman,” it is Brahman that is talking to me. It is as self-contradictory as saying, “I have no tongue,” or “I am dead.” This is denial of Brahman. You cannot deny Brahman because you are Brahman. If everything is Brahman, how is it that you do not appreciate this fact? This is because it is a question of knowing it, and not a question of believing so. This knowledge is not hidden, but veiled due to ignorance and therefore, the buddhi is called guha.

The buddhi is dark with respect to Brahman, the most obvious. If you have not seen an object, it is out of sight and, therefore, out of mind, but Brahman, being oneself, is never out of sight; it never goes out of mind. Therefore, it is our ignorance that conceals its presence.

Yad vibhrājate, that which shines. It is that which shines in the form of ananda, the atman, consciousness. Vividham bhrājate, or viseşena bhrājate. In the form of this entire jagat, that ananda alone is shining all the time on the platform of one’s buddhi as jñātr-jñāna-jñeya, the knower, knowledge and the known. Otherwise, how does one recognise any thing? Everything is in the buddhi. All these galaxies ‘out there’ are ‘in here’ within our buddhi.

The sannyasins committed to knowledge ‘gain’ paramananda
Yatayah visanti. Yatayah is the plural form of yatih. A yati is yatna-śīlah, one who puts in the right effort. This can mean anybody. Even a karma-yogin is a yati. Yati also means seeker, a mumukṣu. The rūdi, conventional meaning of yati, however, is sannyäsin. This meaning is more popular. The effort of these yatayah, sannyasins or mumuksus, is made for the sake of moksha, mokṣārtham yatnam..

Visanti, labhante, they gain. Yad vibhrājate tat yatayah visanti, the sannyäsins attain this shining, pure ananda.

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How do they gain this knowledge?

ॐ वेदान्तविज्ञानसुनिश्चितार्थाः
सन्यासयोगाद्यतयः शुद्धसत्त्वाः ।
ते ब्रह्मलोके तु परान्तकाले
परामृतात् परिमुच्यन्ति सर्वे ॥

vedantavijnanasuniścitārthah
sanyásayogadyatayah śuddhasattväh
te brahmaloke tu parantakale
paramṛtāt parimucyanti sarve.

Those who make proper effort and whose minds are pure, who have well-ascertained, clear knowledge of Vedanta, because of a life of sannyasa, they, at the time of the resolution of the individuality in Brahman, are all released from (even) the unmanifest (karma).

Vedāntavijnanam. Vedanām antah Vedantah, at the end of all the Vedas is Vedanta, the upanişad. What is it that is unfolded by Vedanta? It is the knowledge of I, the atman, being the whole, the limitless brahma. All of Vedanta is contained in one sentence, ‘tat tvam asi -You are That.’ There is an obvious difference between Isvara, the Lord, and you, the individual. He is almighty and all-knowledge, whereas, you have limited might and limited knowledge. Yet, you are equated to Iśvara! The difference is obvious and therefore the equation. If the non-difference were obvious, we would not need an equation, and, if the difference were real, there would be no equation either. You need an equation only when the difference is obvious but not real. This is the knowledge which is to be gained by Vedanta.

Suniścitārthah. Niścitam means ascertained, and suniścitam is very well-ascertained, without any doubt whatsoever. Suniścitam artham is vedanta-vijñānasya artham. Tad yeṣānte, vedānta-vijñānasya arthah yeṣānte. Those who have a well-ascertained knowledge of Vedanta. They have to put all that they know to test, attacking their knowledge from different standpoints. That is when all the schools of thought fall apart. Schools of thought exist where there are opinions involved. In knowledge, there are no schools of thought.

There are two types of errors: one that needs a one-time correction, and another that needs to be corrected repeatedly. The second type of error needs to be corrected again and again not because of re-appearance of ignorance, but because of a habit of taking oneself to be other than what one is. That is where the problem is. This is viparīta-bhavana, habitual error in jñana. This habit could be there because of the deeply ingrained orientation that, “I am only this much.” To neutralise it one requires certain kind of contemplation. That is why a life of sannyāsa is necessary, sannyasayogāt.

