Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c8.36

c8.36

**Its Inner Meaning.** The Purusha-Sūkta answers this question by stating that the Virāṭ-Purusha, wishing for creation, wishing that the One should create the Many (*āśishā = vahu syāṁ prajāyeya* in x, 81, 1), found in His self-immolation the only means of building up His wished-for creation, for which He sacrificed Himself as the Animal out of Whose body was created the Universe comprising Nature with all its forces and agents like the Sun and Moon, organic and inorganic matter, different forms of life, and Society with its classes. The Animal was tied to a *yūpa* or post before it was sacrificed. The significance of this is that the Infinite chose to become finite, the Immortal mortal, the Great became small. Thus God is in every creature, high or low. This is the essence of Vedic thought or Hinduism. As the Śruti says [*Rv.* x, 81, 1]: "Sa āśishā draviṇamichchhamānaḥ prathamachchhadavarān āviveśa" [Sa Parameśvara āśishā vahu syāṁ prajāyeya ityevaṁ rūpayā punaḥ punaḥ sisṛikshayā draviṇamichchhamānaḥ dhanopalakshitaṁ jagadbhogamākāṅkshamāṇaḥ prathamachchhat prathamaṁ mukhyaṁ nishprapañchaṁ pāramārthikaṁ rūpaṁ āvṛiṇvan avarān svasṛishṭān prāṇihṛidaya-pradeśānāviveśa" (Sāyaṇa)] "He, the One, again and again, wishing to be Many, wishing for the enjoyment of this world of riches, concealed His primary Self (Absolute and Unconditioned) and created the world of objects and minds into each of which He entered." Man also, like his Creator, has to embrace mortality and the limited life of the world, like the sacrificial animal tied to the *yūpa*. He must bind himself to the ties of relationship, tie the animal in him to the *yūpa* of self-control, and sacrifice that animal at life's *yajña*. Through the limits of individual life, the individual thus attains the Absolute by sacrifice. The Purusha-Sūkta also lays down the doctrine of self-sacrifice as constituting the true worship of the Divine, while the device of Yajña was evolv to give a concrete shape to this doctrine.