Omnipresent Omniscient Omnipotent
To understand jyotiṣa in depth one needs to understand the concept of kālapuruṣa –कालपुरुष - or Cosmic Man of the veda who is the source of the Creation and whose vastness and expanse is amply reflected in the following hymn:
ह्रीश्चते लक्ष्मीश्चपत्न्यौ। अहोरात्रे पार्श्वे। नक्षत्राणि रूपम्। अश्विनौ व्यात्तम्। इष्टं मनिषाण। अमुं मनिषाण। सर्वं मनिषाण॥
hrīścate lakṣmīścapatnyau| ahorātre pārśve| nakṣatrāṇi rūpam| aśvinau vyāttam| iṣṭaṃ maniṣāṇa| amuṃ maniṣāṇa| sarvaṃ maniṣāṇa||
"The goddesses hrī and śrī are your wives. Day and night are your lateral limbs. The nakṣatra are your form. The aśvina are your expanse. Fulfil our desire for self-knowledge. Fulfil our desire for the enjoyments of this world. Fulfil our desire for everything."
Time creates, Time annihilates; but kālapuruṣa is beyond the cyclic movement of creation and destruction. He is virāṭa, so large that he is beyond the comprehension of the human mind – he is the Omnipresent Omniscient Omnipotent Consciousness, only a part of which has manifested as the universe that we see.
The Might of all that never yet came down
- Sri Aurobindo, Savitri
In the puruṣa sūkta kālapuruṣa is described as the one who pervades everything, as one with thousand heads, thousand eyes and thousand feet, transcending in all directions, who holds . All manifestations – in past, present and in future – are held by kālapuruṣa. From kālapuruṣa emanates the creative Will which causes the projection of the universe in time and space. Through his own sacrifice in a yajña[1] kālapuruṣa created the world and all forms of existence - the birds, animals, the veda, metre, sūrya, candramā, indra, agni, the celestial sphere, the heavens, the earth, the Space.
The puruṣa sūkta is profound in its philosophical message, but is very difficult to comprehend through literary translation of its hymns, keeping in mind that vedic ṛṣi used symbols to contain a complex idea or a meaning, and also that the vedic Word was a seed of thought and vision by which they recovered old truths in new forms.
The Purusa Sukta
सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्।
स भूमिऽविश्वतो वृत्वाऽत्यत्तिष्ठद्दशाङ्गुलम्॥१॥
sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt। sa bhūmiṁ viśvato vṛtvātyatiṣṭad daśāgulam॥
puruṣa , the Cosmic Being has a Cosmic body and therefore countless heads, eyes and feet which are poetically mentioned here as having a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet; he has enveloped the Cosmic Earth from all sides, and has established himself in the 10-fingers wide space in the heart of the Jiva.
पुरुष एवेदऽ सर्वं यद्भूतं यच्च भव्यम्।
उतामृतत्वस्येशानो यदन्नेनातिरोहति॥२॥
puruṣa evedaṁ sarvaṁ yad bhūtaṁ yacca bhavyam। utāmṛtattvasyeśāno yadannenātirohati॥
This puruṣa alone is all that which existed in the past, that is, and that which shall appear in future. He is also the Lord of the immortality, and also of that which grow abundantly by food.
एतावानस्य महिमाऽतो ज्यायाँश्च पूरुषः।
पादोऽस्य विश्वा भूतानि त्रिपादस्यामृतं दिवि॥३॥
etāvānasya mahimāto jyāyāṁśca pūruṣaḥ। pādo'sya viśvā bhūtāni tripādasyā'mṛtaṁ divi॥
All that is here is indeed his greatness. But he has much more glory and greatness, the distinction of the puruṣa ; this, what is seen is just one-fourth of him, one leg of the creature, the other three are invisible and in the heaven of immortality.
त्रिपादूर्ध्व उदैत्पुरुषः पादोऽस्येहाभवात्पुनः।
ततो विष्वङ् व्यक्रामत्साशनानशने अभि॥४॥
tripādūrdhva udaitpuruṣaḥ pādo'syehābhavātpunaḥ। tato viśvaṅ vyakrāmatsāśanānaśane abhi॥
With those other three parts this great puruṣa ascended above, went up to the heaven of immortality; one alone remained here, this one becoming again and again, and from this came, extending over every side, sentient and insentient objects, objects and beings, those eat and those eat not.