Suddhasattväh are those whose minds are not assailed by raga-dveșa, likes and dislikes, because of their having lived a life of karma-yoga. The word sattva has many meanings. Anything existent is called sattva. It also means one of the three gunas. The third meaning is the thinking faculty that is born of the sattva-guna. Suddham sattvam eṣām te. Suddhas is clean or cleansed, sattva is the mind, eşām, for whom, te, they, are called suddhasattvāh. They live a life of sannyasa which is characterised by a pursuit of knowledge to the exclusion of everything else.

Karma-yoga is the pursuit of knowledge along with karma, duties, etc. A karma-yogin, who seeks moksha, is a mumukṣu. If moksha is not an end in view, the person is a karmin or karmatha. He can be an ethical person, a dharmika, whose commitment is only towards artha-kāma or lokantara, the other worlds. He believes in punya-papa and is interested in heaven. He has nothing to do with moksha, because he thinks that going to heaven is moksha, the ultimate end.

Sannyasayogāt. Having given up the pursuits of security and the pleasures of the world, such people take to a life of sannyasa for the pursuit of knowledge. Their commitment to knowledge is more important than the life-style of sannyasa. By taking up this life, they are yatayah. moksha is the prayojana result, of vedäntavijñāna. They discover the freedom in ätman and have no doubts whatsoever, that the atman is free. The notion that it is bound and confined falls apart.

Such sannyasins are totally liberated
Te brahmaloke tu parāntakāle parāmṛtāt parimucyanti sarve.

Te sarve, all of them, parimucyanti, paritah mucyanti are totally liberated. Not only are they totally liberated when they are alive, but they never come back after death. In death it is only the body that dies, Brahman does not die. Such people are non-separate from Ïśvara and do not come back as jīvas. That particular jiva is no longer the jiva.

Te brahmaloke tu parantakale. Kāla means time. Antakala means at the end of this body or at the end of one’s life. For a jīva there is no antakāla. A jīva travels from one body to another. He is a traveler. He stays in a body for a length of time, and then goes away. The giving up of this tenement is called death, sthula-śarīra-bhanga- kāla, when the physical body is no longer alive.

There is another kāla called parāntakāla. This is the sūkṣma-kārana-sarira-bhanga-kala, the end of subtle and causal bodies. The sūkṣma-śarīra, subtle body, generally never dies; it is either in the unmanifest form, avyakta, or in the manifest form, vyakta. At the sūkṣma-sarira- bhanga-kāla, even the subtle body and the causal body are no more there. Not only is the body gone, the jiva is also no more; it is resolved. Since there is no more karma left, the sūkṣma-śarīra does not linger. Thus, the jīvas are liberated even while living. When they give up the physical body there is no sukṣma-śarīra left and they exist as Isvara for the jīvas.

Brahma eva lokah brahmalokah. Brahman itself is the loka, the self because of which all experience is possible. Lokyate anena iti lokah. Loka is the consciousness because of which you become conscious of everything. Tasmin brahmaloke parimucyanti sarve-in that Brahman they are all released. From what?

Parāmṛtat, that which is para or different even from the causal state, amṛta. The causal state never goes away. It manifests, then becomes unmanifest, manifests again, and again becomes unmanifest, and so on. Nothing really dies; the whole jagat and the jiva can become unmanifest, and then manifest. The unmanifest condition is called parāmṛta. Para means kārana, the cause. It is amṛta; it does not die away.

Parāmṛta is that which is param as well as amṛtam, param ca amṛtam ca, parāmṛtam. Avyaktad api parimucyanti sarve, even from the avyakta they are all released. Avyakta means all the sancita-karma, which is avyakta, not manifest so far. They gain liberation even from that and do not come back again.

Tu is used for emphasis. The word brahmaloka is used to indicate that the brahmaloka talked about in this mantra is different from the other brahmaloka, which is better known as the abode of Brahmāji.

