Paribhāṣā

pūrthi

பூர்த்தி

Also known as: pūrti, pūrṇatā

Meaning

Completion or fulfillment; the state in which the goal — Bhagavān — fills and satisfies the ātmā completely; in bhakti yoga, the perfection of the upāsaka's meditation that leads to direct, unobstructed vision of the Lord.

Detailed Explanation

Pūrthi (Sanskrit: literally 'fullness,' 'completion,' 'fulfillment') is a Śrī Vaiṣṇava theological term denoting the state of perfection or consummation in spiritual sādhana. Most specifically, it is used in the context of bhakti yoga to describe the moment when the upāsaka's (meditator's) sustained contemplation of Bhagavān's auspicious qualities (kalyāṇa-guṇas) reaches its full maturity — the point at which the upāsana (meditative practice) can no longer be contained and Bhagavān, moved by the devotee's overflowing love, grants direct vision (sākṣātkāra).

In Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy as articulated by Śrī Rāmānujācārya, the ātmā's ultimate nature is ānanda (bliss) in the unobstructed experience of Bhagavān. Pūrthi thus denotes the state in which nothing in the ātmā remains unsatisfied, unfulfilled, or oriented toward anything other than Bhagavān. This is distinguished from the transient pleasures of saṃsāra, which by definition can never yield pūrthi because they are finite objects presented to a soul whose nature is to find its fullness only in the infinite Bhagavān.

The concept is also invoked in discussions of mukti (liberation): in Śrī Vaikuṇṭham, the mukta jīva experiences the pūrthi of its ānanda in eternal kainkaryam (service) to Bhagavān and Pirāṭṭi (Śrī Mahālakṣmī). The Āzhvārs in the Divya Prabandham often express this state of pūrthi through images of overflowing joy, the cessation of yearning, and the ātmā resting in its natural state as a servant of the Lord.

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