Purusha Suktam — Word-by-Word Meaning

The Cosmic Being (Purusha) has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet. He pervades the earth on all sides and extends ten fingers beyond it. This Purusha is all that has been and all that will be. He is the lord of immortality, which he outgrows through food (creation). Such is his greatness, and the Purusha is even greater than this. All beings are one-fourth of him; three-fourths of him is the immortal heaven. Three-fourths of the Purusha ascended above. One-fourth of him manifests here again and again. From there he spread out in all directions, into that which eats and that which does not eat. From him was born Virat (the cosmic form), and from Virat came the Purusha. Being born, he extended beyond the earth — behind and in front. When the gods performed the sacrifice using the Purusha as the offering, spring was the ghee, summer was the fuel, and autumn was the oblation. They sprinkled the sacrifice on the sacred grass — the Purusha, born in the beginning. With him the gods sacrificed, and so did the Sadhyas and the Rishis. From that sacrifice in which everything was offered, the butter mixed with curds was produced. He made the beasts of the air, the forest and the village.