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    Pursa Sukta

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    Sekhar
    The passage describes the Purusha Sukta, a hymn from the Vedas. It depicts the cosmic person or universal consciousness that animates all of creation. It describes how from this Purusha emerged all aspects of the manifest world, including the gods, humans, animals, and the natural elements. The gods are said to have performed a primordial sacrifice by contemplating the Purusha, from which the Vedas, rituals, and natural laws originated. Realizing the greatness of this cosmic Purusha allows one to transcend death.

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    Pursa Sukta

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    Sekhar
    105 views4 pages
    The passage describes the Purusha Sukta, a hymn from the Vedas. It depicts the cosmic person or universal consciousness that animates all of creation. It describes how from this Purusha emerged all aspects of the manifest world, including the gods, humans, animals, and the natural elements. The gods are said to have performed a primordial sacrifice by contemplating the Purusha, from which the Vedas, rituals, and natural laws originated. Realizing the greatness of this cosmic Purusha allows one to transcend death.

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    The passage describes the Purusha Sukta, a hymn from the Vedas. It depicts the cosmic person or universal consciousness that animates all of creation. It describes how from this Purusha emerged all aspects of the manifest world, including the gods, humans, animals, and the natural elements. The gods are said to have performed a primordial sacrifice by contemplating the Purusha, from which the Vedas, rituals, and natural laws originated. Realizing the greatness of this cosmic Purusha allows one to transcend death.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    105 views4 pages

    Pursa Sukta

    Uploaded by

    Sekhar
    The passage describes the Purusha Sukta, a hymn from the Vedas. It depicts the cosmic person or universal consciousness that animates all of creation. It describes how from this Purusha emerged all aspects of the manifest world, including the gods, humans, animals, and the natural elements. The gods are said to have performed a primordial sacrifice by contemplating the Purusha, from which the Vedas, rituals, and natural laws originated. Realizing the greatness of this cosmic Purusha allows one to transcend death.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    Daily Invocations by Swami Krishnananda

    swami-krishnananda.org/invoc/in_pura.html

    The Purusha Sukta

    ōm sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākśaḥ


    sahasrapāt,
    sa bhūmiṁ viśvato vṛtvā'tyatiṣṭaddaśāgulam.

    Thousand-headed is the Purusha, thousand-eyed


    and thousand-legged. Enveloping the earth from all sides, He transcends it by ten fingers’ length.

    Note:—This is the first mantra of the famous Purusha Sukta of the Veda. Here the transcendent
    totality of all creation is conceived as the Cosmic Person, the Universal Consciousness animating all
    manifestation. The word ‘earth’ is to be understood in the sense of all creation. ‘Dasangulam’ is
    interpreted as ten fingers’ length, in which case it is said to refer to the distance of the heart from the
    navel, the former having been accepted as the seat of the Atma and the latter symbolic of the root of
    manifestation. The word ‘ten’ is also said to mean ‘infinity’, as numbers are only up to nine and what
    is above is regarded as numberless.

    puruṣa evedaṁ sarvam yadbhūtaṁ yacca


    bhavyam,
    utāmṛtattvasyeśāno yadannenātirohati.
    etāvānasya mahimā ato jyāyāgïśca pūruṣaḥ,
    pādo'sya viśvā bhūtāni tripādasyā'mṛtaṁ divi.

    All this (manifestation) is the Purusha alone—


    whatever was and whatever will be. He is the
    Lord of Immortality, for He transcends all in His Form as food (the universe). Such is His Glory; but
    greater still is the Purusha. One-fourth of Him all beings are, (while) three-fourth of Him rises above
    as the Immortal Being.

    tripādūrdhva udaitpuruṣaḥ
    pādo'syehābhavātpunaḥ,
    tato viśvaṅ vyakrāmatsāśanānaśane abhi.
    tasmādvirāḍajāyata virājo adhipūruṣaḥ,
    sa jāto atyaricyata paścādbhūmimatho puraḥ.

    That, Three-footed (Immortal) Purusha stood


    above transcending (all things), and His one foot
    was this (world of becoming). Then He pervaded (everything) universally, the conscious as well as
    the unconscious. From That (Supreme Being) did the Cosmic Body (Virat) originate, and in this
    Cosmic Body did the Omnipresent Intelligence manifest itself. Having manifested Himself, He
    appeared as all diversity, and then as this earth and this body.

    yatpuruṣeṇa haviṣā devā yajñamatanvata,


    vasanto asyāsīdājyam grīṣma idhmaḥ
    śaraddhaviḥ.
    taṁ yajaṁ barhiṣi praukśan puruṣaṁ
    jātamagrataḥ,
    tena devā ayajanta sādhyā ṛṣayaśca ye.

