What's the difference between Purusha and Prakriti?

Hello HDF members,

A question: Is Purusha formless? If not, then which one of the hindu trinity is Purusha? And, who worships Purusha and who prefers to worship Prakriti?
I mean what is the objective or goal when people worship these two aspects of Brahmana?

I have gone thru the first few chapters of Prabhupada's Gita and there in the commentary section Mr. Prabhupada says that those who seeks moksha or in other words, longs to be with Krishna in his heveanly realms worships HIM alone, who according to Prabhupada is Purusha or the Supreme ... and those who seeks wordly things, worships the demigods, like farmers worship Indra for a good rain for their harvest, businessmen worship Laxmi and Ganesha, then shaktas worship Kali for material peace. Would like to hear what you guys have to say on this matter.


Thanks.

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Reddragon writes,

Quote:

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Is Purusha formless?

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Where best to go for this answer than the puruṣa sūktam found in the ṛg veda saṁhita ( 10.90):

सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात् ।
स भूमिं विश्वतो वृत्वात्यतिष्ठद्दशाङुलम् ॥१॥

sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt |
sa bhūmiṃ viśvato vṛtvātyatiṣṭhaddaśāṅulam ||1||

this says,
this puruṣaḥ has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet |
He envelopes/pervades the world ( code for universe) on all sides and extends beyond 10 fingers ||

What is called out in this śloka is sahasra = 1,000 . So this says puruṣaḥ has 1,000 heads, a 1,000 eyes and 1,000 feet. Now does He really have this?

It is another way the seer (ṛṣi nārāyaṇa) of this great hymn tells us puruṣaḥ is everywhere and even beyond that . He says this in the hymn by saying beyond the span of 10 (daśā) fingers (aṅgula). When people say 'beyond' is also code for the transcendent ( or pure Being, pure consciousness).

Not only is this puruṣaḥ everywhere ( some like to say, there is no-where He is not ) He also is beyond and transcends all that there is, beyond the span of 10 fingers. You will read some say 10 inches. This is not what the śloka says but is understood at times people use the width of a finger to suggest 1 inch.

So , what does this imply ? If He is everywhere, there is no need for any movement of puruṣa because there is no place for Him to go that He is not there already; not bound in any way ( time, space, location, idea, notion, distance, belief system, etc)

More on this can be found at this HDF post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/sho...?t=4976&page=2


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

Thanks Yajvan ji for the wonderful answer and sorry for not replying soon as i was a lil' preoccupied. So according to ur post the scriptures gives a 'pan-en-theistic' description of purusha ... Fine, but why purusha is considered masculine and prakriti feminine? ... If brahman is the source of all creation then what about purusha and prakriti? Are they expansions of brahman?

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Red_Drag0n

Thanks Yajvan ji for the wonderful answer and sorry for not replying soon as i was a lil' preoccupied. So according to ur post the scriptures gives a 'pan-en-theistic' description of purusha ... Fine, but why purusha is considered masculine and prakriti feminine? ... If brahman is the source of all creation then what about purusha and prakriti? Are they expansions of brahman?

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These questions you ask are reasonable... yet too with some research you will be able to answer them. How about you report back to us and let us know what you find out: your conclusions , ideas, insights and your doubts.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

Namaste RD,

I will supplement what Yajvan ji has already said.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Red_Drag0n

A question: Is Purusha formless? If not, then which one of the hindu trinity is Purusha? And, who worships Purusha and who prefers to worship Prakriti?
I mean what is the objective or goal when people worship these two aspects of Brahmana?

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Purusha is beyond the concept of form and formlessness. What it actually is cannot be conceptualized. Why ? Purusha is all whatever is. It is the essence of everything and all beings. Lord Krishna says in Bhagwad Gita, "VAsudehav sarvam iti" ==> This all (Sarvam indicates that it includes all beings and everything) is VAsudeva. In another place He says, "This Prakriti" is the mother wherein I plant the seed (for creation) as the Father. If we say that Purusha is Only the Formless then what about all beings and things which are in Form ? All forms are His, He is the Formless and He is also what is neither Form nor Formless.

The concept of Purusha and Prakriti comes originally from SAmkhya school. However, Yoga school adopted SAmkhya with some modification. SAmkhya says that Prakriti and Purusha are both beginningless but conceptualizes infinite Purushas, each Infinite, Beginningless, Untainted ... However, Yoga School accepts One Purusha which is God or the AtmAn, the essence of all beings and everything. VedAnta (the last parts of the Vedas i.e. the Upanishads) which is the basis of 6 schools of Hindu Dharma accepts Yoga School's concept.

Let's remember very well that Purusha and Prakriti cannot be seen separate from each other. Seeing difference between them is due to ignorance. Can Fire be seen separate from heat ? Can the Sun be seen separate from its rays ? Prakriti or MaYA is the power of Brahman through which it creates, nurtures and also destroys its own "creation". It is like a Dreamer creating its own dream of multitude, shaping it with his own memories and then causing its annihilation when he wakes up.

