Sri Raghavendra Swami's commentary on the Purusha Sukta P8 !%VIF/9 !+.+ !,-.+ !/" " There's hardly a Hindu who hasn't heard of Purusha Sukta. There's hardly any Brahmin who does not recite Purusha Sukta during his daily oblations (sandhyAvandana). !" Let's see in detail the commentary on the Purusha Sukta with the light shown by our Mantralaya mahaprabhugalu, Sri Raghavendra Tirtha Sripadangalvaru. Purusha Sukta is a great seminal sukta because it ascertains that Being who is responsible for bestowing on us the Parama Purushartha called Moksha. But who is this Purusha? Is He another being like us or is He infinitely different from us? For one to understand who this Purusha is, one has to refer other Vedic texts to ascertain. Hence Sri Rayaru quotes a lot of Sruti and Smriti verses and finally affirms that Purusha is none other than Lord Vishnu/Narayana. " !" There are certain slight changes to a few words and a couple of verses are interchanged between the Rg Vedic and Yajur Vedic versions of Purusha Sukta. But the import, content and intent of Purusha Sukta however remains the same irrespective of the changes to the words and swapping of the verses. Let's take verse by verse and understand the context, meaning and import of the Sukta as a whole. " "!" The first verse reads thus: " !" ,2 /$/% &8(9 ST15 /$I%/05 /$/%12 " " "/ 342 P0785 4:B7 <8=K1;a @A2RC2 Om sahasra sIrshA purushaha sahasrAkshah sahasrapAt ! "sa bhUmim vishvatO vritvA atyatishthat dashAngulam ! !" "The Lord Vishnu residing in everybody (as antaryAmi) possesses thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of legs. He has pervaded everywhere and is Infinitely Superior even to Goddess Lakshmi who is the presiding deity of earth". " !" So, what is meant by Purusha? Is it just a Man or a Cosmic Man or something else? Some have identified Purusha to a jiva while some have identified Him as a Cosmic Man. But the context and even the superficial meaning of the whole Sukta does no where give even an iota of hint that Purusha of Purusha Sukta is a jiva. As regards the Cosmic Man, it can be Hiranyagarbha or even Brahma. In the Veda, Hiranyagarbha is also identified as a Purusha. And as the adhipati for Brahmanda, Brahma is also known as Purusha. Hence it has to be settle first as to what is meant by Purusha first and only then one can proceed. Hence Rayaru first addresses this. He quotes a Sruti verse which says " DE9 SO 065 " which means "the One who resides in jiva's body and jiva's heart". Rayaru also quotes a couple of more Srutis " -.5 -._8 $O5 ST15 " and " ST`8 $L7 NO6P5 ". Now Rayaru quotes the Brahmasutra i.2.26 (vaisvAnarAdhikarana) " ST15"RS T7URL86W " and says that the author of Brahmasutras, Lord Vedavyasa, too references the Purusha Sukta and establishes the word "Purusha" as denoting the Supreme Lord. So we have Sruti vakyas ascertaining Purusha as the Supreme Lord and we also have the support of Brahmasutra, an aptavAkya, as it has been ascertained by an apta, Lord Himself. " !" Now the apparent meaning of " /$I% &8(9ST15 /$I%/05 /$/%12 " would mean that "Purusha has 1000 heads, 1000 eyes and 1000 legs". But in the case of God, everything is Infinite and hence he is <U28 BP -ODP9 . The Taittirya Upanishad says " /3=2 XU2 <U282 Y%$Z" which is an unequivocally assertation that God is Infinite. Naturally, if one aspect of God is Infinite, every other attribute/aspect will also be infinite. So, how to reconcile the 1000 hands of Purusha Sukta with the other Srutis which say that He is Infinite. All his attributes are infinite in measure and hence He is Svatantra. Everything and everyone other than Him are limited in nature and there is no other being in the entire cosmos who possessed anything in infinite measure. The next highest in the cosmological gradation ( B.8R= ) is Goddess Lakshmi. She has attributes in highest measure compared to anyone below her in the hierarchy but even She is not equal to Lord Vishnu because Lord Vishnu is Infinitely superior to Goddess Lakshmi too. Unlike other Vedantins who resort to "liberty of imagination" ( /C[C <W.4 ) which is actually a logical defect and impose views of their own on Sruti vakyas, our Dvaita stalwarts never quote anything of their own imagination. They always cite another Sruti or Smriti verses as pramAna and substantiate. This is one of the core reasons why Sriman Madhvacharya's Dvaita Shastra is unopposed till date while every other philosophy has been shown of defects and inconsistencies. Hence, going by Dvaita tradition of reconciling "apparently conflicting" Sruti vakyas using another Sruti vakya, Rayaru quotes a Sruti which reads " <U28 &8195 <U28 EV <U2_8 $O5 " and says that the /$/% (numeral 1000) should be construed as <U28 (Infinite). " !" The word 342 has been used in the mantra