तस्माद विराडजायत विराजो अधि पूरुषः।
स जातो अत्यरिच्यत पश्चाद्भूमिमथो पुरः॥५॥
tasmādvirāḍajāyata virājo adhipūruṣaḥ। sa jāto atyaricyata paścādbhūmimatho puraḥ॥
Thence was born virāja the Splendid, and from virāja came the puruṣa ; thus born, he grew at once large, exceedingly large, eastward and westward, extending beyond the Earth, both behind and in the front.
तस्माद्यज्ञात्सर्वहुतः संभृतं पृषदाज्यम्।
पशूँस्ताँश्चक्रे वायव्यानारण्या ग्राम्याश्च ये॥६॥
tasmādyajñātsarvahutaḥ saṁbhṛtaṁ pṛṣadājyam। paśūgïstāgïścakre vāyavyānāraṇyān grāmyāścaye॥
This was the sarvāhuta yajña - Offering of the All - made by them, and from it was obtained pṛṣadājya - पृषदाज्य – a mixture of curd and ghee (clarified butter); from it winged forth birds flying in the air, and beasts in the wild woods, and the meek ones of the small villages.
तस्माद्यज्ञात् सर्वहुतः ऋचः सामानि जज्ञिरे।
छन्दासि जज्ञिरे तस्माद्यजुस्तस्मादजायत॥७॥
tasmādyajñātsarvahutaḥ ṛcaḥ sāmāni jajñire।
chandāgïsi jajñire tasmātyajustasmādajāyata॥
From that sarvāhuta yajña in which the Cosmic Being was Himself the Offering, born the riks - the hymns of the ṛgveda and the samans - the chants of the sāmaveda from the yajña were born the Metres that govern the movements of the things in the universe, and soon the conduct of the rites, the sacrificial formulae of the yajurveda.
तस्मादश्वा अजायन्त ये के चोभयादतः।
गावो ह जज्ञिरे तस्मात्तस्माज्जाता अजावयः॥८॥
tasmādaśvā ajāyanta ye ke cobhayādataḥ। gāvo ha jajñire tasmāt tasmād jātā ajāvayaḥ॥
From that were born the Horses, creatures with only one and two rows of teeth, cattle, goats and sheep.
तं यज्ञं बर्हिषि प्रौक्षन् पुरुषं जातमग्रतः।
तेन देवा अयजन्त साध्या ऋषयश्च ये॥९॥
taṃ yajñaṃ barhiṣi praukṣan puruṣaṃ jātamagrataḥ।
tena devā ayajanta sādhyā ṛṣayaśca ye॥
The Accomplished and the Seers and the Gods performed the sacrifice. That splendid Being, puruṣa , who was born before the beginning of things, ahead of everything, the earliest, they made him the offering in the yajña; on the seat of sacred grass they sprinkled on him the consecrated water.
यत्पुरुषं व्यदधुः कतिधा व्यकल्पयन्।
मुखं किमस्यासीत् किं बाहू किमूरू पादा उच्येते॥ १०॥
yatpuruṣaṃ vyadadhuḥ katidhā vyakalpayan।
mukhaṃ kimasyāsīt kiṃ bāhū kimūrū pādā ucyete॥
When this puruṣa was divided (when the gods decided to sacrifice the puruṣa and produce further creation) in how many parts did they do so? In what forms they shaped him? What became of his mouth? What became of his thighs? And his feet? How are these named?
ब्राह्मणोऽस्य मुखमासीद्बाहू राजन्यः कृतः।
ऊरू तदस्य यद्वैश्यः पद्भ्या शूद्रो अजायत॥ ११॥
brāhmaṇo'sya mukhamāsīd bāhū rājanyaḥ kṛtaḥ। ūrū tadasya yad vaiśyaḥ padbhyāgï śūdro ajāyata॥
His head is the Brahmin, the wise and the learned, and his arms became rāajanya, the king, the man of valour; what were his thighs they were made into Vaishya, the man of transaction and business, and his two feet turned into Shudra, the doer of perfect works. Wisdom, Power, power of Nutrition, Service – all are important ingredients of a yajna, and this mantra indicates their nascence by using the allegory of four classes of society.
