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Shanti invocation accompanying Isha Upanishad · Vedic Heritage Portal
The traditional text
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥
Roman reading aid
oṃ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṃ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate |
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate ||
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||
Meaning in everyday language
Om. That is whole; this is whole. From wholeness, wholeness comes forth. When wholeness is taken from wholeness, wholeness alone remains. Om, peace, peace, peace.
Understand the teaching
The Vedic Heritage Portal prints this shanti invocation before and after the Isha Upanishad. It prepares a contemplative reading with the language of purnam, completeness or wholeness. Vedantic teaching reflects on the relation between the whole, its manifestation and what seems to be separated from it. The prayer is distinct from the Upanishad’s numbered first mantra.
Its paradoxical language asks for reflection beyond the arithmetic of finite objects. A reader can let the repeated word draw attention away from a hurried search for possession and toward the question of completeness. The three requests for peace frame that reflection. This entry offers a reading of the prayer’s spiritual language, without treating it as a statement of a mathematical operation.
Words and phrases
- पूर्णम् (pūrṇam)
- whole, complete
- अदः इदम् (adaḥ idam)
- that, this
- उदच्यते (udacyate)
- comes forth
- आदाय (ādāya)
- having taken
- अवशिष्यते (avaśiṣyate)
- remains
- शान्तिः (śāntiḥ)
- peace
Pause and think
Why might this invocation be read before studying an Upanishad?
See an explained answer
It can orient attention toward wholeness and invite a peaceful disposition for inquiry. It prepares the reader to reflect, while the numbered text develops its own teachings.