above. On the lines of Isavasya Upanishad mantra " 6K:2 bc8=2 bca " where the word " bca " refers to prAkriti, here the word 342 also refers to prAkriti. Thus the second line of the mantra contextually implies that Lord Vishnu is free from the body made of panchabhUtas. In the phrase " @A2RC R8=K1;a " the word " !0 " should be construed as /492 on the authority of the Sruti which says " @dK /492". Hence the phrase will mean that Lord Vishnu is superior to Goddess Lakshmi who herself has transcended the time and space and that's because Lord has even the prAkriti under His eternal control. In the phrase " 342 P0785 4:B7 @A2RC R8=K1;a ", 4:B7 means pervasion. And we have already seen in the definition of the word Purusha that He resides in jiva's heart. Hence the phrase will here mean that Lord Vishnu pervades this "jagat as well as the 10-angulam hearts of jivas. " " The second mantra of the Sukta reads thus: " !" purusha EvEdam sarvam yadbhUtam yacchabhavyam ! utAmrtatvavasyEshAnoyayadannEnAtirOhati " !" Rayaru say thus: " !" "Whatever was in the past, whatever is present and whatever that will be in the future will be pervaded by the that Purusha who is also known as nArAyanA. He is the Controller of those in samsAra and those who are muktAs". !" !" In the previous mantra, we have seen that Purusha is none but nArAyanA Himself. We have also seen how nArAyanA is the Controller and is infinitely superior to the presiding deity of earth, Goddess Lakshmi. This mantra glorifies nArAyanA as the Controller of everything and everyone. !" !" Let's now dwell into more detail about the various words in the mantra and what do they signify. " !" purusha EvEdam sarvam ! means that ! all these things are deponent on purusha. This mantra does not mean that "purusha is all this everything" ! which mistakenly looks like purporting advaita. Hence Sri Raghavendra Swamiji quotes a smriti passage "yadadHInA yasya sattA tattadityEva bHanyatE " to corroborate his commentary. ! The above smriti passage says that "If the entities are dependent on or controlled by somebody else then there cannot be any identity between the controller and the controlled". The usage of purusha EvEdam sarvam ! is similar to the usage of the maxim "rAjAh rAshtram " (the kingdom is the under the control of the king). " !" Interestingly Srimad Bhagawata further amplifies the above reasoning. The mantra idam hi viswam bHagavAnivEtaro yatO jagat sthAna nirOdha sambhavah says that since God is the Creator of the Universe, it is customary to convey that "Universe is God". So, in this context where the Purusha Sukta is saying that "purusha is all this" it should be construed the way Bhagawata conveys. " !" Even in the sakhAntara brAhmanA too it is said "purusha EvEdam sarvamiti purushENaivEdam sarvam vyAptam" which too conveys subtly that all this is pervaded by that purusha more or less in the same words as that of Purusha Sukta . " !" In explaining the phrase yadbHUtam yacchabhavyam Sri Rayaru cites the explanation given in the NyayaSudha of Sri Tikacharya for the Brahmasutra "patyAdi shabdebhyah " which denotes that the word "pati" refer to Brahman. yaDannEna refers to the samsari jivas. !" !" Now Rayaru explains the word utAmrttvasaya . "uta" means "Api" which translates to "too". This word explains that not just those in samsara, even muktAs (amrta) too are under the sway of God. Being the Controller of muktAs is also an attribute of God. The pramAnAs like " muktAnAm paramA gatih " (of vishnusahasranAma), " amratasya esa setuh " (of Katha Upanishad) and " muktOpasrpya vyapadEsAt " (Brahmasutra i.3.2) establish beyond doubt "that God is the controller of the muktAs too and hence this Purusha Sukta mantra. " !" 01232)4/ !.Y,.)95/2/R47 !,WI3+ !!" 82;94/ !-3O2 !-912-) !->82;24/6G:)A!-;-3 !" !" EtAvAnasya mahimAtOjyAyAmsca pUrushah ! pAdosyavishwA bHUtani tripAdAsyAmrtam divi $! !" Rayaru explains that we should realise that Lord Narayana is great not just by the possession of the thousands of heads, legs etc, He is superior even from the Prakriti which is different from Himself or His attributes, i.e., to say that we should realise God as distinct from the material world that we live and experience. If we were to see God's !svarUpa !of !jnAna !and !Ananda !as four aspects, only one aspect of it is possessed by the entire !jIva !community !while other three aspects of Him namely Narayana, Vasudeva and Vaikuntha are situated in the three !lOkAs !known as !sVetadIpa, !anantAsana !and !vaikuntha. !" !" The word EtAvAn ( 01232) ) is used as some sort of a comparative term to signify that Lord's superiority is not just limited to the possession of several heads (first mantra) and being the Controller of !muktAs !and !amuktAs !(second mantra), rather He is Superior in other ways too.