Purnamadah - Live "Homemade Kirtan" Version

A powerful mantra invoking peace and serenity, "Purnamadah" has had a special place in our hearts for many years and has touched the lives of many people. This chant was first recorded on our 2003 album The Love Window and has been streamed online over fifteen million times.

You can listen to the original recording free on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/track/5jKP2l...

We were inspired to make this video when our extraordinary friend Barbara DeAngelis had a wish to include it in her virtual 70th birthday celebration. Over the course of a weekend, the video became a reality, becoming the next in our home kirtan video series.

We are blessed in the video by the beautiful voice and presence of Sarah Maines, a wonderful singer and voice teacher who lives at our home. She appears in our other home kirtan videos and many of our recordings. Our beloved dogs Tosha and Jasper make a brief appearance at the end.

Our meditation teacher, Paul Muller-Ortega, shares a beautiful translation of the chant in the video.

The nature photography, ranging from summer solstice aerial views of Greenland to Joshua Tree, southern Utah and the Oregon Coast, were taken by Benjy, and we hope that they help to express the awe and wonder we feel in the miracle of Existence itself - the wonder at the very heart of this chant from the Upanishads.

The original mantra is the invocational Shanti mantra of Isha/IshaVasya Upanishad, which in turn is a part of the Shukla Yajurveda.

Here is the text...

ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पूर्णमुदच्यते ।
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

OṂ Pūrṇam Adaḥ Pūrṇam Idam
Pūrṇāt Pūrṇam Udacyate
Pūrṇasya Pūrṇam Ādāya
Pūrṇam Evāvaśiṣyate

... and the translation by Paul Muller-Ortega:

Full, infinite, and unbounded is that yonder wholeness of the Absolute Reality!

Full, infinite and unbounded is this cosmic universe that is here closer!
From that exquisite perfection of unbounded fullness only fullness arises and comes forward to be expressed!
Even if it were possible to remove, such unbounded fullness from itself, even then, only the infinite, unbounded fullness would abide and remain!

OṂ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ

OM!
May there be peace in the physical world!
May there be peace in the subtle planes and divine worlds!
May there be peace in the space of individual life and awareness!