Purusha

Purusha

In [|Hinduism], **Purusha** ([|Sanskrit] // puruṣa ,// पुरुष "man, [|Cosmic man]", in [|Sutra literature] also called // puṃs // "man") is the "[|self]" which pervades the [|universe]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purusha

Various definitions from: http://www.experiencefestival.com/purusha man; pure consciousness The Supreme Being. Pure, un-manifested consciousness. The Supreme Lord in a Vishnu expansion for the creation of the material world; the enjoyer, or male, referring either to the living entity or the Supreme Lord. "The spirit that dwells in the body/in the universe." Person; spirit; man. Perfect person, soul, self, indweller. Primeval Person, Supreme Spirit, Lord, God.

Some quotes from the Tibetan's teachings:

The spiritual self. The embodied self. The word literally means "The dweller in the city" - that is, in the body. It is derived from the Sanskrit "pura" which means city or body, and "usha" a derivative of the verb "vas," to dwell. Glossary of DK's teachings

Two factors are universally recognized in all systems that merit the name of philosophy; they are the two factors of spirit and matter, of purusha and prakriti. TOCF, p 227

"The empirical self is the mixture of free spirit and mechanism, of purusha and prakriti... Every ego possesses within the gross material body, which suffers dissolution at death, a subtle body, formed of the psychical apparatus, including the senses." - Radhakrishnan, S., //Indian Philosophy//, Vol. II, pages 279, 283, 285.

The synthetic work of the three Great Lords is inconceivably great. Form - Life - Intelligence, Matter - Spirit - Mind, Prakriti - Purusha - Manas, are the three lines of development, and in their synthesis comes completeness. LOM, p 167

The pairs of opposites, spirit and matter, purusha and prakriti are brought into close association and that union must come to be recognized by the soul, the perceiving consciousness. YSP, p 166

35. Experience (of the pairs of opposites) comes from the inability of the soul to distinguish between the personal self and the purusha (or spirit). The objective forms exist for the use (and experience) of the spiritual man. By meditation upon this, arises the intuitive perception of the spiritual nature (the purusha). YSP, p 320

"Thus, what dwells in the vital center, from the physical point of view, is ether; from the psychic point of view, it is the 'living soul,' and so far we are not transcending the realm of individual possibilities; but also, and above all, from the metaphysical point of view, it is the principal and unconditioned 'Self.' It is, therefore, truly the 'Universal Spirit' //(Atma),// which is, in reality, //Brahma// Itself, the 'Supreme Ruler'; and thus the designation of this center as //Brahma-pura is// found to be fully justified. But //Brahma,// considered in this manner as within man (and one might consider it in like manner in relation to every state of being) is called //Purusha,// because It rests or dwells in the [110] individuality... as in a town (puri-shaya) for pura, in its proper and literal sense, signifies town." - Guénon, //René, Man and His Becoming,// pp. 44, 45.