Purusha

Purusha (Sanskrit: पुरुष, IAST: Puruṣa) is a complex concept whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times. Depending on source and historical timeline, it means the cosmic being or self, awareness, and universal principle.

In early Vedas, Purusha was a cosmic being whose sacrifice by the gods created all life. This was one of many creation myths discussed in the Vedas. In the Upanishads, the Purusha concept refers to the abstract essence of the Self, Spirit and the Universal Principle that is eternal, indestructible, without form, and all-pervasive.

In Samkhya philosophy, Purusha is the plural immobile cosmic principle, pure consciousness, unattached and unrelated to anything, which is "nonactive, unchanging, eternal, and pure". Purusha uniting with Prakṛti (matter) gives rise to life.

In Kashmir Shaivism, Purusha is enveloped in five sheaths: time (kāla), desire (raga), restriction (niyati), knowledge (vidyā) and separatedness (kalā); it is the universal Self (paramātman) under limitations as many individual Selfs (jīvātman).

There is no consensus among schools of Hinduism on the definition of Purusha, and it is left to each school and individual to reach their own conclusions. For example, one of many theistic traditions script such as Kapilasurisamvada, credited to another ancient Hindu philosopher named Kapila, first describes Purusha in a manner similar to Samkhya-Yoga schools, but then proceeds to describe buddhi (intellect) as second Purusha, and ahamkara (egoism) as third Purusha. Such pluralism and diversity of thought within Hinduism implies that the term Purusha is a complex term with diverse meanings.

The animating causes, fields, and principles of nature are Purusha in Hindu philosophy. Hinduism refers to Purusha as the soul of the universe, the universal spirit present everywhere, in everything and everyone, all the time. Purusha is the Universal Principle that is eternal, indestructible, without form, and all-pervasive. It is Purusha in the form of nature’s laws and principles that operate in the background to regulate, guide, and direct change, evolution, cause, and effect. It is Purusha, in the Hindu concept of existence, that breathes life into matter, is the source of all consciousness, one that creates oneness in all life forms, in all of humanity, and the essence of Self. According to Hinduism, it is Purusha why the universe operates, is dynamic and evolves, as against being static.

During the Vedic period, the Purusha concept was one of several mythemes offered for the creation of the universe. Purusa, in the Rigveda, was described as a being who becomes a sacrificial offering of the devatas who sacrifices himself to his own self, and whose sacrifice creates all life forms including human beings.

In the Rigveda, "Puruṣa is all that yet hath been and all that is to be" (पुरुष एवेदगं सर्वं यद्भूतं यच्च भव्यम्।).