How the Universe Came Out of Viratpurusha

Speech, words, and its governing deity Agni came out of the mouth of Virat Purusha.

The seven meters (chhandas) — Gayatri, Ushnik, Anushtup, Brihati, Pankti, Trishtup, and Jagati — came out from him. The mantras follow these meters, and the vibrations of mantras follow primarily these seven patterns. The seven meters came out of the seven dhatus of his body. The seven dhatus are bone, blood, marrow, skin, fat, semen, and nerves. The seven meters came from his seven dhatus.

From the tongue of Virat Purusha came all kinds of food, their taste and essence, nose, sense of taste, all kinds of tastes, and their governing deity Varuna. Why is Varuna the deity of taste? Varuna is the deity of water. Taste of water is supposed to be the greatest among all tastes.

From the nose of Virat Purusha originated prana, apana, vyana, udana, and samana — the five pranas — the Ashwini Kumaras, all the herbs and plants, sense of smell, and all kinds of smell.

From the eyes of Virat Purusha came all forms with which objects and beings are recognized, and the sense of vision. Swarga and Surya were born out of his eyes.

From his ears were born the ten directions — east, south, west, north — and all the holy teerthas like Gaya, Ganga, Pushkar, and Prayag. Akasha and sound were born out of his shrotrendriya, that is, out of his sense of hearing.

From the skin of Virat Purusha was born Vayu, sense of touch, and all the yajnas. Everything that germinates, like the pulses, everything that is born out of a seed — all such things originated from the hair follicles of Virat Purusha.

From his hair and beard were born clouds, lightning, rocks, and all the metals and minerals.

There are deities called Lokapalas who are protectors of the world. Each deity protects one direction:
Indra – East
Agni – Southeast
Yama – South
Nirriti – Southwest
Varuna – West
Vayu – Northwest
Soma – North
Ishna – Northeast
Brahma – Up
Prithvi – Down

They were born from the arms of Virat Purusha.

Earth, atmosphere, and heaven were born out of his movement. Bhagawan’s movements, his taking three steps, is very famous in the Vedas — Vishnoh Kramaha, it is called. His are the source of achievement of all desires and removal of fear.

Creation is not just creation of objects like earth, stars, plants, and animals. Creation means everything — all states, emotions, mind, kindness, hate, aggression, love, passions — everything needed to be created. Nothing was there initially, you see. Fear, removal of fear, protection — everything was to be created.

His genitals were the source of rains, semen, water, Prajapati, and pleasure of physical union. His organs of excretion created Yama, Mitra, Nirriti, Mrityu, violence, and hells.

From his back were born failure, ignorance, and unrighteousness/evil. See, everything came out of him — not just all that is good.

From nerves and blood vessels of Virat Purusha were born all the rivers and streams.

From his stomach was born Moola Prakriti, mercury (the liquid metal), oceans, and the end of all living beings — ‘bhutanam nidhanasya cha udaram viditam’.

Mind originated from his heart. Heart does not mean heart as in medical science. Hridaya or heart means middle of the chest — the Anahata Chakra.

Like this, Brahma says — everything. Brahma himself, Narada, the Sanat Kumaras, Lord Shiva, all Devas, all demons, humans, serpents, birds, animals, reptiles, Gandharvas, Apsaras, Yakshas, Rakshasas, Bhutas, Pretas, Pitrs, Siddhas, Vidyadharas, trees, all the beings that live in the sky, in water, and on earth, planets, stars, meteors, lightning, clouds — everything is that Virat Purusha. Everything has come out of the various organs of Virat Purusha. There is nothing that is other than that Virat Purusha in the universe that you see, hear, and sense all around you.

And he still exceeds all that by a measure of ten angulas — ten fingers. That means he encompasses and envelops the whole universe. He is not just the universe — he is more than that, larger than that. The whole universe is within him. He is the Lord of immortality and moksha. Nobody can exceed his greatness. This entire universe is only a small portion of Virat Purusha, and what we see around us is only a minuscule part of this universe.

Now, Brahma was born, and he was sitting on a lotus coming out of the nabhi (navel) of Sri Hari. As soon as Brahma was born, he wanted to perform yajna. There was nothing else other than Virat Purusha all around. Whatever was needed for performing yajna should be obtained from the organs of Virat Purusha.

The place of yajna, the time of yajna, the materials required for yajna — Brahma obtained all these from the organs of Virat Purusha. He gathered everything — the grains, herbs, ghee, metals, soil, mud, water, the mantras, dakshina, deeksha, the rules and regulations, methods, faith, remedies — everything required to perform yajna were derived from the organs of Virat Purusha.

With all these, Brahma performed yajna. And whom was the yajna meant for? Who was the deity of the yajna? Paramatma, Sri Hari.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi