July 9, 2026
jagadbrahma virāṭ ceti śabdāḥ paryāyavācakāḥ
saṅkalpamātramevaite śuddhacidvyomarūpiṇaḥ (25)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
The cosmic person (virāṭ) has two bodies: the superior body is pure consciousness which is without beginning, end or “middle”, and the other body is this world. Hence, he is able to view the world (like an egg) from outside it (as a hen does). He divided the egg into two: the upper part he called the sky or the heaven and the lower part he called the earth. The upper part is known as the head of the virāṭ, the lower part is his feet and the middle (atmosphere) is his back or buttocks. The upper part, because it is so far away, is seen as the blue and empty sky.
The firmament is the palate of the virāṭ, and the stars are drops of blood. The “particles of air” that course the body are gods, demons and humans. The germs and viruses in the body are the ghosts and goblins. The holes in the body are other worlds. His loins are the oceans. The nāḍīs are rivers and the continent known as jambūdvīpa is his heart. The empty space is his stomach. The mountains are his liver and spleen. The clouds are his flesh. The sun and the moon are his eyes. The world of Brahmā is his face. Soma is his energy. The snow-bound mountains are his phlegm, the subterranean fire is his bile, the winds are his prāṇa and apāna. All the trees as also the snakes are his hairs.
Since he is himself the cosmic mind, he has no mind. Since the infinite self alone apparently becomes the experience which is but pure consciousness, there is no experiencer apart from it. In the same way, since he is the experiencer in all the senses, there are no indriyas or senses in him. Therefore, the distinctions among the senses are but notions. The concept that indriyas (senses) stand in relation to the mind as the limbs to the body is erroneous: there is no such distinction, even as the body and the limbs are one unit.
Whatever actions take place in this world originate in him. On account of him the world is seen to be real; if he ceases to be, the world ceases to be. The world (creation), Brahmā the creator and virāṭ (the cosmic person) are figures of speech: they are but notions that arise in the pure, infinite consciousness.
RĀMA asked:
When this cosmic person is a mere notion, how does he exist in that body?
VASIṢṬHA replied:
In exactly the same way as you exist in your heart when you are in meditation. Just as the jīva exists in the bodies of all beings and just as a reflection exists in the mirror, this cosmic person exists in his own cosmic body Though he appears to have all these limbs, etc., there is no division in him and he exists as a rock exists, whole and undivided, pure, infinite consciousness.