Srimad Bhagavatam

Canto 12: The Age of Deterioration
Chapter 11: Summary Description of the Mahapurusha

Text 0: Chapter Summary
Text* 1: Śrī Śaunaka said: O Sūta, you are the best of learned men and a great devotee of the Supreme Lord. Therefore we now inquire from you about the definitive conclusion of all tantra scriptures.
Text* 2-3: All good fortune to you! Please explain to us, who are very eager to learn, the process of kriyÄ-yoga practiced through regulated worship of the transcendental Lord, the husband of the goddess of fortune. Please also explain how the Lord’s devotees conceive of His limbs, associates, weapons and ornaments in terms of particular material representations. By expertly worshiping the Supreme Lord, a mortal can attain immortality.
Text* 4: SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ« said: Offering obeisances to my spiritual masters, I shall repeat to you the description of the opulences of Lord Viṣṇu given in the Vedas and tantras by great authorities, beginning from lotus-born BrahmÄ.
Text 5: The universal form [virÄá¹­] of the Personality of Godhead includes the nine basic elements of creation, starting with the unmanifest nature, and their subsequent transformations. Once this universal form is instilled with consciousness, the three planetary systems become visible within it.
Text 6-8: This is the representation of the Supreme Lord as the universal person, in which the earth is His feet, the sky His navel, the sun His eyes, the wind His nostrils, the demigod of procreation His genitals, death His anus and the moon His mind. The heavenly planets are His head, the directions His ears, and the demigods protecting the various planets His many arms. The god of death is His eyebrows, shame His lower lip, greed His upper lip, delusion His smile, and moonshine His teeth, while the trees are the almighty Puruṣa’s bodily hairs, and the clouds the hair on His head.
Text* 9: Just as one can determine the dimensions of an ordinary person of this world by measuring his various limbs, one can determine the dimensions of the MahÄpuruá¹£a by measuring the arrangement of the planetary systems within His universal form.
Text* 10: Upon His chest the almighty, unborn Personality of Godhead bears the Kaustubha gem, which represents the pure spirit soul, along with the Śrīvatsa mark, which is the direct manifestation of this gem’s expansive effulgence.
Text* 11-12: His flower garland is His material energy, comprising various combinations of the modes of nature. His yellow garment is the Vedic meters, and His sacred thread the syllable om composed of three sounds. In the form of His two shark-shaped earrings, the Lord carries the processes of SÄá¹…khya and yoga, and His crown, bestowing fearlessness on the inhabitants of all the worlds, is the supreme position of Brahmaloka.
Text* 13: Ananta, the Lord’s sitting place, is the unmanifest phase of material nature, and the Lord’s lotus throne is the mode of goodness, endowed with religion and knowledge.
Text* 14-15: The club the Lord carries is the chief element, prÄṇa, incorporating the potencies of sensory, mental and physical strength. His excellent conchshell is the element water, His SudarÅ›ana disc the element fire, and His sword, pure as the sky, the element ether. His shield embodies the mode of ignorance, His bow, named ÅšÄrá¹…ga, time, and His arrow-filled quiver the working sensory organs.
Text 16: His arrows are said to be the senses, and His chariot is the active, forceful mind. His external appearance is the subtle objects of perception, and the gestures of His hands are the essence of all purposeful activity.
Text 17: The sun globe is the place where the Supreme Lord is worshiped, spiritual initiation is the means of purification for the spirit soul, and rendering devotional service to the Personality of Godhead is the process for eradicating all one’s sinful reactions.
Text* 18: Playfully carrying a lotus, which represents the various opulences designated by the word bhaga, the Supreme Lord accepts service from a pair of cÄmara fans, which are religion and fame.
Text* 19: O brÄhmaṇas, the Lord’s umbrella is His spiritual abode, Vaikuṇṭha, where there is no fear, and Garuá¸a, who carries the Lord of sacrifice, is the threefold Veda.
