Vibhu
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Vibhu (Sanskrit:विभु) means – 'mighty', 'powerful', 'eminent', 'supreme', 'able to', 'capable of', 'self-subdued', 'firm' or 'self-controlled'; in Nyaya philosophy, it means – 'eternal', 'existing everywhere', 'all-pervading', 'pervading all material things'.[1] This word also refers to manas or mind.[2] This word has its root in the term, bhū ( भू), meaning – 'become', 'arise', 'come into existence'; thus vibhu means – 'expand', 'become manifest', 'appear', 'pervade'.[3]
Vedic significance
From Atharvaveda it is learnt that Sudhanvan Angirasa had three sons, Ribhu, Vibhu and Vaja, collectively known as Ribhus who were intelligent sages.[4] They carried the luminous power of knowledge to this world, which knowledge pervaded the world as nectar. Ribhu or Ribhukshan was skillful at handling knowledge; Vibhu or Vibhawa was skillful in pervading and diffusing, and Vaja handled embodied plenitude with similar skill; all three dwelled in the solar-region and are considered to be the rays of the sun.[5] They are the three leaders of rites and the possessors of opulence, and the three deities of several Rig Vedic hymns.[6]
A mantra of the
- एकस्य चिन्मे विभ्वस्त्वोजो या नु दधृष्वान् कृणवै मनीषा |
- अहं ह्युग्रो मरुतो विदानो यानि चयवमिन्द्र इदीश एषाम् || (Rig VedaI.165.10)
In the Rig Veda, the word, vibhu, means – 'all-pervading unified entity that permeates or extends throughout a spatial expanse', as is in the afore-cited mantra wherein the phrase - एकस्य चिन्मे विभ्वस्त्वोजः which means - " Though I be but one, let my might be extensive. " A sage of the Rig Veda (II.xxiv.11) asserts that:-
- विभु प्रभु प्रथमं मेहनावतो बृहस्पतेः सुविदत्राणि राध्या |
- इमा सातानि वेन्यस्य वाजिनो येन जना उभ्यें भुञ्जते विशः ||
Brihaspati, the lord of the heaven of light and the guardian of rta, is present in all things and beings (vibhu) same as the Brahman of the Vedanta.[9]
Philosophical significance
In the Kaushitaki Upanishad, while describing the world of Brahman, there is the mention of the hall of Brahman called Vibhu (or built by Vibhu here meaning – 'egoism') arriving at which hall the glory of Brahman reaches the one who seeks liberation, where the seeker thinks himself to be Brahman, and thinking thus approaches the throne Vikakshanā ('perception'), in other words, the seeker having become liberated experiences Brahman, his own true nature.[10] Gaudapada in his kārikā on the Mandukya Upanishad stating:-
- निवृत्तेः सर्वदुःखानामीशानः प्रभुरव्ययः |
- अद्वैतः सर्वभावानां देवस्तुर्यो विभु स्मृतः ||
describes the fourth state (turiya) as the ordainer (iśana), as the supreme lord (prabhu), as the non-dual (advaita) and the all-pervading (vibhu) god (devata) of all beings. Here, the word, avyaya, means that which is not subject to change; and turiya is vibhu because it pervades all the three states.[11]
According to all six orthodox
References
- ^ V.S.Apte. The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Digital Dictionaries of South Asia. p. 1455.
- ISBN 9788185094922.
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- ISBN 9781491741290.
- ^ Rig Veda Samhita. N.Trubner. 1866. p. 115.
- ISBN 9780940490215.
- ISBN 9788170587149.
- ISBN 9788120806443.
- ISBN 9781775415312.
- ISBN 9780791425138.
- ISBN 9780520039230.
vibhu vedas.
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- ISBN 9788120809888.
- ISBN 9788176252225.
- ISBN 9788120812918.