चन्द्रमा मनसो जातश्चक्षोः सूर्यो अजायत।
श्रोत्राद्वायुश्च प्राणश्च मुखादग्निरजायत॥ १२॥
candramā manaso jātaḥcakśoḥ sūryo ajāyata। mukhādindraścāgniśca prāṇādvāyurajāyata॥
From his mind was born the candramā, from his two eyes was born the sūrya, from the mouth came indra and agni, and from his breath was born vāyu.
नाभ्या आसीदन्तरिक्ष शीर्ष्णो द्यौः समवर्तत।
पद्भ्यां भूमिर्दिशः श्रोत्रात्तथा लोकाँऽकल्पयन्॥ १३॥
nābhyā āsīdantarikśam śīrṣṇo dyauḥ samavartata। padbhyāṁ bhūmirdiśaḥ śrotrātathā lokāṁ akalpayan॥
From the navel of this puruṣa appeared the antarikṣa (the space between the earth and the heavens), and from the crown of his head came Dyuloka (heaven or celestial realms). Bhumi (earth) evolved out of his feet, from the ears came the ten directions; by the sheer power of imagination (formulation) the worlds came into existence.
यत्पुरुषेण हविषा देवा यज्ञमतन्वत।
वसन्तोऽस्यासीदाज्यं ग्रीष्म इध्मः शरद्धविः॥ १४॥
yatpuruṣeṇa haviṣā devā yajñamatanvata।
vasanto'syāsīdājyaṃ grīṣma idhmaḥ śaraddhaviḥ॥
Even as the devas performed the yajña for the Creation, in the absence of any other mater puruṣa himself was made the havi – the sacrificial offering to the great Mystic Fire. vasanta (spring) became the ājya (ghee), the grīṣma (summer) became the idhma (pieces of wood) and the śarada (autumn) filled the place of havi (oblatory material like the rice-cake).
सप्तास्यासन् परिधयस्त्रिः सप्त समिधः कृताः।
देवा यद्यज्ञं तन्वाना अबध्नन् पुरुषं पशुम्॥ १५॥
saptāsyāsṇ paridhyasṛitaḥsapta samidḥa kṛtaḥ। devā yadyajñam tanvānā abaḍhnaṇ purūṣaṁ paśum॥
Seven were the paridhi (pieces of the firewood serving as borders), and three times seven (twenty-one) items were made the samidhā - the fuel sticks. In this yajña, in which the gods are the performers of the rite, they tied this puruṣa (himself) as the paśu (sacrificial animal).
(The seven paridhi or pieces of firewood serving as borders represent the seven seas, and the twentyone fuel sticks represent the 5 mahābhuta, 5 tanmāatrā, 5 karmendriyās, 5 jñānendriya and 1 manas.)
यज्ञेन यज्ञमयजन्त देवास्तानि धर्माणि प्रथमान्यासन्।
ते ह नाकं महिमानः सचन्त यत्र पूर्वे साध्याः सन्ति देवाः॥ १६॥
yajñena yajñamayajanta devāḥtāni dharmāṇi prathamānyāsan। te ha nākaṁ mahimānaḥ sacante yatra pūrve sādhyāḥ santi devāḥ॥
The gods perform the yajña, sacrifice in the sacrifice as a sacrifice, and in it were established the first dharma (laws that guide humanity). In their excellence and glory did the gods ascend to heaven where the ancient devas and sādhya live.
पुरुषं महान्तमादित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात्।
तमेव् विदित्वाऽतिमृत्युमेति नान्यः पन्था विद्यतेऽयनाय॥ १७॥
vedāhametaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntamādityavarṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt। tameva viditva'timṛtyumeti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate'yanāya॥
I know this Great Purusha who shines like the sun beyond darkness. By knowing Him alone does one cross beyond death; there is no other way of going over there.
kālapuruṣa is thus the Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent Divine Energy in the Universe, a personification of the eternal Time. The zodiac is his body, the twelve signs are parts of his body, the nakṣatra adore various parts of his body, and his breath is the Cosmic Wind which moves Time’s cycle of creation and annihilation.
[1] Yajña is a ritual in which offerings are made with mantras to Agni, the Sacred Fire.
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