Beginningless Beginning!

Nasadiya Sukta, Mandala X of the Rk Veda gives an account of the beginningless beginning. It says, “There was nothing that one can say as ‘Existence’ (sada), or ‘Non-existence’ (asada). There was neither ‘Light’ nor ‘Darkness’, and, neither there existed a ‘Heaven’ or ‘Something Beyond’, nor there was anything like ‘Air’, ‘Death’, or ‘Immortality’. There was neither what is called ‘day’ or ‘night’ and one breathed windless and sustained oneself; there was only One, the ‘Purusha’, and no other.” The Samskruta shloka is given in Appendix. ‘Purusha Sukta’ Mandala X, Rk Veda exemplifies this further.

Another version regarding the Creation is also given as hereunder:

   “In the beginning, this universe was the self (Viraj) alone, in the shape of a person. He reflected and saw nothing else but His self. He first said: “I am He”. Therefore, He came to be known by the name ‘I’ (Aham). Hence, even now, when a person is addressed, he first says: It is ‘I’, and then says whatever other name he may have. And, because He, before (purva) the whole group of aspirants, burnt (vaushat) all evils, therefore, “He is called Purusha”- The One who enters the ‘pura’ (the body). He is actually ‘Rudra’, one of the twelve Adityas (twelve positions of the Earth in its sojourn around the Sun during its revolution).

    “Purusha is the One who is embodied (pura) as a Jiva. “Shiva only becomes the Jiva”. (Shiva Purana). It is He, the Purusha, who is embodied and says ‘I’ (ahanta). This ‘I’ is a pronoun that stands for the name of a person ‘Rudra’, who resides in the jiva as ‘Bheshaja’, Dhanvantari and maintains it! [Mandala VII of the Rk Veda, Rudra Shatiya]. It is also stated further, “He who knows this verily burns up him who wishes to be Viraj in advance of him.” [Yajur Veda, Brih. Upa. I, IV-The Creation and Its Cause, 1].

     It is this Knowledge of the Purusha, ‘Parabrahman manifest as the One’, that brings emancipation, liberation to the tormented jiva, the person suffering due to avidya. It is shuddha vidya, para-vidya, the knowledge of the highest Self, Paramatman. All other worldly knowledge is apara-vidya that brings about bondage due to reckless action of the jiva. The jiva is driven by the “Ego’ (ahankara), seated on the throne of the Mind (Manas) using the Intellect (Buddhi) as its Minister, employs the Senses as the Instruments of fulfillment of its unending carnal desires. Thus, the ‘Jivatman’ suffers an eternal bondage, until redeemed by the Blessings of the Lord through an attained person, Guru. An enlightened person is one who knows that the body, the senses, the mind, the intellect, and the ego are all just the adjuncts of the jiva, and not the person, purusha, by Himself! Knowledge, ‘jnyan’, lies in the knower, ‘jnyata’, the ‘Jnyeya’ (that is to be known) and the Knowledge, ‘jnyana’, are one. In the absence of true knowledge, understanding, and experience the jiva is perturbed and gets into actions that binds it eternally as prarabhda karmat.