Rig Veda 10.90.2: Mandala 10, Sukta 90, Mantra 2
Sukta 10.90
- Rishi
- Nārāyaṇa / Purusha-sūkta tradition
- Devata
- Puruṣa
- Chandas
- Triṣṭubh
- Rasa
- Shanta (peace) and Adbhuta (wonder)
पुरुष एवेदं सर्वं यद्भूतं यच्च भव्यम् । उतामृतत्वस्येशानो यदन्नेनातिरोहति ॥
púruṣa evédáṃ sárvaṃ yád bhūtáṃ yác ca bhávyam | utā́mṛtatvásyeśā́no yád ánnenātiroháti ||
पुरुष ही यह सब कुछ है। जो भी अब तक बना है, जो भी आगे बनेगा, सब वोही है। वो अमरत्व का मालिक है, क्योंकि वो खाने-पीने वाली दुनिया से भी ऊपर उठता है। यह जीवन उससे मौत से पार ले जाता है।
Word by Word
- पुरुषः
- the Puruṣa (Cosmic Person)Nounपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचनRole कर्तृRoot पुरुष (प्रातिपदिक)
- एव
- indeed, justIndeclinableअव्ययRoot एव (निपात)
- इदम्
- this (all)Pronounनपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; एकवचनRole कर्म (वाक्ये विधेय-सम्बन्धेन) / विषयRoot इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- सर्वम्
- all, entireAdjectiveनपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; एकवचन; (इदम् इत्यस्य विशेषणम्)Root सर्व (प्रातिपदिक)
- यत्
- whatever, that whichPronoun (relative)नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; एकवचनRole कर्म/विषय (सम्बन्धवाचक)Root यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- भूतम्
- become; what has been (past)Participle/Adjectiveनपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; एकवचन; (यत् इत्यस्य विशेषणम्)Root भू (धातु) → भूत (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक; क्त)
- यत्
- and whateverPronoun (relative)नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; एकवचनRole कर्म/विषय (सम्बन्धवाचक)Root यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- च
- andIndeclinableअव्ययRoot च (निपात)
- भव्यम्
- what will be (future)Adjective (future sense)नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; एकवचन; (यत् इत्यस्य विशेषणम्)Root भू (धातु) → भव्यम् (कृदन्त; यत्/अनीयरर्थे ‘भविष्यत्’)
- उत
- and also, moreoverIndeclinableअव्ययRoot उत (निपात)
- अमृतत्वस्य
- of immortalityNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग; षष्ठी; एकवचनRole सम्बन्ध (षष्ठी)Root अमृतत्व (प्रातिपदिक; अमृत + त्व)
- ईशानः
- ruling, sovereignParticiple (present) / Adjectiveपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचन; (पुरुषः इत्यस्य विशेषणम्)Role कर्तृ (विशेषणरूपेण)Root ईश् (धातु) → ईशान (कृदन्त-प्रातिपदिक; शानच्/आन)
- यत्
- inasmuch as / that whichPronoun (relative)नपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; एकवचनRole कर्म/विषय (सम्बन्धवाचक)Root यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- अन्नेन
- with food; by foodNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग; तृतीया; एकवचनRole करणRoot अन्न (प्रातिपदिक)
- अतिरोहति
- surpasses, grows beyondVerbलट् (वर्तमान); परस्मैपद; प्रथमपुरुष; एकवचनRole क्रिया (कर्तृ: पुरुषः)Root अति + रुह् (धातु)
Sandhi Notes
- पदच्छेदः: पुरुषः एव इदम् सर्वम् यत् भूतम् यत् च भव्यम् । उत अमृतत्वस्य ईशानः यत् अन्नेन अतिरोहति ॥ प्रमुख-सन्धयः: (1) ए॒वेदं = एव + इदम् (अ + इ → ए; ‘एव’ + ‘इदम्’ → ‘एवेदम्/एवेदं’)
- (2) यच्च = यत् + च (त् + च → च्च)
- (3) उतामृतत्वस्य = उत + अमृतत्वस्य (अ + अ → आ)
- (4) अमृतत्वस्येशा॑नः = अमृतत्वस्य + ईशानः (अ + ई → ए; ‘…स्य’ + ‘ई…’ → ‘…स्ये…’)
- (5) यदन्नेन = यत् + अन्नेन (त् + अ → द्; यत् → यद्)
- (6) अन्नेनातिरोहति = अन्नेन + अतिरोहति (अ + अ → आ)
The meaning
Outer meaning
Purusha is all this—past and future. He is the lord of immortality, and he rises beyond through ‘food’ (anna), suggesting that embodied existence is sustained and transcended through nourishment/substance.
Inner meaning
All time (what has become and what will become) is contained in the timeless Conscious Being. ‘Immortality’ is not mere endless duration but the deathless status of spirit. ‘Annena atirohati’ can be read inwardly: by taking up the substance of experience (anna as the formed content of life—sensations, energies, mental formations), the Purusha enters embodiment and yet exceeds it, turning the material of living into a ladder toward amṛtatva. The seeker learns to offer and assimilate experience consciously, so life becomes food for spiritual growth rather than bondage.
Universal truth
The Infinite is the ground of time; when experience is consciously assimilated and offered, mortality becomes a passage toward the deathless consciousness.
Themes
nondual totality, immortality, cosmic sovereignty
The seer
- Rishi
- Nārāyaṇa (Purusha-sūkta tradition; variable attribution)
- Other hymns
- RV 10.90.1-16
Family tradition
Purusha-sūkta stream integrated into later Vedic recensional and ritual usage; bridges mantra-vision and Upaniṣadic universality.
