Cosmos and Universes: As per Vedas (Contd.)
Purusha Suktam
sahasra shiirshaa purushaha sahasraakshaha sahasrapaat
sa bhuumim vishvato vritvaatyatishthaddhashangulam.
(R. Ved 10/90/1)
The Purusha has a thousand heads, thousand eyes and thousand legs. He covers the Cosmos/universe from all around and is also in ten-finger form.
Explanation:
The hymn exposits that the Purusha has infinite heads, eyes, and legs. (this is the viraat form of the Creator God who creates innumerable Universes in the Cosmos, a form shown to Arjun on the battlefield at Kurukshetra). He covers the entire Bhoomi, which means all the land mass or, in short, the Cosmos. He exists outside the Cosmos in ten dimensions.
Let us look at the three organs mentioned in this hymn. The head is a symbolic representation of will (also known as resolve or volition) or Sankalp. It is by his volition or resolve that all the first creations are manifested. The eyes represent vision or knowledge or Darshana, and the Lord is all knowledgeable. The legs represent movement, action and transactions, a part of the creative prowess of the Lord. It means that the Purusha makes all resolves, understandings and operations in the Cosmos.
There are three descriptive epithets for the Purusha in this hymn. 1. sahasra shiirshaa, 2. Sahasraakshaha and 3. sahasrapaat. The first one is found nowhere else in the Rig Vedic corpus. The third one is found only once more in rig Veda (8/69/16). Here it is to eulogize the Sun. The second one appears four more times (1/23/3), referring to Vayu and Indra together; in the hymns (1/79/12 & 10/79/5), referring to Agni and Surya, in the hymn (10/161/3) referring to Indra or Havis or Raj-Yakshma. Agni is the devta of Earth or observer space (Prithvi), Indra/Vayu is the devta of the mid-region or intermediate space (antariksha) and Surya of the celestial or light space (Dyau lok). Purusha sukta is all about the eulogy of Adi Narayan, the Creator God, in his role as Surya, Agni and Yajn. He symbolizes the essence of all existence, the core principle of the existence of which Surya, Agni and Indra (Vayu) are but aspects.
Purusha aevedam sarvam yadh’bhootham yatcha bhavyam
quthaamrtha’twasyeshaano yadhanne naathirohathi.
(R. Ved 10/90/2)
According to the first part of the hymn, the entire Cosmos, all that has happened, all that is happening, and all that will happen are all Purusha (Creator God) alone. He transcends all three domains, Earth (observer space), Atmosphere or space ( Intermediate Space) and Heaven ( light space or dhyu), and all three times (past, present and future). The entire Cosmos, with its infinite Universes, are the Creator God’s manifestation. In that sense, the difference between the subject and object often becomes inseparable; hence, the Lord of the Lower Heaven (Aadi Narayan or the Creator God) is himself referred to as the Cosmos. This would become clear when the Hiranyagarbha Sukta is taken up.
In this verse, the Purusha is also considered the Lord of Immortality. There is a bit of a tricky understanding that needs to be grasped. As in the form of the Creator God or Aadi Narayan, and the cosmos he manifests, are both mortals. At the end of 311 trillion worldly years, both would go into a state of chaos or dissolution; whence they would return to their original states; manifest cosmos as the original primordial material cause and the Creator God as Chtanad Lahiri or Sablik Brahm. So, as the Lord of the conscious plane of the Akshar Brahm (Eternal Lord or the Lord of the Upper Heaven), he is immortal, and as Aadi Narayan or the Creator God, he is perishable or mortal. One needs to be aware of this dual nature of existence to have a clear perspective of immortality, as mentioned earlier, as it appears in the second part of the hymn.
The second part of the hymn is tricky but significant as the verse says that the Purusha grew by food (anna). This is a metaphorical expression, and many have taken it literally, as can be seen by the interpretation by individuals, Upanishads and other scriptures. Looking to the time, which is the beginning of the manifestation of the Cosmos, all literal interpretations become infructuous. In that sense, the food or anna mentioned here should be the matter-energy content of the infantile Cosmos, and the Purusha is to be taken as the Cosmos itself, as explained earlier. So, the second part of the hymn says that the Cosmos started expanding by consuming matter-energy content. This makes sense, given the situational context.
Aetaavaanasya mahimaa’atho jyaayaamshcha purushah
pado’sya vishwaam bhootaani tripaadasyaamritam dhivi.
(R. Ved 10/90/3)
The entire Cosmos is the glory of the Purusha; there is a greater Purusha, and the entire Cosmos forms only one-fourth of Him; his three-fourths are in the eternal realm.
This is a very tricky, highly coded contention, not graspable by the ordinary people of this world or their scriptures. This becomes knowable only in the light of Tharthamic Wisdom (Ultimate Revealed Wisdom) delivered by the Supreme Lord himself and available with the Nijanand Order. The reference to a higher Purusha is about Akshar Brahm, or the Lord of the Eternal World. The lowermost one-fourth of his Quadraped Magnificence only manifests as the Cosmos and the Creator God or the Lower Purusha. The higher three aspects of the Quadraped Magnificence remain in the Eternal World, uninvolved in the creative act. * To understand this, read the blogs on the Hierarchy of Universes and the three Purushas or the Cosmic Dance of creation.
Tripaath’uurdhva udaith purusha pardo asyeha’abhavath punah
thatho’vishvadh vya’kraamath saashanaa nashaane abhi.
(R. Ved 10/90/4)
Three-quarters of the spiritual Energy of the Grater Purusha is above in the Eternal Universe, and his one-quarter of material energy manifests as the Cosmos again and again. This lower Purusha pervades the entire Cosmos of both insentient and sentient entities. This verse reinforces the idea of the previous verse of one-fourth of the Purusha being in the manifest Cosmos and undergoing cyclical creation and chaos. Three-fourths of the Purusha are in the Eternal World, a world without birth and death.
Tasmaad’viraat ajaayata viraajo adhi puurushah
sa jaatho atyarichyata paschaad bhumimathho purah.
(R. Ved 10/90/5)
The one-fourth lower Purusha or Aadi Purusha (Aadi Narayan) spreads all over, and the Universe starts expanding; this expanding Universe is referred to as viraat.
Note: Aadi Narayan manifests in the Cosmos and then creates infinite Universes continuously. He enters into every Universe, and then every Universe undergoes expansion, referred to as viraat.
After that, He manifests the spirits of souls (consciousness) of all living, followed by the creation of Earth and Heaven. Now, the stage is set for forming causal and subtle bodies to transform the spirits into souls.
Note: The Puras are fortified towns or sambhar forts (Rigveda), which offer resistance to the Purusha in his path of unfolding the Universe, whence Indra (purandra) breaks them asunder by his vajra. These will become clear in another blog.
This marks the first phase of the creation of a Universe.
osmos and Universes: As per Vedas (2)
