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Invocation
My speech is harmonized with my mind and my mind is
harmonized with my speech. He who is manifested, may
He manifest himself before me. Acting as a nail, may
He makes the knowledge of the Vedas stay with
me. Do not let go what I have learned. With the help
of what I have studied day and night, I speak that
which is harmonious, I speak Truth. May that protect
me, protect the speaker. Aum, peace, peace, peace.
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1. The
Self only verily all this was in the beginning. Nothing else
whatsoever stirred. He (the Self) thought, "Let me now
create the worlds."
2. He then
created all these worlds. He created water, light rays, death
and elements such as water. Above the heaven is water. The
heaven supports it. The light rays are the space. Death is the
earth. That which are below are also waters.
The water is life, awareness, consciousness. Light rays are
the elements of the divinity. Death is common to earthly life,
hence the expression, "death is the earth". The expression
"that which are below" either refers to the great
elements such as fire water, etc or to the nether worlds that
are below the earth, which are also made up of the
waters of life.
3.
He thought, 'Here are now the worlds. Let me create their
controllers. So from the waters He brought out the Purusha and
gave him a shape.'
This verse refers to the creation of the primeval man, who is
called 'purusam'. This Upanishad does not proceed on the lines
of Samkhya theory. There is no mention of the creation of
prakriti here as a separate entity. Purusha, is a created
being and is the controller of this manifest universe.
4.
He meditated upon him. From him who was thus meditated upon the
mouth was separated, like (a chick coming out of) an egg. From
the mouth came speech, from speech fire. The nostrils were
separated. From the nostrils, breath, from breath air. The eyes
were separated. From the eyes sight, from sight the sun. The
ears were separated. From the ears hearing, from hearing the
(eight) directions of space. The skin was separated. From the
skin, the hairs, from the hair plants and trees. The heart was
separated. From the heart the mind, from the mind the moon.
The navel was separated. From the navel, the out breath, from
the out breath came death. The reproductive organs were
separated. From it semen, from semen water.
Before the creation there was nothing whatsoever. Only the
self existed. There were no forms and no formation of any
kind. From this state of nothingness came out forms by the
will (thoughts) of God. The formation of the Purusha was the
first stage in this process of creation. In the next
stage various divinities were created.
It is a basic Hindu concept that man is a microcosmic
representation of the macrocosm, the Purusha. All the gods and
divinities exist in man also, though in a subtle
form. The divinities who exist in the macrocosmic form
of God (Purusha) as various energies or powers,
also exist in His microcosmic aspect ( man or being)
as sense organs, the mind, the reproductive organs and
so on.
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