PURUSOTTAMA (SUPREME PERSON)

In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna explains the nature of the divine Spirit in all its ramifications. The explanation starts from the premise of the finitude of the finite to the infinitude of infinity and explains the unknown from the known manifested objects of perception, emotion, and thought emanating from the body-mind-intellect complex. When compared to the Kshara, or perishable components of matter, the infinite is described as being Akshara, or imperishable. He describes how Brahman (the Supreme Being) is superior to both "Kshara" and "Akshara," why He is termed the Purusottama, or the Supreme Person, what the significance of knowing Him as the Supreme Person is, and how He can be realised consciously. He does this by referring to the Kshara Purusha (Kshetra or the field), the Akshara Purusha (Kshetrajna or the knower of the field), and the Brahman. He is the Imperishable Reality, the spaceless, timeless, and Absolute Being.

1. Outline

Purusottama, the Supreme Person, is beyond the kshara (finite) and akshara (infinite). He pervades every realm of the cosmos yet transcends time-space-causation. He is mysterious. Some of His mysteries include the fight between good and evil, creation, the creator, life, birth, death, and rebirth. It is challenging to fully comprehend His mysteries with our finite minds and senses. The finite creature is unaware of his origins and his impending departure from Earth. Life was manifest throughout life; it did not become manifest before or after it started.

avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata

avyakta-nidhanānyeva tatra kā paridevanā

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita quotes Sri Krishna as saying, "O scion of Bharat, all created beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest during life, and then again unmanifest after death. So why mourn?

He is the manifestation of omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and the infinity of the infinitude. All pathways lead only to Him, and He is the source of all pathways. He is the embodiment of everything. He is the manifestation of the Supreme Self, the Supreme Consciousness, and the Ultimate Reality. He can be summed up as Sat-Chit-Anand (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss), at the very least. He may be described as an Infinite Being with Infinite Consciousness and Infinite Bliss. He is the origin and essence of the physical cosmos. As a pure being, He is. He appears as the "world soul," also known as Hiranyagarbha (the golden womb or universal womb), who is one of the tens of thousands of gods. The best ascription of Him would be to give expression to His supra-essential essence and not to describe Him with reference to accidental attributes, says Swami Krishnananda

2. Scriptures

dvāv imau puruṣhau loke kṣharaśh chākṣhara eva cha

kṣharaḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭa-stho ’kṣhara uchyate

uttamaḥ puruṣhas tv anyaḥ paramātmety udāhṛitaḥ

yo loka-trayam āviśhya bibharty avyaya īśhvaraḥ

yasmāt kṣharam atīto ’ham akṣharād api chottamaḥ

ato ’smi loke vede cha prathitaḥ puruṣhottamaḥ

According to the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, there are two categories of beings in creation: the kshar (perishable) and the akshar (imperishable). All living things in the material world are perishable. The imperishable are liberated beings.

In addition to them, there is also the Supreme Divine Personality, who is the unbreakable Supreme Soul. As the unchanging Controller, he inhabits the three worlds and sustains all life.

I am transcendental to the ephemeral universe of matter and even to the imperishable soul; hence, I am celebrated, both in the Vedas and the Smṛitis, as the Supreme Divine Personality.

iti guhyatamaṁ śhāstram idam uktaṁ mayānagha

etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt kṛita-kṛityaśh cha bhārata

Whoever discovers this secret will always be free, according to  Purusottama Yoga's conclusion chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. One gets enlightened and achieves all that they desire by realising this.

The individual self—the Brahmān that is immediate and direct, the self that is within all—is identical with the Supreme Self, according to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. This is evident from scriptures like "There is no other witness but Him" (III. vii. 23), "There is no other witness but This" (III. viii. 11), and "This self has entered into these bodies" (I. iv. 7), as well as from its verbal and other cognitive capacities. The Upanishadas are aware of its existence and the fact that it differs from the body.

sa viśva-kāyaḥ puru-hūta-īśaḥ

satyaḥ svayaṁ-jyotir ajaḥ purāṇaḥ

dhatte sya janmādy-ajayātma-śaktyā

tāṁ vidyayodasya nirīha āste

The entire cosmic manifestation is the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, who has millions of names and unlimited potencies, so says the Srimad Bhagavatam. He is unborn, changeless, and self-effulgent. Although He is the beginning of everything, He has no beginning. He appears to have created, maintained, and destroyed the cosmos because He used His outward energy to create this cosmic manifestation. But He does not participate in the actions of material energy and does not move in spiritual energy.

3. Remarks

Purusottama, the Supreme Person, possesses an enigmatic divine nature. The Supreme Divine is limitless, infinite, and unfathomable. It is incomprehensible to someone who is constrained, quantified, and limited. Does a creature possess the ability to comprehend its creator? Can a restricted and finite being with a beginning and an end comprehend the unlimited, infinite, incomprehensible, and fathomless? Can humans comprehend the immortal? The infinite is incommensurable with the finite. We continue to be perplexed by His mystery, and we always will be.

-Asutosh Satpathy

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