Rg Veda
Rg VedaThe Purusha-sukta, Rg-veda is a very important scripture in the Hindu religion. The overall concept of the poem is the creation of the world from the gods who dissect the cosmic giant, Purusha. Purusha means man’s universal spirit and soul. In the poem he a man, but it does not state what kind of man he his, thus he is collective. Every man possesses almost everything about him about him. Sukta means to pay respect to someone or something or thank them for something grateful. Together, Purusha-sukta refers to the sacred hymn of the cosmic man. It means to honor Purusha because of him, we are here. This mythological writing about Purusha and sacrifices by the gods came from the Rg-veda which happens to be the earliest Indo-European writing composed in the 1500’s B.C. Overall, this poem declares that Purusha is the ultimate god and how he sacrifices himself and other things dear to him so that the world could be created. He is a man who is universal in mind, body, and soul. Through him begins the creation of the world, nonliving and living.
The story of creation begins as a paradoxical complex in which there is a distinction between living and nonliving. There is a relationship between sizes. Purusha encompasses everything on the world but yet he can fit into the space between ten fingers. His is this gigantic complex but yet minuscule like an atom. Again the concept of universality comes into play. Purusha is there in everything that is big and everything that is small. He has been here before, he is here right now, and he will be here later. Nothing can go unblessed without his touch. His ten fingers are more precise then the thousand heads, eyes, and feet he possesses. This preciseness brings about another importance of the ten fingers. The ten fingers put together form the size of a heart, and without a heart no one can live. Purusha grows by eating and is the symbol of immortality. He is living because he eats and he is nonliving because he is being eaten since what he eats is made out of him. He must grow faster than eating himself thus he grows more vertically towards the heaven and less horizontally across the earth. One quarter of him transcends across the world into what is living and nonliving and three quarters of him ascends into what is immortal heaven. The one quarter of him became the beginning of nature that ranged beyond the earth before and after Viraj gave birth to Purusha.
Viraj is the female in the poem who was presents as to create gender. She is the female energy called shakti which is the counterpart of Purusha. Purusha is Viraj and Viraj is Purusha because shakti is characteristic that is present in all males and females. Without shakti power, a male is of no use because his inner self is incomplete...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.