Purusha Sukta

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THE PURUSHA SUKTA

 

The Vedic Hymn on the Supreme

Being

 

by Sri V. Sundar

 

 

 

Invocation to the Acharyas

 

lakshmInAtha samArambhAm nAthayAmuna madhyamAm |

asmadAcArya paryantAm vande guruparamparAm ||

 

That wondrous lineage of preceptors, that starts

with Sriman Narayana,

and came through Nathamuni down to my own Acharya,

I salute that.

 

Invocation to Vishvaksena (sEnai mudaliAr)

 

yasya dvirada vaktrAdyAH pArishadyAH paraH Satam |

vighnam nighnanti satatam vishvaksenam tamASraye

||

 

 

 

An Introduction to the Purusha Sukta

 

Where is the Purusha Suktam in the Vedas?

 

Hindu religious sources are classified as ``Sruti'' or

``smRti''. Sruti -- that which is heard -- is of the

nature of divine

revelation. We believe that the Vedas, hymns composed

by seers and sages beginning as best as we can date

them in

3000 BC, were sung under divine inspiration. This is

why they are Sruti. These sages ``heard'' them as the

voice of the

Divine.

 

Only two bodies of hymns are recognized as divinely

composed. One being the Vedas, and the other, the

Thiruvaaymozhi of Kaari Maaran Sadagopan, or Sri

Nammaazhvaar, which are recognized as equivalent to

the 4 Vedas

in the Ubhaya Vedanta school, the Sri Vaishnava

tradition. The six compositions of Kaliyan Neelan, or

Sri Thirumangai

Aazhvaar, are recognized as the 6 vedAngas.

 

[Note: ubhaya vedAnta refers to the twofold

vedAnta, seen through the two eyes of the Sanskrit

Upanishads and the Tamil Divya

Prabandham. They are of paramount and equal

authority to Sri Vaishnavas.]

 

SmRti is that which is remembered, and includes a

large part of the commentary of the Vedas, different

Puranas, epics,

and other sources.

 

The Purusha Suktam is one of the Pancha Suktams of the

Sri Vaishnava sampradaya or tradition. The other four

are the

Narayana Suktam, Sri Suktam, Bhu Suktam, and the Nila

Suktam.

 

The Purusha Suktam is seen earliest in the Rg Veda, as

the 90th Suktam of its 10th mandalam, with 16

mantrams.

Later, it is seen in the Vajasaneyi Samhita of the

Shukla Yajur Vedam, the Taittriya Aranyaka of the

Krishna Yajur

Vedam, the Sama Veda, and the Atharvana Veda, with

some modifications and redactions.

 

In South India, the Purusha Suktam, Vishnu Suktam, Sri

Suktam, and Narayana Suktam are generally chanted

together

in paarayanam.

 

The Sri Rudram, Purusha Suktam, Upanishads, the Gita,

and the Vishnu Sahasra Naamam are also recommended for

daily paarayanam - chanting.

 

Since the Purusha Suktam is seen in all Vedas, it is

cited as the essence of all Srutis by Veda Vyasa in

the Mahabharata.

Saunaka, Apastamba, and Bodhayana have also written

concerning the use of the Purusha Suktam.

 

What does the Purusha Suktam talk about?

 

The Purusha in the title of the Purusha Sukta refers

to the Parama Purusha, Purushottama, Narayana, in his

form as the

ViraaT Purusha. He was the source of all creation. It

describes this form of his, as having countless heads,

eyes, legs,

manifested everywhere, and beyond the scope of any

limited method of comprehension. All creation is but a

fourth part

of him. The rest is unmanifested.

 

Purusha as Brahma remained inactive, and Aniruddha

Narayana, one of the four aspects of Narayana in the

first tier at

the base of the Vishaaka Roopa, asked him ``Why do you

do nothing?'' ``Because of not knowing,'' Brahma

replied.

``Perform a yajna. Your senses, the devas, shall be

the ritviks. Your body shall be the havis. Your heart,

the altar. And I

shall be he who enjoys the havis -- the offering. From

your body sacrificed, shall you create bodies for all

living

creatures, as you have done in kalpas before this.''

Thus says the sAkalya brAmhaNA.

 

This yajna was called ``sarvahut'', the offering of

all. The act of creation itself grew out of yajna, the

rite of sacrifice.

Who was worshipped at this sacrifice? It was the

Purusha. Who performed it? Brahma, the creative aspect

of the

Purusha. Who were the ritvik priests ? The devas, who

are the Purusha's senses. Who was tied as the beast of

the

sacrifice? Brahma, again. What was barhis, the altar

of the sacrifice? All of nature. Who was the fire? The

Purusha's

heart. What was sacrificed? Again, the Purusha

himself, his great body that contained all of

creation.

 

In a way, this is a message of love, that the Purusha

would consume himself in the fire of creation, to

create all the

worlds. From this sacrifice did all of creation

emanate. This is central to the message of the Purusha

Sukta.

 

vedAhametam purusham mahAntam

Aditya varNam tamasaH parastAt |

tam evam vidvAn amRta iha bhavati

na anyaH panthA vidyate 'yanaaya ||

 

This great Purusha, brilliant as the sun, who

is beyond all darkness, I know him in my

heart. Who knows the Purusha thus,

attains immortality in this very birth.

I know of no other way to salvation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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