The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 2

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The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 2

 

(P.130) In the Sankhya doctrine which emerged at this time, after the

Upanishads, the universe is conceived in terms of 'purusha' and 'prakriti'.

These are two complementary principles where 'purusha' is spirit, consciousness

or person, and 'prakriti' is nature from which all the world emerges. In the

'Svetasvatara Upanishad', which is one of the late Upanishads dated at about 300

BC, the doctrine of the 'purusha' is fully developed. Here we see the emergence

of this cosmic Person as the cosmic Lord. The personal God is clearly revealed.

For instance, the text says, " Those who know beyond this world the high Brahman,

the vast (the 'brihad'), hidden in the bodies of all creatures and alone

enveloping everything, as the Lord, they become immortal. " (Svetasvatara

Upanishad 3:7) The " supreme Brahman " is the name for absolute reality and this

text is saying that this absolute or ultimate reality is in the midst of

everything and envelops everything and that he is the Lord. He is not only the

impersonal 'brahman' but also the personal God. In this way the idea of the

personal God emerges. The text continues, " That person, that Purusha, is the

great Lord. " The word " Lord " here is the same as the 'Kurios' in Greek and the

'Adonai' of the Old Testament, and is the one who rules the universe. (P.131) He

is the great Lord, " the mover of existence. He possesses the purest power of

reaching everything. He is light; he is undecaying. " It goes on, " He dwells in

the heart of all, that Purusha not larger than the thumb, dwelling within,

always dwelling in the heart of man. He is perceived by the heart, the thought,

the mind. " (Svetasvatara Upanishad 3:11,13) So this supreme Person transcends

everything, and at the same time is immanent in everything and dwells in the

heart of each person. Each person is a person in that great Person. In the next

chapter of the Svetasvatara Upanishad it says, " He is the creator and supporter

of the gods, the great seer, the Lord of all. " The gods are the cosmic powers

and they also all derive from the supreme Person, whom they manifest. It goes

on, " He transcends all understanding. No one has grasped him above, or across,

or in the midst. There is no image of him, whose name is great glory. "

(Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19). Saying that there is no image of him means that

he always transcends both one's thinking and any attempt one might make to

imagine him. God is known as unknown because he transcends all human

understanding.

 

Finally, in the last book of this Upanishad it says, " Let us know that highest

Lord of Lords, that highest God of Gods, the ruler of rulers, the highest above,

the Lord of the world, the adorable. " (Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:7) At this point

Hinduism reaches a pure monotheism comparable with that of the second Isaiah in

the Old Testament. This cosmic Person is clearly the object of worship, the one

to be adored, and yet he dwells in the heart of all. He is both transcendent and

immanent. This then is the figure of the cosmic person, the great 'purusha',

which appears in the Upanishads and one can see how close it is to the figure we

examined in the last chapter, the cosmic person in the New Testament.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 130-131)

 

 

Part 1 - The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam

 

(P.128) In the last chapter we traced the New Testament understanding of Jesus

as the Son of Man. We saw that he is the primordial Man, the cosmic Person of

whom St Paul wrote that " in him all things consist " . (Colossians 1:16-17)

Through this understanding Jesus can be seen to be related to a vast tradition.

The idea of the cosmic Son of Man is found in Persia, Babylonia and Egypt and it

has its counterpart in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. This chapter will focus on

how the figure appears in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam and later we will follow

that through to see both how Jesus relates to these figures and what is

distinctive about him.

 

Starting with Hinduism we begin with the famous 'Purusha Shukta' in the Rig

Veda. The passage speaks of the cosmic Man or cosmic Person in whom the whole

world is to be found. It says, " This purusha is all that has been and all that

will be, the Lord of immortality. " 'Purusha' literally means " man " and here it

is the primeval Person, the primordial Man, in whom the whole creation exists.

" So mighty is his greatness, nay, greater than this is Purusha. All creatures

are one-fourth of him; three-fourths are eternal in heaven. " (Rig Veda 10:90)

The image is a little crude but its meaning is clear. He is immanent one-fourth

in this whole creation, while he is three-fourths transcendent beyond. That is

the figure of the cosmic Man who both manifests in the creation but also totally

transcends it.

 

(P.129) Then there is the very interesting concept that this 'purusha', this

cosmic Person, was sacrificed at the beginning of the world. " The gods prepared

the sacrifice with the 'purusha' as their offering " . (Rig Veda 10:90) So the

primeval man is sacrificed and the world comes into being through the sacrifice

of this 'purusha'. The whole creation comes forth from him and from him human

beings also arise. In the Hindu tradition the four 'varnas' or classes of men,

come forth from the 'purusha' and form the " limbs " of the primordial man. The

'brahmins' come from his mouth, the 'kshatrias' or ruling class, from his arms,

the 'vaisyas' or merchants and farmers from his thighs and the 'shudras' or

workers from his feet. That was the basis of the caste system in India, and its

being thought to have come forth from primordial man in the beginning, indicates

that these functions belong to the fundamental structure of human society.

Further, the belief in Hinduism that the cosmic man was sacrificed at the

beginning of the world links the Hindu tradition in this respect to the

Christian concept in the Apocalypse of St John, of " the lamb who was slain

before the foundation of the world. " (Revelation 13:8)

 

At the next stage the cosmic Person appears in the Upanishads. In the earliest

of these, the 'Brihadaranyaka Upanishad', it is said, " In the beginning this was

the Atman in the form of Purusha. " (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:1) This means

that this whole creation was originally the 'atman', the Spirit, in the form of

the cosmic Person. So the whole universe, matter, life and man, all forms one

original Person, the macrocosm. Within this the human person is the microcosm,

the small form of the macrocosm. This concept of the Spirit in the shape and

form of a person undergoes a continuous development. The text goes on to speak

of this person as " the person of light, consisting of knowledge. "

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:3:7) This means that this being is conscious, or

rather is consciousness. There is 'achit', the unconscious universe, and 'chit',

consciousness. The cosmic Person integrates 'achit' and 'chit', for he is the

conscious being in whom the unconscious and conscious are held together in

unity. (P.130) In the 'Katha Upanishad', as we have seen, the 'purusha' is

mentioned as the summit of all creation and there is a path of ascent to

'purusha'.

 

Beginning with the world of the senses and with outer objects you move to the

'manas', the world of the mind. This is the level of rational consciousness.

Then you move to the level of the 'buddhi', or intellect, which transcends the

ordinary mind and the reason. From the 'buddhi', you ascend to the 'mahat' which

is the cosmic order, the level of the gods and the angels. Next you go to the

'avyakta', the unmanifest, the " ground " of creation; and then the text says,

" Beyond the Avyakta is Purusha; beyond Purusha there is nothing. " (Katha

Upanishad 3:11) So the understanding is that the cosmic Person is the Supreme

Being in the universe and it is he who gathers the whole universe into unity.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 128-130