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PURUSHA SUKTHAM
Verse 17
KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE PURUSHA ALONE IS THE WAY TO SALVATION
dhAtA purastAdhyamudAjah Ara | shakra: pravidvAn pradishashcatasra: | tamevam vidhvAnamrta iha bhavati nAnya: panthA ayanAya vidhyate || 17 |
The Purusha whom even the gods Brahma and Indra acknowledges as supreme and whom the wise acknowledges becomes immortal by knowing Him. There is no other way for salvation
Verse 18
THE PATH TO HEAVEN
yagnyena yagnya-mayajanta deva: | tAni dharmANi prathamAnAsann te ha nAkam mahimAna: sacante | yatra poorve sAdhyA: santi devA: || 18 ||
The Devas who worshipped this Purusha, by this Yajña and by all the associated acts of faith, attained Heaven. All who follow this will also reach the heaven.
The Upanishad is not very clear about the relation between the yAga and tyAga. The Yajna described in the Upanishad somehow misses the fact that it is the Purusha who gave himself up. It involved tyAga of the Purusha not of the gods. The salvific yajna was perfomed by the Purusha Himself not by the devas. It is not in killing the Purusha and dismembering is there salvation. The world is established by sacrifice - the puruSHa giving his all, which is his self, his body, to form this world. The world is sustained by His giving himself. And it is also the only redemptive process by means of which man may reach heaven.
The fall is when man dismember the Purusha and create gods from them and then worship them.
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