WHO IS PURUSHA?

The ‘Purusha’ in Purushasukta is the Cosmic Being, immanent and transcendent. He is the Being who pervades and envelops the entire universe and everything in it. All manifestations that have been in the past, that are now, and that will be in the future, are manifestations of the Purusha. All creation ongoingly originates from Him. All living beings are brought forth through Purusha’s “sacrifice of Himself”, His offering of Himself in Yagnya, or His putting Himself into the manifest cycle of exchange and reciprocal transformations. The Vedas and the structure of the Mantras also arise from this primal Purusha Yagnya. The Devas take birth from His mind and body. He is That which binds all things together in primal unity.

To Vaishnavas, the Purusha is Bhagavan Narayana. To Shaivas, the Purusha is Rudra. To Shaktas (perhaps surprisingly) and Sauras, the Purusha is Aditya. The various Sampradayas quote various points of evidence in the Vedas to support each of these identifications (all of them quite validly). To Smartas, all of the above are simultaneously correct.