Om Purnamidah: The Prayer That Says You Are Already Whole

There is a prayer from the Upanishads that dismantles every spiritual self-improvement project you have ever undertaken. It says, in five lines, what most traditions take lifetimes to teach: you are already complete.

There is a prayer from the Upanishads that dismantles every spiritual self-improvement project you have ever undertaken.

It says, in five lines, what most traditions take lifetimes to teach: you are already complete. Not will be. Not could be. Are.

Om Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnameva Vashishyate Om Shanti Shanti Shanti "That is whole. This is whole. From the whole, the whole arises.

When the whole is taken from the whole, the whole alone remains. Om Peace, Peace, Peace." I have chanted this prayer thousands of times. I have chanted it in temples and in traffic.