---
type: Concept
bundle: cosmology-creation
bundle_version: "0.7.0"
id: virat
title: "Virāṭ — विराट्"
iast: "Virāṭ"
devanagari: "विराट्"
description: "The 'vast' or 'expanded' cosmic form: the gross-cosmic totality that emerges from Hiraṇyagarbha; the universe considered as one differentiated, embodied whole; the cosmic-waking-state consciousness (Vaiśvānara at the macro level); the stage of Sṛṣṭi at which the universe becomes the grossly differentiated field within which Brahmā operates; described in its most famous form in the Puruṣa Sūkta and the Viśvarūpa of BG 11."
darshana:
  - Vedic
  - Purāṇic
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "Vedic: Puruṣa Sūkta (RV 10.90) describes the primordial Puruṣa whose sacrifice generates the cosmos -- Virāṭ is one level of this; Upaniṣadic: Vaiśvānara at the cosmic level (Māṇḍūkya 3); Vedāntic: the gross-cosmic level in the tripartite Avyakta-Hiraṇyagarbha-Virāṭ sequence; Purāṇic: the cosmic body (Brahmāṇḍa) as Virāṭ; BG 11: the Viśvarūpa as Virāṭ-darśana"
text_source: "RV 10.90 (Puruṣa Sūkta); Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 3; BG 11.5-30; BhP 2.1.23-39"
tags: [cosmology, virat, purusha-sukta, vaishvanara, gross-cosmic, srishti, vedic, puranic]
not:
  - term: "identical to Puruṣa (the Sāṃkhya cosmic consciousness)"
    why: "Virāṭ and Sāṃkhya's Puruṣa are related but distinct. In Sāṃkhya, Puruṣa is pure consciousness, uninvolved, and not a material form at all. Virāṭ is the gross-cosmic FORM -- the material universe considered as a body. The Puruṣa Sūkta's Puruṣa whose body becomes the cosmos is closer to Virāṭ than to Sāṃkhya's Puruṣa. Context (Vedic cosmogony vs. Sāṃkhya metaphysics) must disambiguate which 'Puruṣa' is in use."
  - term: "the universe's physical structure (same as Brahmāṇḍa)"
    why: "Virāṭ emphasizes the gross-cosmic as a unified, conscious totality; Brahmāṇḍa emphasizes the physical structure (the egg/shell containing the 14 Lokas). They overlap but Virāṭ is specifically the 'cosmic body consciousness' -- the universe as experienced from within by the cosmic Vaiśvānara. Brahmāṇḍa is the structural container; Virāṭ is the experiential totality."
  - term: "the Viśvarūpa is Virāṭ-darśana only"
    why: "The Viśvarūpa shown to Arjuna in BG 11 is the Virāṭ-rūpa of Kṛṣṇa -- the cosmic form -- but within the specific Vaiṣṇava cosmological context where Virāṭ IS Viṣṇu/Kṛṣṇa's gross-cosmic body. The Viśvarūpa is thus both a Virāṭ disclosure AND a theophany (a direct disclosure of divine nature). Reading it purely as 'cosmic form' misses the Vaiṣṇava identification; reading it purely as theophany misses the cosmological content."
related:
  - /concepts/hiranyagarbha.md
  - /concepts/srishti.md
  - /concepts/brahmanda.md
  - /concepts/sapta-loka.md
  - /concepts/purusha-sukta.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Virāṭ -- विराट्

**Not:** identical to Sāṃkhya's Puruṣa, equivalent to Brahmāṇḍa, only the Viśvarūpa of BG 11

## Virāṭ in the Sṛṣṭi Sequence

Virāṭ occupies the third stage in the gross-cosmic emergence:

1. Avyakta (unmanifest total)
2. Hiraṇyagarbha (subtle-cosmic totality)
3. **Virāṭ** (gross-cosmic totality -- the universe as a differentiated, embodied whole)
4. Brahmā (the agent who differentiates the Virāṭ's content into named species, lokas, beings)

Virāṭ is the universe considered as one vast body (śarīra). Its "waking state" is the gross universe we experience. The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad's three states analysis (waking/dreaming/deep sleep) maps onto cosmic levels: at the cosmic scale, Vaiśvānara (BhP's Virāṭ) is the cosmic-waking consciousness, just as an individual's waking consciousness corresponds to the gross body.

## The Puruṣa Sūkta and Virāṭ

The Puruṣa Sūkta (RV 10.90) is the oldest Vedic text describing the cosmic form and the sacrifice by which the cosmos emerges from it. The Puruṣa whose body is the entire universe, whose sacrifice generates the four varṇas, the animals, the heavens and earth, the Vedas -- this Puruṣa is the Virāṭ in Vedic cosmogonic language.

Critical structural point: the Puruṣa Sūkta does NOT describe a literal blood sacrifice. The "sacrifice" (yajña) is the cosmic process by which the one differentiates into the many -- a cosmological metaphor for Sṛṣṭi. The "priests" who conduct the sacrifice are the cosmic principles (Sādhyas, Ṛṣis), not human ritual functionaries. See purusha-sukta.md for full treatment.

## The Cosmic Body: BhP 2.1.23-39

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (2.1.23-39) gives the most detailed Purāṇic treatment of Virāṭ as a cosmic body:
- The sky = skull
- The sun = eyes
- The directions = ears
- The oceans = belly
- Mountains = bones
- Rivers = veins
- Trees = body hair
- The moon = mind
- The wind = Prāṇa

This is not primitive animism but a systematic cosmological homology: the individual body (piṇḍa) mirrors the cosmic body (Virāṭ / Brahmāṇḍa). The same principle (microcosm-macrocosm identity) grounds Āyurveda's correspondence of elements, Jyotiṣa's planetary correspondences, and Tantra's body-as-cosmos practices.

## The Viśvarūpa (BG 11) as Virāṭ-Darśana

In BG 11, Kṛṣṇa grants Arjuna the "divine eye" (divyacakṣus) to see the Viśvarūpa -- the cosmic form. What Arjuna sees is the Virāṭ as Kṛṣṇa's body: all deities, all worlds, all beings, all time (past-present-future) simultaneously present in one vision. Arjuna's terror and awe encode the phenomenological point: the individual human mind cannot process the infinite simultaneously; the Virāṭ-darśana requires a faculty (divyacakṣus) beyond ordinary cognition.

## Audience Metaphor

Virāṭ is like the entire internet considered as one body: all the servers, all the data, all the processes running simultaneously, all the connections -- not as separate components but as one integrated living system. Brahmā's activity (differentiating species and lokas) is like writing the protocols and applications that run on this infrastructure. Hiraṇyagarbha is the design specifications before the hardware was built. The individual jīva is like one process running on one node, unaware of the full scope of the system it is a part of.

## Citations

1. Ṛg Veda 10.90 -- Puruṣa Sūkta; cosmic body as the sacrificed Puruṣa; see references/rigveda-purusha-sukta.md
2. Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 3 -- Vaiśvānara as cosmic-waking consciousness (= Virāṭ at the gross-cosmic level)
3. Bhagavad Gītā 11.5-30 -- the Viśvarūpa as Virāṭ-darśana
4. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 2.1.23-39 -- the cosmic body homology (sky = skull, sun = eyes, etc.); see references/bhagavata-purana.md