When we worship God in a particular Form with particular characteristics for fulfilling our particular desires ... we limit God with that from and with those characteristics. When you worship God as the Only Reality, Infinite, auspicious and blissful which don't limit God into our mindset without material desires is the real worship of God. The goal of this worship is not Slave-Master relationship for gaining materially or for gaining the riches of the heavens ... the goal is to awaken and realise the Reality by attaining One-ness with Brahman.
So, as long as we worship any form of God e.g. BrahmA, Vishnu, Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva, Mother Goddess Durga, Lord Ganesha or whatever ... there is hardly any difference between them. They are worshiping same God for some or the other material gains. "Ye yatha maam prapadyante taam tathaiva bhajaamyaham" (Bhagwad Gita). You choose the form and characteristics of God depending upon what you are comfortable with. For the Vaishanavs, Lord Vishnu is the Sole Reality/Brahman but for the Shaivaites Lord Shiva is the sole Reality/Brahman and for the ShAktas Mother Goddess is the Sole Reality/Brahman. Hoqwever, a Vaishanva may worship Lord Krishna for material gains or also for attaining JnAna too. Even though both are Vaishnavas they are quite different from each other.

PrabhupAd is a Vaishnava and so for him the form of Lord Krishna is the supreme and his worship is the worship of the Supreme Reality/Brahman. However, if analyze what Prabhupad says, the fallacy becomes very clearly visible. If Lord Krishna is the Sole Reality in His limited form then what about "VAsudevah sarvam iti" ? What about everything else which is perceived different from the form of Lord Krishna ? If there is a difference then how can Lord Krishna be called the Infinite, all encompassing Sole Reality, Brahman ?

OM

Thanks Devotee for explaining it so beautifully.

And i wish i could research more, Yajvan ji :( but i'm going throuh some rough times. If only i had a bit of peace in my life i could have researched more. But whatever little information i have gathered, i have come to know that prakriti aka goddess, is considered to be full of mercy and compassion and if worshipped properly SHE blesses her children with material happiness, in other words her illusory energy keeps us deluded and prevents us from attaining moksha, but still she is compassionate towards her children and understands our miseries and suffering, whereas Purusha or Krishna (according to the ISKCONITES) takes away all material comforts and puts his devotees in challenging conditions. According to Prabhupad, this is a different kind of mercy that Krishna showers on his devotees. Once HE takes away all our attachments and material comforts, we would have no choice but to cry to GOD for help. And by doing this we would come closer to GOD.

Now, i didn't know any of this a few years back. I was praying to Krishna back then and i noticed that my life started to go downhill... death and diseases came knocking on my door. And then upon a bit of studying i came to know that if i would like to have a bit of tranquility in my life, then worshipping Krishna wouldn't be the right choice. Did some more studying on the internet and found that the Buddhist goddess Guan Yin also known as Kuan Yin, is a bodhisattva of compassion. She vowed to free all creatures from suffering. And this benevolent quality of mother goddess is what i was looking for all these years.

Purusha in Sanatan Dharma signifies the omnipotent God that pervades all creation including Prakriti that signifies the physical Universe. Prakriti or physical nature is brought into being by God or Purusha and hence all that is born out of physical Universe is a part of Purusha or God.:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yajvan

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Reddragon writes,

Where best to go for this answer than the puruṣa sūktam found in the ṛg veda saṁhita ( 10.90):

सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात् ।
स भूमिं विश्वतो वृत्वात्यतिष्ठद्दशाङुलम् ॥१॥

sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt |
sa bhūmiṃ viśvato vṛtvātyatiṣṭhaddaśāṅulam ||1||

this says,
this puruṣaḥ has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet |
He envelopes/pervades the world ( code for universe) on all sides and extends beyond 10 fingers ||

What is called out in this śloka is sahasra = 1,000 . So this says puruṣaḥ has 1,000 heads, a 1,000 eyes and 1,000 feet. Now does He really have this?

It is another way the seer (ṛṣi nārāyaṇa) of this great hymn tells us puruṣaḥ is everywhere and even beyond that . He says this in the hymn by saying beyond the span of 10 (daśā) fingers (aṅgula). When people say 'beyond' is also code for the transcendent ( or pure Being, pure consciousness).

Not only is this puruṣaḥ everywhere ( some like to say, there is no-where He is not ) He also is beyond and transcends all that there is, beyond the span of 10 fingers. You will read some say 10 inches. This is not what the śloka says but is understood at times people use the width of a finger to suggest 1 inch.

So , what does this imply ? If He is everywhere, there is no need for any movement of puruṣa because there is no place for Him to go that He is not there already; not bound in any way ( time, space, location, idea, notion, distance, belief system, etc)

More on this can be found at this HDF post: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/sho...?t=4976&page=2


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

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namaste yajvan
as always you are great to explain with vedic quote .
if we refer gita as asked , purushah is adhidevam and adhiyajnam as purushah parah ..ch 8
now ch 9 says purushah param not belonging to any entity like the air being the source of life does not belong to .
the prakriti as told in ch 7 is again the part and partial of that param purushah .
jai sri krsna