Another meaning of this verse is that the yatayah go to brahmaloka and achieve krama-mukti when the cycle of Brahmāji is over, at the antakäla of the current Brahmāji.

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दहं विपापं परमेश्मभूतं
यत्पुण्डरीकं पुरमध्यसग्म्स्थम्।
तत्रापि दहं गगनं विशोक
तस्मिन् यदन्तस्तदुपासितव्यम् ॥

dahram vipapam parameśmabhūtam
yatpundarīkam puramadhyasagmstham
tatrapi dahram gaganam visokas
tasmin yadantastadupäsitavyam.

That, which abides in the city of the body, in the lotus, which is the intellect, and in that small space, that, which is free of all hurt and guilt, free from sorrow, and of the nature of Parameśvara, should be meditated upon.

Upasitavyam, to be contemplated upon. What is it? The self which is free from papa, is śuddha and is vipāpa. Papa-rahitam, nityasuddham, ātmānam, the self that is free from papa and is always pure. That self is visoka, free from sadness, meaning that it is sukha-svarūpa, the very nature of happiness. Visoka is freedom from hurt and vipapa is freedom from guilt. The atman that is free from hurt and guilt should be meditated upon.

Yat pundarīkam. Pundarīka is the hrdaya, the heart. Hrtpundarike upäsitavyam. The ätman should be meditated upon in the heart.

Puramadhye. Pura is this deha, a city. Puramadhya is the buddhi. Puramadhye samstham means samsthitam, or samyak sthitam, that which is self-existent, not dependant upon anything. This is the atma-tattva, the truth of the Self. It is in the daharākāśa, that which obtains in the buddhi. It is like gagana, space, without any distortion.

Parameśmabhūtam goes with yatpundarīkam. Parameśma is Parameśvara. It is the svarüpa of Parameśvara, and is not separate from Parameśvara.

Tasmin, in the buddhi, yadantah, which is of this nature, upasitavyam, that is to be contemplated upon.

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यो वेदादौ स्वरः प्रोक्तो
वेदान्ते च प्रतिष्ठितः।
तस्य प्रकृतिलीनस्य
यः परः स महेश्वरः ॥

yo vedadau svarah prokto
vedante ca pratiṣṭhitah
tasya prakrtilinasya
yah parah sa maheśvarah.

The one who is the syllable (om) that is uttered at the beginning of the Veda and is well- established in the upanişads, the one who is the cause, the truth of that causal principle which is resolved (in himself), he is the Lord, Maheśvara.

Svara is om, the single syllable. Vedādau means in the beginning of the Veda or before chanting the Veda. Proktah, it is always chanted. Vedante ca pratiṣṭhitah, pratipaditah, it is well established, unfolded, in Vedanta.

Om is abhidhana, name and the abhidheya, what is indicated by the word, is Brahman. Om consists of the three letters, a, u, and m. The a-kara stands for the wakeful state, the physical world, and it is viśva and Virāṭ. The u-kāra represents the experience of dream, and is taijasa and Hiranygarbha. The ma-kāra signifies the state of deep sleep, and is prājña and Ïśvara. The omkära is also that which transcends all the three periods of time.

Tasya prakṛtilīnasya. Prakṛtih līna yasmin, him, unto whom the entire prakṛti resolves totally. All nama-rupa being prakṛti, resolves entirely into the causal form, the unmanifest condition, and then emerges again.

Yah parah sa maheśvarah. Yah parah, that is the parah. Prakṛti-līna is the unmanifest cause of everything. That which transcends the avyakta, the unmanifest, avyaktāt parah, that which is the satya of the avyakta.

Sah maheśvarah. He is the limitless parabrahman. Parah sah is sometimes mistakenly chanted as parasya. Yah parassa maheśvarah. Maheśvara is parabrahman, the para-atman. That is the real svarūpa.

Excerpt from the book ‘Prayer Guide’ by Swami Dayananda Saraswati