    When (there being no external material other than the Purusha) the Devas performed a universal
    sacrifice (in contemplation by mind), with the Purusha Himself as the sacred offering, the spring
    season was the clarified butter, summer the fuel, autumn the oblation. They set up for sacrifice the
    Purusha as the object of their meditation—Him who was prior to all creation; and they, the Devas,
    Sadhyas and Rishis, performed (this first sacrifice).

    tasmādyajñātsarvahutaḥ saṁbhṛtaṁ
    pṛṣadājyam,
    paśūgïstāgïścakre
    vāyavyānāraṇyān grāmyāścaye.
    tasmādyajñātsarvahutaḥ ṛcaḥ sāmāni jajñire,
    chandāgïsi jajñire tasmātyajustasmādajāyata.

    From that (Purusha), who was of the form of a Universal Sacrifice, the sacred mixture of curds and
    ghee (for oblation) was produced. (Then) He brought forth the aerial beings, the forest-dwelling
    animals, and also the domestic ones. From that (Purusha), who was the Universal Sacrifice, the Riks
    and the Samans were produced; from Him the metres (of the mantras) were born; from Him the Yajus
    was born.

    tasmādaśvā ajāyanta ye ke cobhayādataḥ,


    gāvo ha jajñire tasmāt tasmād jātā
    ajāvayaḥ.
    yatpuruṣaṁ vyadhadhuḥ katidhā
    vyakalpayan,
    mukhaṁ kimasya kau bāhū kā vūrū pādā
    vucyete.

    From Him were born horses and whatever animals have two rows of teeth. Verily, cows were born of
    Him; from Him were born goats and sheep. And when they contemplated the Purusha (as the
    Universal Sacrifice), into how many parts did they divide Him (in their meditations)? What was His
    mouth called, what were His arms, what were His thighs, what were His feet called?

    brāhmaṇo'sya mukhamāsīd bāhū rājanyaḥ


    kṛtaḥ,
    ūrū tadasya yad vaiśyaḥ padbhyāgï śūdro
    ajāyata.
    candramā manaso jātaḥcakśoḥ sūryo
    ajāyata,
    mukhādindraścāgniśca
    prāṇādvāyurajāyata.

    The Brahmana (spiritual wisdom and splendour) was His mouth; the Kshatriya (administrative and
    military prowess) His arms became. His thighs were the Vaisya (commercial and business
    enterprise); of His feet the Sudra (productive and sustaining force) was born. The Moon (symbol of
    the mind) was born from His (cosmic) mind; the Sun (symbol of self and consciousness) was born
    from His eyes. Indra (power of grasping and activity) and Agni (will-force) came from His mouth;
    from His vital energy air was born.

    nābhyā āsīdantarikśam śīrṣṇo dyauḥ


    samavartata,
    padbhyāṁ bhūmirdiśaḥ śrotrātathā lokāṁ
    akalpayan.
    saptāsyāsṇ paridhyasṛitaḥsapta samidḥa
    kṛtaḥ,
    devā yadyajñam tanvānā abaḍhnaṇ
    purūṣaṁ paśum.

    (In that Universal Meditation as Sacrifice) the firmament came from His navel; the heavens were
    produced from His head; the earth from His feet; from His ears the quarters of space—so they
    constituted the worlds. The enclosures of the sacrificial altar were seven (the seven metres like the
    Gayatri), and twenty-one (the twelve months, the five seasons, the three worlds and the sun) were the
    logs of sacrificial fuel, when the gods (the pranas, the senses and the mind) celebrated the Universal
    Sacrifice with the Supreme Purusha as the object of contemplation therein.

    yajñena yajñamayajanta devāḥtāni dharmāṇi prathamānyāsan,


    te ha nākaṁ mahimānaḥ sacante yatra pūrve sādhyāḥ santi devāḥ.

    By sacrifice (universal meditation) did the gods adore and perform (visualise) the sacrifice (Universal
    Being). These were the original creations and the original laws (that sustain creation). Those great
    ones (the worshippers of the Cosmic Being by this type of meditation) attain that Supreme Abode in
    which abide the primeval contemplators (the gods mentioned above) who thus worshipped that
    Being.

    vedāhametaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntamādityavarṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt,


    tameva viditva'timṛtyumeti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate'yanāya.

    I know this Great Purusha who shines like the sun beyond darkness. By knowing Him alone does one
    cross beyond death; there is no other way of going over there.

    ōṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.

    Om. May there be Peace, Peace, Peace.

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