Text 20: The goddess of fortune, ÅšrÄ«, who never leaves the Lord’s side, appears with Him in this world as the representation of His internal potency. Viá¹£vaksena, the chief among His personal associates, is known to be the personification of the PañcarÄtra and other tantras. And the Lord’s eight doorkeepers, headed by Nanda, are His mystic perfections, beginning with aṇimÄ.
Text* 21: VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are the names of the direct personal expansions of the Supreme Godhead, O brÄhmaṇa Åšaunaka.
Text* 22: One can conceive of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in terms of awakened consciousness, sleep and deep sleep — which function respectively through external objects, the mind and material intelligence — and also in terms of the fourth, transcendental level of consciousness, which is characterized by pure knowledge.
Text 23: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Hari, thus appears in four personal expansions, each exhibiting major limbs, minor limbs, weapons and ornaments. Through these distinct features, the Lord maintains the four phases of existence.
Text 24: O best of brÄhmaṇas, He alone is the self-luminous, original source of the Vedas, perfect and complete in His own glory. By His material energy He creates, destroys and maintains this entire universe. Because He is the performer of various material functions, He is sometimes described as materially divided, yet He always remains transcendentally situated in pure knowledge. Those who are dedicated to Him in devotion can realize Him to be their true Soul.
Text* 25: O Kṛṣṇa, O friend of Arjuna, O chief among the descendants of Vṛṣṇi, You are the destroyer of those political parties that are disturbing elements on this earth. Your prowess never deteriorates. You are the proprietor of the transcendental abode, and Your most sacred glories, which are sung by Vá¹›ndÄvana’s cowherd men and women and their servants, bestow all auspiciousness just by being heard. O Lord, please protect Your devotees.
Text* 26: Anyone who rises early in the morning and, with a purified mind fixed upon the MahÄpuruá¹£a, quietly chants this description of His characteristics will realize Him as the Supreme Absolute Truth residing within the heart.
Text 27-28: Śrī Śaunaka said: Please describe to us, who have great faith in your words, the different sets of seven personal features and associates the sun-god exhibits during each month, along with their names and activities. The associates of the sun-god, who serve their lord, are personal expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari in His feature as the presiding deity of the sun.
Text* 29: SÅ«ta GosvÄmÄ« said: The sun travels among all the planets and thus regulates their movements. It has been created by Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Soul of all embodied beings, through His beginningless material energy.
Text* 30: The sun-god, being nondifferent from Lord Hari, is the one soul of all the worlds and their original creator. He is the source of all the ritualistic activities prescribed in the Vedas and has been given many names by the Vedic sages.
Text* 31: Being the source of the material energy, the Personality of Godhead Lord Hari in His expansion as the sun-god is described in nine aspects, O Åšaunaka: the time, the place, the endeavor, the performer, the instrument, the specific ritual, the scripture, the paraphernalia of worship and the result to be achieved.
Text* 32: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, manifesting His potency of time as the sun-god, travels about in each of the twelve months, beginning with Madhu, to regulate planetary motion within the universe. Traveling with the sun-god in each of the twelve months is a different set of six associates.
Text* 33: My dear sage, DhÄtÄ as the sun-god, Ká¹›tasthalÄ« as the ApsarÄ, Heti as the RÄká¹£asa, VÄsuki as the NÄga, Rathaká¹›t as the Yaká¹£a, Pulastya as the sage and Tumburu as the Gandharva rule the month of Madhu.
Text* 34: AryamÄ as the sun-god, Pulaha as the sage, AthaujÄ as the Yaká¹£a, Praheti as the RÄká¹£asa, PuñjikasthalÄ« as the ApsarÄ, NÄrada as the Gandharva and KacchanÄ«ra as the NÄga rule the month of MÄdhava.
Text* 35: Mitra as the sun-god, Atri as the sage, Pauruá¹£eya as the RÄká¹£asa, Taká¹£aka as the NÄga, MenakÄ as the ApsarÄ, HÄhÄ as the Gandharva and Rathasvana as the Yaká¹£a rule the month of Åšukra.
