The joy of harmony

The message of purusha suktam

The ancient rishis recognized the divine vision of the oneness of the world of plurality and in the Upanishads they constantly declared, “you are of one nature, the substance of god, one soul with your fellow human beings; awake and progress towards your absolute divinity. Live for the god in yourself and in other.” to these sages, the world’s  constant change was but a dance of joy in the infinite bliss and their concepts are most poetically visualized and sung in the Vedas.

The purusha suktma is a sublime song, a hymn of praise adoring the mighty divine spirit. Among all other similar hymns in the Rg- Veda, it is

the most famous, and even today remains a popular chant. In this

hymn we invoke the reality behind this universe which wears the mask of many. Once this purusha   concept, the cosmic oneness, is recognized even intellectually, our false sense of ego

dissolves at least to some extent and it is then that we can walk out of our

psychological confusion.

A new vision arises in the students of purusha suktam. They come to feel a golden aura of divinity blazing forth from every object around them. The drab, dreary world is now lit up by a presence divine. In their day-to-day life, no unreasonable anxiety arises within their hearts. There is a new peace discovered within , and the world receives much more love from

such individuals. Their life gathers to itself a significant  spiritual strength and beauty .

To recognize him as the very essence in all names and forms, to detect him in all cosmic happenings around us should be the purpose of life. To  perceive his infinite might, expressed  in insignificant fractions through the incomprehensible force of nature is to readily  render all sincere seekers to live this greater life of larger awareness, constantly worshiping and adoring the lord of the universe, the jagadisvara. From the mind of such a spiritual student all cobwebs and entanglements drop off. All passion and lust, attachment and hatred, attraction and revulsion cease.

Individuals so purified come to mirror the pure self during their quiet and deep meditation. To think that the world of matter ever crackling with change , soaked in sorrow, ugly with passions, and slain by death, is god,

the infinite, is to misunderstand him completely. Loard narayana  is the

one infinite substratum upon which the universe exists. The universe itself is ever dancing to the rhythm of change, through its convulsions of birth and death, and its gyrations of pain and sorrow.

To chant this hymn and to allow our mind to float upon its deeps suggestion is to uplift the inner vision to dizzying heights of unique experience in subjective unfoldment. The very tune in which the hymn is chanted is fascinatingly haunting. With a clear understanding of the meaning of these mantras, the meditation becomes complete. To lift up the mind on the wings of these suggestions is to soar into realms of indescribable visions of the drama of creation.

To watch the revelation of thid drama, scene by scene, in all its beauty and ugliness divine is to stretch one’s mind into its fullest, smoothing all its frills, and the dust held within its undisturbed folds. The ego

dwindles. Selfishness exhausts. The vision clears. Poise, melodious with inner silence, comes to rule over the mind of the students. Such a tranquil mind rockets into the inner space to discover, and to finally realize, the ultimate reality, the Brahman.

By H.H. Swami Chinmayananda