THE SEVEN COSMIC SEERS

The seven cosmic shells were viewed not as insentient fields of force or matter, but as sentient fields of mind, which were personified as seven cosmic persons (sapta purushas), also known as the seven seers (sapta rishis).

It was held that the seven seers create the universe and everything in it by their mere act of “seeing.” The visionary power of each is manifested by intention or will, meaning that each seer, by its own divine will, governs the behavior of a particular type of primordial element. The elements were described as the minute, “body-framing particles” of the seven purushas: By means of their visionary power, the seven purushas frame the created body of the universe—that is, the golden yolk of the cosmic egg—from the seven primordial elements. The Manu Smriti, the oldest and most authoritative of the Vedic books of law, states: “From the minute body-framing particles of those seven very powerful purushas springs this [cosmic egg], the perishable from the imperishable.”

The minute, body-framing particles of the seven purushas correspond to the conscious particles of uncreated mind stuff inherent within the seven shells and represent uncreated elements of mind, rather than created elements of force or matter. As a result, such particles are capable of responding to the intentions of the seven seers. By merely envisioning the created form of the universe within their own cosmic minds, the minute, body-framing particles undergo the various combinations and permutations required to give rise to the created particles of force and matter out of which the body of the universe is fashioned or framed.