Chapter Eleven
Summary Description of the Mahapurusa
1. Sri Saunaka said: O Suta, you are the best of learned men and a great devotee of the Supreme Lord. Therefore we now inquire from you about the definitive conclusion of all tantra scriptures.
2-3. All good fortune to you! Please explain to us, who are very eager to learn, the process of kriya-yoga practiced through regulated worship of the transcendental Lord, the husband of the goddess of fortune. Please also explain how the Lord’s devotees conceive of His limbs, associates, weapons and ornaments in terms of particular material representations. By expertly worshiping the Supreme Lord, a mortal can attain immortality.
4. Suta Gosvami said: Offering obeisances to my spiritual masters, I shall repeat to you the description of the opulences of Lord Visnu given in the Vedas and tantras by great authorities, beginning from lotus-born Brahma.
5. The universal form [virat] of the Personality of Godhead includes the nine basic elements of creation, starting with the unmanifest nature, and their subsequent transformations. Once this universal form is instilled with consciousness, the three planetary systems become visible within it.
6-8. This is the representation of the Supreme Lord as the universal person, in which the earth is His feet, the sky His navel, the sun His eyes, the wind His nostrils, the demigod of procreation His genitals, death His anus and the moon His mind. The heavenly planets are His head, the directions His ears, and the demigods protecting the various planets His many arms. The god of death is His eyebrows, shame His lower lip, greed His upper lip, delusion His smile, and moonshine His teeth, while the trees are the almighty Purusa’s bodily hairs, and the clouds the hair on His head.
9. Just as one can determine the dimensions of an ordinary person of this world by measuring his various limbs, one can determine the dimensions of the Mahapurusa by measuring the arrangement of the planetary systems within His universal form.
10. Upon His chest the almighty, unborn Personality of Godhead bears the Kaustubha gem, which represents the pure spirit soul, along with the Srivatsa mark, which is the direct manifestation of this gem’s expansive effulgence.
11-12. His flower garland is His material energy, comprising various combinations of the modes of nature. His yellow garment is the Vedic meters, and His sacred thread the syllable om composed of three sounds. In the form of His two shark-shaped earrings, the Lord carries the processes of Sankhya and yoga, and His crown, bestowing fearlessness on the inhabitants of all the worlds, is the supreme position of Brahmaloka.
13. Ananta, the Lord’s sitting place, is the unmanifest phase of material nature, and the Lord’s lotus throne is the mode of goodness, endowed with religion and knowledge.
14-15. The club the Lord carries is the chief element, prana, incorporating the potencies of sensory, mental and physical strength. His excellent conchshell is the element water, His Sudarsana disc the element fire, and His sword, pure as the sky, the element ether. His shield embodies the mode of ignorance, His bow, named Sarnga, time, and His arrow-filled quiver the working sensory organs.
16. His arrows are said to be the senses, and His chariot is the active, forceful mind. His external appearance is the subtle objects of perception, and the gestures of His hands are the essence of all purposeful activity.
17. The sun globe is the place where the Supreme Lord is worshiped, spiritual initiation is the means of purification for the spirit soul, and rendering devotional service to the Personality of Godhead is the process for eradicating all one’s sinful reactions.
18. Playfully carrying a lotus, which represents the various opulences designated by the word bhaga, the Supreme Lord accepts service from a pair of camara fans, which are religion and fame.
19. O brahmanas, the Lord’s umbrella is His spiritual abode, Vaikuntha, where there is no fear, and Garuda, who carries the Lord of sacrifice, is the threefold Veda.
20. The goddess of fortune, Sri, who never leaves the Lord’s side, appears with Him in this world as the representation of His internal potency. Visvaksena, the chief among His personal associates, is known to be the personification of the Pancaratra and other tantras. And the Lord’s eight doorkeepers, headed by Nanda, are His mystic perfections, beginning with anima.
21. Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are the names of the direct personal expansions of the Supreme Godhead, O brahmana Saunaka.
22. One can conceive of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in terms of awakened consciousness, sleep and deep sleep-which function respectively through external objects, the mind and material intelligence-and also in terms of the fourth, transcendental level of consciousness, which is characterized by pure knowledge.
23. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Hari, thus appears in four personal expansions, each exhibiting major limbs, minor limbs, weapons and ornaments. Through these distinct features, the Lord maintains the four phases of existence.
24. O best of brahmanas, He alone is the self-luminous, original source of the Vedas, perfect and complete in His own glory. By His material energy He creates, destroys and maintains this entire universe. Because He is the performer of various material functions, He is sometimes described as materially divided, yet He always remains transcendentally situated in pure knowledge. Those who are dedicated to Him in devotion can realize Him to be their true Soul.
25. O Krishna, O friend of Arjuna, O chief among the descendants of Vrsni, You are the destroyer of those political parties that are disturbing elements on this earth. Your prowess never deteriorates. You are the proprietor of the transcendental abode, and Your most sacred glories, which are sung by Vrndavana’s cowherd men and women and their servants, bestow all auspiciousness just by being heard. O Lord, please protect Your devotees.
