Perfect person, soul, self, In-dweller. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

The Purusha or the soul, is simply the manifestation of the Divine. On the other hand, the manifestation of matter, of the material things, is the world. This Prakriti or the world, is something which is filled with the We elements. All these are destructible.

They are not permanent. But what is clear, what is clean, what is indestructible and what is effulgent and shining, is only One, and that is the Soul, or Purusha. Our Srutis have described this soul as something, which has no attributes, as something, which is superior, as something, which is eternal and permanent, as something, which does not change at all. All these have come from One, the Self. (SSB 1972, p. 90)

Brahman which represents complete growth in all respects has been represented as the characteristic of Purusha. The word Purusha refers to one who has experienced completeness or fullness. Purusha sukta has described this aspect of Purusha as something which has one thousand heads, one thousand eyes and one thousand feet:

sahasra sirsha purusha:|

sahasraksha: sahasrapat|

sa bhumim vishvato vrtva|

atyatishtad dasangulam.

This should not be interpreted in a limited way by thinking of only one thousand heads. Here, the word head connotes ‘Prajna’, or wisdom. The totality of Prajna, or the wisdom that is present in all the heads, represents the concept of Purusha.

When we describe Purusha as Sahasraksha, we mean that we worship the concept that the Lord has a thousand eyes. The inner meaning is that all energy and effulgence that comes out of the various people, or the totality of that energy represents Paramatma. By Sahasrapat, we mean a thousand feet. The inner meaning is, the physical ability to carry the material body, which rests on feet and legs. That strength or energy is described. The totality of the capacity to understand, or Prajna, and the totality, of brightness, and the effulgence, and the capacity of locomotion have been given the name Brahman.

God is referred to also as Prajnanam Brahma, or the embodiment of wisdom. When we say Purusha evedam sarvam, what we mean is that Paramatma who has got all these strengths in Him, is moving about everywhere manifesting all these strengths. All the energy that is present in the gross form and also in the minutest and most infinitesimally small thing represents the aspect of Brahman. (SSB 1974, pp. 21-22)

‘Purusha’ signifies the shining and self-effulgent Brahman. This kind of self-effulgent Brahman is present in the human body known by three different names, ‘Vishva’, ‘Taijasa’ and ‘Prajna’. In the world, the same Brahman is present in the three different aspects of Virata, Hiranyagarbha, and Avyakrita.  (SSB 1974, p. 206)

The Purusha has neither birth nor death. He undergoes no change. He is Cit swarupa, Jnanaswarupa. Dharma, or codes of social conduct, are not of His nature; so he is not Dharma swarupa. The Jnana, which is his nature, does not change, is not corrected or supplemented from time to time; it is eternal wisdom. Light is Its nature and so It does not admit of a dot of darkness. The sun does not have effulgence added to it from the world it illumines; it will emit splendour whether there are worlds or not.

The Purusha is Self-luminous. He is always the object of knowledge; He cognises all Vrittis, or mutations of the citta, or consciousness; He is modification-less, aparinami; un-evolved. The citta is parinami, it changes and evolves. The Purusha is sentience itself; He is not affected by apprehension or non-apprehension. No vyapara, or activity, can affect Him. Even when unmanifested, effulgence is His nature.

The seed in the soil grows into a tree; the tree is then manifested from the seed. This change from seed to tree and tree to seed shows that the Shakti in the seed has vyapara. This is parinama.

But the Purusha is unchanging, unaffected; He is the see-er. He is completely apart from Prakriti. No deed can diminish His glory, nor exhaust His personality. (San Vah, pp. 63-64)

The Purusha you enquire about is in this body itself, as the resident of the inner sky, the Heart. It is on account of His being there, that you are shining forth in full splendour of attainment, and personality. They emanate from Him and merge in Him. Like milestones, progressively increasing and interdependent, the Earth, Durga, food and Purusha - all four principles, originate one from the other (according to the second section of the Taittriya). The origin might not be evident to the eye but, since the origin of the Jnanendriyas and the Karmendriyas has been described already, the origin of the Purusha is as good as said. All rivers join the sea and lose their names and forms. The rivers thereafter are called the ‘sea’. So too, only the Purusha remains. He is without any attainment and traits or changes. He is imperishable, endless. That is all I know about Brahman and that is all there is to know’,  said Pippalada to Kabandha and other disciples. (UV, p. 45)

The Kshetra, or body, is associated with the gunas or attributes, Tamas, Rajas, and Sattva, so the Jiva when in contact with it and when it identifies itself with the body, imagines that it is experiencing grief and joy which are the consequences of those gunas. The Purusha, or the Kshetrajna, has no real relationship with the gunas; He is just a witness. When iron is in contact with fire, then it has the power of scalding, but it is not the iron that scalds. It is the fire. Through contact with Prakriti, Purusha appears as the doer and experiencer. The lamp is the same but the container affects its expression.

Sattva guna is the lamp that shines clear through the white glass chimney; Rajo guna is the many coloured glass chimney that makes the light dim and poor; and Tamo guna is the mud pot inside which the lamp is totally ineffective.

Sattva guna is Atma jnana; Rajo guna is sullied to some extent, as smoke sullies the chimney and dims the light, and also agitates the flame of the lamp so that it is not straight and steady; Tamo guna is the suppression of the light, or Jnana, which is the very nature of man.

There is one point here, which Sadhakas have to note carefully. The lamp, the wick and the oil must be proportionate. If the wick is too big for the lamp or too small, if the oil is too much or too little for the wick, if the lamp is too small or too huge for the oil or the wick, the flame will not burn brightly and give light. Clear, steady light can be secured only when all three are in proper proportion. The three gunas too must be in equilibrium to yield maximum result, the result of liberation. The three gunas are bonds; man is bound by them, like a cow whose forelegs are tied together, whose hind legs too are bound and whose neck and horns are bound by a third bond. The three-fold gunas are such three-fold bonds.

How can the poor beast move freely when it is bound so? The Sattva guna is a golden rope, the Rajo guna a copper rope and the Tamo guna an iron rope; all three bind effectively, in spite of the difference in the cost of materials. As bonds, all three are obstacles to freedom of movement. (GV, pp. 212-217)

The great sages who realised the Divine by their penance have declared that they have been able to see the infinite effulgence of the Purusha (Supreme Person) beyond the darkness of ignorance. This declaration is the first message they gave to the world in the Vedas.

Vedaham etam purusham mahantam

Aditya-varnam tamasa parastat

(We have known this Supreme Person, effulgent like a thousand suns, beyond all darkness).

The divine shines in splendour, beyond the darkness of ignorance. ‘When man gets rid of his ignorance, he can experience this infinite Light, this spiritual flame’, declared the Rishis. Where did they experience the Divine? Not in the external world. Exploring the five life-breaths and the five sheaths of the human body, they experienced the Light of the Spirit in the heart within. They realised that those who love God can find Him nearer to themselves than anything in the world. To those who have no yearning for God, He is farther than the farthest object.

Durat sudure tad ihantike ca pasyatsv ihaiva nihitam guhayam (Mundaka Upanisad 3.1.7)

Durat sudure tad ihantike ca  (Farther than the farthest and nearer than the nearest as well). (SSS Vol.20, p. 20)

Science asks the question ‘what is Prakriti or Nature? And eventually finds it to be the embodiment of Purusha, the Omnipresent One. Spirituality asks, ‘What is Purusha? And discovers that it is the essence of Prakriti. Taken together, science and spirituality give panoramic vision of the ultimate Truth in all its totality. (NNSG Vol.4, p. 33)