From the Absolute Platform If Lord Is the Only Purusa, What do words Like Pursottama, Apauresya actually mean?
Thank you.
Hare Krishna. That means within a particular philosophical system, a word may be defined and explained in a particular way. But that may not be the universal way in which that word is always used.
So the word Purusha, when we are talking about it in terms of, say, philosophical analysis, the word is primarily used in Sankhya, where there is the dichotomy of Purusha and Prakriti. So Purusha is conscious, Prakriti is unconscious. Now in the Gauriya Vaishnava philosophy, the word Purusha is used not just in terms of consciousness, but in terms of enjoyer and in terms of the eternal supreme enjoyer.
So in that sense, Krishna is the only Purusha. So often when we use it in our philosophical discourse, we may use the word Purusha in that particular sense, that Krishna is the only Purusha, he is the only enjoyer. But in the Vedic scriptures, there are different contexts and there are different denotations and connotations of the word.
Denotations means what it directly means and connotation means what it signifies. So the word Purusha, in that context, can mean various things. So it may not necessarily refer to the highest Purusha, because the soul is also a Purusha.
And it is in this sense that Krishna also uses the word Purusha. Purusha prakriti sthohi bhutah prakriti janmanam karanam guna sandosyam. So the sadhyo only janmasu in 13.22 he uses the word Purusha.
And various other places like that, the word Purusha is used to refer to the Atma. So that basically from the general implication point of view, the word Purusha means that basically the being that is conscious, is active, the active principle is called as Purusha and the relatively speaking passive unconscious principle is called as prakriti. So now we understand that the conclusive understanding within the Vedic scriptures is that there are two kinds of active principles.
There is the Jiva and there is Bhagawan, the Supreme Lord. So when this two level understanding of Purusha is there, then the subordinate Purusha is contrasted with the Supreme Purusha through the nomenclature like Purushottama. So Purushottama, Supreme Purusha, that we will refer to.
Now Krishna uses the word Purushottama, Yoma, Neva, Samudho, Janati Purushottama in 15.19 in the Bhagavad Gita. And he uses that to contrast, earlier he has used the word Purusha to refer to the Jiva in the same chapter. And he uses it in 15.8 Here the word Ishwara is used, not Purusha.
But Ishwara also connotes the same, similar idea. So the point which I am making is that the Purusha, when there is, the Jiva is also called as a Purusha, then the contrast is made with the word Purushottama. So in semantics, semantics in study of meanings, it has to be understood that we may use a dictionary to understand the meanings of words, but still meanings of words are not frozen, they are context dependent.
And when we are using the word, Krishna is the absolute Purusha, the only Purusha that is referring in the enjoyer sense, the supreme enjoyer sense, the independent enjoyer sense. Whereas when there is, the hierarchy within Purushas is being discussed, then the word Apurushottama is used. And then as far as Apurushaya is concerned, that refers to, in this case, the word Purusha is used not in the sense of Purushottama, but is used in the sense of a soul who is trying to be the enjoyer in this world.
Generally the Atma is referred to as Purusha when the Atma is contrasted with Prakriti and when the Atma is trying to enjoy the Prakriti. As I said in 13.8, Purusha, Prakriti, Stohi. So Apurushaya here in this context will refer to the knowledge, in the Vedic scriptures are called as Apurushaya.
It refers to the fact that the Vedic scriptures do not come from any conditioned soul, any soul who is trying to enjoy the Prakriti. It comes from the Supreme Lord ultimately. So that is the meaning of Apurushaya.
So from the philosophical point of view, Purushaya will refer to the absolute enjoyer. But that is not the only meaning of the word Purushaya. And when there are different contexts, then the meanings appropriate to those contexts have to be understood.