Significance
The seer articulates a key yogic principle: life-experience (anna) can either bind or, when taken up by the inner Lord, become the means of surpassing mortality.
The deity
- Devata
- Puruṣa
- Epithets
- Sarvam (the All), Bhūta-bhavya (past-and-future), Amṛtatvasya īśāna (Lord of immortality)
- Related deities
- Kāla (time principle, functional), Prajāpati (lord of beings), Viṣṇu (all-pervading)
Cosmic role
Time-holder and time-transcender; the sovereign who supports embodied worlds and leads them to the deathless.
Inner power
Transforms experience into conscious offering; establishes mastery over time-bound identity.
In ritual
Where it is used
Puruṣa-sūkta recitation; later used in consecrations and philosophical recitations.
पुरु॑ष ए॒वेदं सर्वं॒ यद्भू॒तं यच्च॒ भव्य॑म् । उ॒तामृ॑त॒त्वस्येशा॑नो॒ यदन्ने॑नाति॒रोह॑ति ॥
पुरु॑षः । ए॒व । इ॒दम् । सर्व॑म् । यत् । भू॒तम् । यत् । च॒ । भव्य॑म् । उ॒त । अ॒मृ॒त॒ऽत्वस्य॑ । ईशा॑नः । यत् । अन्ने॑न । अ॒ति॒ऽरोह॑ति ॥
puruṣaḥ | eva | idam | sarvam | yat | bhūtam | yat | ca | bhavyam | uta | amṛta-tvasya | īśānaḥ | yat | annena | ati-rohati
44
4 × ~11 syllables
Declarative and steady; the cadence supports the sense of totality across time.
Stabilizes the mind in a ‘timeless witness’ while allowing life-content to be included rather than rejected.
- इदम् सर्वम् (idaṃ sarvam)
- Literal: all this. Symbolic: the totality of manifested experience
- भूत (bhūta)
- Literal: what has become. Symbolic: formed past states; established patterns in nature
- भव्य (bhavya)
- Literal: what will be. Symbolic: future possibilities/potentialities in consciousness
- अमृतत्व (amṛtatva)
- Literal: immortality. Symbolic: deathless spiritual status; supramental continuity beyond decay
- ईशान (īśānaḥ)
- Literal: lord, ruler. Symbolic: sovereign mastery of consciousness over nature
- अन्न (anna)
- Literal: food. Symbolic: substance of experience; material/energy taken into the being; also the ‘formed’ that can be offered in yoga
- अतिरोहति (ati-rohati)
- Literal: rises beyond, overgrows. Symbolic: transcends the limits of embodiment while using embodiment as support
Totality/immortality doctrine supporting yajña as transformative assimilation (later exegetical centrality)
Rites affirming cosmic totality; reflective chanting in later traditions.
Recitation with offerings (later practice may pair with āhuti/ārati conceptually).
Mindful ‘anna-yoga’: before meals or before engaging experience, recall the Inner Lord; offer the experience and assimilate it consciously.
√bhū ‘become’ (bhūta, bhavya) frames time as modes of manifestation within consciousness. √īś ‘own, rule’ (īśāna) marks sovereign self-possession. anna ‘food’ from √ad ‘eat’ (PIE *h₁ed-), symbolically extended: what is ‘eaten/assimilated’ becomes consciousness’ means of growth; ati-√ruh ‘climb beyond’ expresses surpassing embodiment by transforming nourishment/experience.
time encompassed by consciousness (past/future within Purusha), immortality (amṛtatva) as sovereignty of being, assimilation (anna) as spiritual transformation
Ṛta as ordered becoming within time is held inside Purusha who is beyond time.
Purusha as the truth-substance of past and future; the real behind temporal change.
Time and embodiment as instruments for the emergence of immortality in manifestation.
Vedāntic theism; also resonates with integral yoga’s transformation of life into spirit.
‘Food’ corresponds to all that is taken into consciousness—sensory inputs, energies, thoughts; ‘rising beyond’ corresponds to sublimation and spiritual assimilation.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- Identity mythologem: the cosmic Self is identical with all temporal manifestation (bhūta/bhavya) and simultaneously the lord of immortality—transcendence achieved through assimilation of the world rather than rejection.
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- anna relates to eating/assimilation (PIE *h₁ed-), a deep Indo-European metaphor for internalization of power/knowledge. The bhū- family continues PIE *bʰuH- ‘be, become’, structuring reality as becoming within being.
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The rishi speaks an equation of the self with totality; devotion becomes knowledge. The ‘lordship of immortality’ is presented as a realizable principle—consciousness mastering embodiment by transforming ‘food’ into a means of ascent.
Include past and future thoughts in awareness and offer them into the Purusha; practice ‘nothing excluded’.
equal inhale/exhale (sama-vṛtti) while repeating ‘puruṣa evedaṃ sarvam’ mentally
Timeless witnessing with inclusive acceptance.
When memories or anticipations arise, label them ‘bhūta/bhavya’ and return to the sense of the One who contains both. Before eating or beginning work, inwardly offer ‘anna’ (substance/experience) to the inner Lord.
Maintain Vedic accent integrity; emphasize udatta on key semantic peaks (sarvám, amṛtatvásya, īśā́naḥ).
Keep ‘evedaṃ’ flowing as a single assertion; avoid breaking the mantra’s totalizing statement.
puruṣa: retroflex ṣ, yad bhūtam: clear dental ‘t’ in bhūtam, bhavyam: ‘bhav-’ not ‘bav-’, amṛtatvasya: vocalic ṛ; keep consonant cluster clean, annenātirohati: double n in annena; long ā in -nā-; ‘roh’ with clear o
Even, contemplative, unhurried; let the tone suggest timelessness.
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