26. Anyone who rises early in the morning and, with a purified mind fixed upon the Mahapurusa, quietly chants this description of His characteristics will realize Him as the Supreme Absolute Truth residing within the heart.
27-28. Sri Saunaka said: Please describe to us, who have great faith in your words, the different sets of seven personal features and associates the sun-god exhibits during each month, along with their names and activities. The associates of the sun-god, who serve their lord, are personal expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari in His feature as the presiding deity of the sun.
29. Suta Gosvami said: The sun travels among all the planets and thus regulates their movements. It has been created by Lord Visnu, the Supreme Soul of all embodied beings, through His beginningless material energy.
30. The sun-god, being nondifferent from Lord Hari, is the one soul of all the worlds and their original creator. He is the source of all the ritualistic activities prescribed in the Vedas and has been given many names by the Vedic sages.
31. Being the source of the material energy, the Personality of Godhead Lord Hari in His expansion as the sun-god is described in nine aspects, O Saunaka: the time, the place, the endeavor, the performer, the instrument, the specific ritual, the scripture, the paraphernalia of worship and the result to be achieved.
32. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, manifesting His potency of time as the sun-god, travels about in each of the twelve months, beginning with Madhu, to regulate planetary motion within the universe. Traveling with the sun-god in each of the twelve months is a different set of six associates.
33. My dear sage, Dhata as the sun-god, Krtasthali as the Apsara, Heti as the Raksasa, Vasuki as the Naga, Rathakrt as the Yaksa, Pulastya as the sage and Tumburu as the Gandharva rule the month of Madhu.
34. Aryama as the sun-god, Pulaha as the sage, Athauja as the Yaksa, Praheti as the Raksasa, Punjikasthali as the Apsara, Narada as the Gandharva and Kacchanira as the Naga rule the month of Madhava.
35. Mitra as the sun-god, Atri as the sage, Pauruseya as the Raksasa, Taksaka as the Naga, Menaka as the Apsara, Haha as the Gandharva and Rathasvana as the Yaksa rule the month of Sukra.
36. Vasistha as the sage, Varuna as the sun-god, Rambha as the Apsara, Sahajanya as the Raksasa, Huhu as the Gandharva, Sukra as the Naga and Citrasvana as the Yaksa rule the month of Suci.
37. Indra as the sun-god, Visvavasu as the Gandharva, Srota as the Yaksa, Elapatra as the Naga, Angira as the sage, Pramloca as the Apsara and Varya as the Raksasa rule the month of Nabhas.
38. Vivasvan as the sun-god, Ugrasena as the Gandharva, Vyaghra as the Raksasa, Asarana as the Yaksa, Bhrgu as the sage, Anumloca as the Apsara and Sankhapala as the Naga rule the month of Nabhasya.
39. Pusa as the sun-god, Dhananjaya as the Naga, Vata as the Raksasa, Susena as the Gandharva, Suruci as the Yaksa, Ghrtaci as the Apsara and Gautama as the sage rule the month of Tapas.
40. Rtu as the Yaksa, Varca as the Raksasa, Bharadvaja as the sage, Parjanya as the sun-god, Senajit as the Apsara, Visva as the Gandharva and Airavata as the Naga rule the month known as Tapasya.
41. Amsu as the sun-god, Kasyapa as the sage, Tarksya as the Yaksa, Rtasena as the Gandharva, Urvasi as the Apsara, Vidyucchatru as the Raksasa and Mahasaìkha as the Naga rule the month of Sahas.
42. Bhaga as the sun-god, Sphurja as the Raksasa, Aristanemi as the Gandharva, Uma as the Yaksa, Ayur as the sage, Karkotaka as the Naga and Purvacitti as the Apsara rule the month of Pusya.
43. Tvasta as the sun-god; Jamadagni, the son of Rcika, as the sage; Kambalasva as the Naga; Tilottama as the Apsara; Brahmapeta as the Raksasa; Satajit as the Yaksa; and Dhrtarastra as the Gandharva maintain the month of Isa.
44. Visnu as the sun-god, Asvatara as the Naga, Rambha as the Apsara, Suryavarca as the Gandharva, Satyajit as the Yaksa, Visvamitra as the sage and Makhapeta as the Raksasa rule the month of Urja.
45. All these personalities are the opulent expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, in the form of the sun-god. These deities take away all the sinful reactions of those who remember them each day at dawn and sunset.
46. Thus, throughout the twelve months, the lord of the sun travels in all directions with his six types of associates, disseminating among the inhabitants of this universe purity of consciousness for both this life and the next.
47-48. While the sages glorify the sun-god with the hymns of the Sama, Rg and Yajur Vedas, which reveal his identity, the Gandharvas also sing his praises and the Apsaras dance before his chariot. The Nagas arrange the chariot ropes and the Yaksas harness the horses to the chariot, while the powerful Raksasas push from behind.
49. Facing the chariot, the sixty thousand brahmana sages known as Valakhilyas travel in front and offer prayers to the almighty sun-god with Vedic mantras.
50. For the protection of all the worlds, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari, who is unborn and without beginning or end, thus expands Himself during each day of Brahma into these specific categories of His personal representations.
