PREMA JYOTHI - Newsletter of the Prema Trust and Sacred Earth Community October 2026
Kia Ora Whanau,
Our October newsletter explores a Vedic mantra, one of the well-known Shanti Mantras from the Isa Upanishad. In the quote below Sai Baba explains this profound mantra:
“The Vedas declare:
Poornam adhah Poornam idham
Poornath Poornam udhachyathe
Poornasya Poornam Adhaya
Poornam eva avashishyathe
That is wholly Divine. This is wholly Divine. From the totally Divine arose the totally Divine. When the totally Divine is taken from the totally Divine, the total Divine remains."
'That" means "the thing afar, apart", "the entity that is beyond the reach of the human instruments of perception." "This" means the visible world, the objective world, cognisable with the senses and amenable to experience. This too is as divine as the rest. Asthi (Existence, Is-ness), bhathi (shining) and priyam (endearing), (Sath, Chit and Ananda). are the characteristics of Divinity and these three are found in everything. Only the form and the name are transitory, subject to change. Chit and Ananda). are the characteristics of Divinity and these three are found in everything. Only the form and the name are transitory, subject to change.”
In an inner message Sai expands on the true meaning of the mantra as it pertains to our personal sadhana.
“The mantra is an instruction to first find the fullness in the heart and then see the fullness (Poornamidam) everywhere. There is no point in chanting the mantra without making the attempt to find the fullness within.
How is that accomplished? You cannot pour water into an already full cup. It will only spill over and waste water. You must empty the cup to fill it. So too, you must empty the heart of my and mine. That is to say, the egoism that attempts to take ownership in order to fill the heart with the realisation that the God you love, you profess to serve, is you alone.
That may seem contradictory but consider this. The ego claims exclusive right to the body mind complex. It denies that there is anything outside of itself. ‘My’ and ‘mine’ cause a contraction of the heart. No room for anything else. When realisation of your own divine nature comes, the heart expands. No more contraction. The heart becomes full of the whole reality of the realisation of your divine reality. Once that happens, the heart is a repository of endless fullness. You may give away everything, but the heart will still be full.
This mantra exhorts you to fill your heart with Divine Love. That will be an inexhaustible treasure that will remain no matter what happens. Also, that divine love, that fullness will be seen everywhere and will be experienced everywhere. All is Purnam. All is the fullness of Divine love.
It is love that birthed the creation. Therefore, the creation is Divine love. It is the fullness of Divine love - Purnam. Divine love is not simply the fullness of the Creator, but also the fullness of the creation. Chant the mantra with the realisation of the reality of everything foremost in consciousness. This will bring you immense joy and happiness and you will always be grounded in the reality of your own reality.”
This message from Sai indicates that we need to find the fullness of Divine Love in everything, including our own Hearts. But how can we do this? We are attached to this creation, to our own bodies, to our own minds. Can we find the fullness of Divine Love within these aspects of our lives?
This question is one that people have been asking since time immemorial. Maybe that answer lies in a transformative process.
Transformation – from the limited to the limitless
Our lives often tend to be constricted to the field of our personal interests. Yet, we see many who step outside of this field into the creation of a wider sense of the world, widening the field of activity. This begs the question, where is the fullness of the One in our lives? Is it confined to a personal sphere, family, friends, work, etc? When we chant the shanti mantra, we can ask ourselves, “what does the fullness mean?” “Does it relate only to me personally, or does it have a wider connotation?”
Seeing the vastness of the creation and the relative limitation of our own personal perspective, it could be easy to think that it is all too large, too much to contemplate. When we look at the world’s problems, we see massive issues, wealth disparities, famines, wars, political corruption – this list goes on and on. What can we do? This may affect us to the point that we feel helpless.
Perhaps the answer is that we just need to do what is in front of us. Each act of kindness and consideration for the well-being of others expands the heart and allows us to step outside of our own concerns into a wider sphere, even if it is just the sphere of one other person. As we grow more inclusive, it is common to feel a fullness inside our being. Imagine if it was the whole world that lived inside our hearts. What would that feel like? If we look past the illusion that we are small and limited, we can begin to get a sense of what that space is like. In that state there is no differentiation. We become the reality.
Naturally, because we are in a body/mind complex that must function in this life, we will move in and out of that space. We will see all as one yet deal with the world in a fully interactive manner. However, Love and the Oneness consciousness can still overlay all our interactions. That Love and Oneness can begin to inhabit the Heart allowing it to overflow with fullness of being. Naturally, when we contemplate this state, we may say to ourselves, ‘Well, I can imagine this state, but I have doubts that I could live in that contradictory space’. Sai and other great spiritual teachers have consistently let us know it is possible to be in the fullness yet interact in everyday life, however paradoxical this might seem. Our true reality, is that we are the Oneness, we are the fullness.
We are the Magnificence we seek
If this statement is true, then why do we not know this? That is a question that has been pondered by seekers over centuries. Consider this, if we are attached to our family, then they are at the forefront of mind at least most of the time. Everything we do is for the family – we work, we play, we do all sorts of activities that arise from our attachment to family. (January’s newsletter explored this topic of attachment in depth.) What is pertinent to our topic this month is that when our attention is drawn to the minutiae of our lives, it is led away from the ‘bigger picture’, the magnificence of who we are. That magnificence is the fullness – Poornam.
The Divine not only resides in our Hearts but resides everywhere. It is the fullness of the manifest creation, as well as being the fullness of the unmanifest consciousness. It is in the Heart that we can begin to realise this truth. From that place, we can begin to know and understand that we also exist beyond this human form, beyond the five sheaths (annamayakosha – physical; pranamayakosha – energetic; manomayakosha – mental; vijnanamaykosha – deep intelligence; anandamaya kosha – bliss). Whilst these forms or shariras (bodies) interact with creation, there is a part of us (atman – Self) that exists beyond all this manifestation yet is all this manifestation. This is our magnificence and this is our own reality. It is poornam – the fullness, and yet takes a seemingly limited form in creation (from the fullness arises only fullness).
May all beings know their own fullness and may the fullness fill our Hearts with the Truth of our own nature.
