Hinduism
Many Paths to One God

Hymn: To Purusha

Hymn: To Purusha" is a revealing Hymn from Rig Veda. It attempts to express the final, universal divine principle behind the entire universe. It is one of the most popular Hindu hymns. forming an essential part of worship in both homes and temples at the time that images are bathed. The recital of this hymn is also prescribed to the faithful for the expiation of sins.

Hymn: To Purusha

A thousand heads hath Purusha, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
Covering the world all around, he yet exceeds it on all sides.
This Purusha is all that yet hath been and all that is to be;
The lord of immortality as well as of creatures who grow by food.

So mighty is his greatness; yea, greater than all creation is Purusha.
All creatures together are but one-fourth of him, three-fourths of him is eternal and in heaven. With three-fourths Purusha went up: one-fourth of him again was here.
Thence he extended on all sides into the animate and inanimate.
From him the Self was born; again Purusha from the Self was born.

As soon as he was born, he spread eastward and westward o'er the earth.
When gods prepared the sacrifice with Purusha as their offering,
Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood.
From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered up.
He formed the creatures of the air, and animals both wild and tame. ...

When they divided Purusha, how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?
The priests were his mouth, of both his arms were the warriors made.
His thighs became the merchants, from his feet the workers were produced.
The moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the sun had birth. ...

Storms and fire from his mouth were born, and wind from his breath,
From his navel came mid-air; the sky was fashioned from his head;
Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions. Thus they formed the worlds. ...

Rig Veda X, 90

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