Text* 36: Vasiṣṭha as the sage, Varuṇa as the sun-god, RambhÄ as the ApsarÄ, Sahajanya as the RÄká¹£asa, HÅ«hÅ« as the Gandharva, Åšukra as the NÄga and Citrasvana as the Yaká¹£a rule the month of Åšuci.
Text* 37: Indra as the sun-god, ViÅ›vÄvasu as the Gandharva, ÅšrotÄ as the Yaká¹£a, ElÄpatra as the NÄga, Aá¹…girÄ as the sage, PramlocÄ as the ApsarÄ and Varya as the RÄká¹£asa rule the month of Nabhas.
Text* 38: VivasvÄn as the sun-god, Ugrasena as the Gandharva, VyÄghra as the RÄká¹£asa, Ä€sÄraṇa as the Yaká¹£a, Bhá¹›gu as the sage, AnumlocÄ as the ApsarÄ and Åšaá¹…khapÄla as the NÄga rule the month of Nabhasya.
Text* 39: PÅ«á¹£Ä as the sun-god, Dhanañjaya as the NÄga, VÄta as the RÄká¹£asa, Suá¹£eṇa as the Gandharva, Suruci as the Yaká¹£a, Ghá¹›tÄcÄ« as the ApsarÄ and Gautama as the sage rule the month of Tapas.
Text* 40: Ṛtu as the Yaká¹£a, VarcÄ as the RÄká¹£asa, BharadvÄja as the sage, Parjanya as the sun-god, Senajit as the ApsarÄ, ViÅ›va as the Gandharva and AirÄvata as the NÄga rule the month known as Tapasya.
Text* 41: Aá¹Å›u as the sun-god, KaÅ›yapa as the sage, TÄrká¹£ya as the Yaká¹£a, Ṛtasena as the Gandharva, Urvaśī as the ApsarÄ, Vidyucchatru as the RÄká¹£asa and MahÄÅ›aá¹…kha as the NÄga rule the month of Sahas.
Text* 42: Bhaga as the sun-god, SphÅ«rja as the RÄká¹£asa, Ariṣṭanemi as the Gandharva, Ūrṇa as the Yaká¹£a, Ä€yur as the sage, Karkoá¹­aka as the NÄga and PÅ«rvacitti as the ApsarÄ rule the month of Puá¹£ya.
Text* 43: Tvaá¹£á¹­Ä as the sun-god; Jamadagni, the son of ṚcÄ«ka, as the sage; KambalÄÅ›va as the NÄga; TilottamÄ as the ApsarÄ; BrahmÄpeta as the RÄká¹£asa; Åšatajit as the Yaká¹£a; and Dhá¹›tarÄṣṭra as the Gandharva maintain the month of Iá¹£a.
Text 44: Viṣṇu as the sun-god, AÅ›vatara as the NÄga, RambhÄ as the ApsarÄ, SÅ«ryavarcÄ as the Gandharva, Satyajit as the Yaká¹£a, ViÅ›vÄmitra as the sage and MakhÄpeta as the RÄká¹£asa rule the month of Ūrja.
Text* 45: All these personalities are the opulent expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, in the form of the sun-god. These deities take away all the sinful reactions of those who remember them each day at dawn and sunset.
Text* 46: Thus, throughout the twelve months, the lord of the sun travels in all directions with his six types of associates, disseminating among the inhabitants of this universe purity of consciousness for both this life and the next.
Text* 47-48: While the sages glorify the sun-god with the hymns of the SÄma, Ṛg and Yajur Vedas, which reveal his identity, the Gandharvas also sing his praises and the ApsarÄs dance before his chariot. The NÄgas arrange the chariot ropes and the Yaká¹£as harness the horses to the chariot, while the powerful RÄká¹£asas push from behind.
Text* 49: Facing the chariot, the sixty thousand brÄhmaṇa sages known as VÄlakhilyas travel in front and offer prayers to the almighty sun-god with Vedic mantras.
Text 50: For the protection of all the worlds, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari, who is unborn and without beginning or end, thus expands Himself during each day of BrahmÄ into these specific categories of His personal representations.