On the Motif of the "Respiratory Man"

It appears that in the painting of Visnu as the “cosmic” or “universal” man, the entire cardio-respiratory apparatus is represented as a man. The different components and controlling entities of this system are mapped onto the body, as it were, of the system—as its arms and legs and so on.

Image Source: 1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLA_vanda_Vishnu_as_the_Cosmic_Man.jpg

2. https://media.lanecc.edu/users/driscolln/RT127/Softchalk/regulation_of_Breathing/regulation_of_Breathing_print.html

This body, the “Respiratory Man,” is viewed as the body of purusa or Visnu, the spiritual personality.

The controlling entities (devas) like Indra, Varuna, etc. are located in the arms while the entities like the heart and the diaphragm seem to be mapped on to the feet (of this system).

Is it because the devas are the neural entities (nerves), bestowing operative power (represented by the arms) on the system? And are the cardiac components (asuras) and the pleura and diaphragm (the snakes) seen as providing the locomotive power (the legs)?

One important thing to note about this “Respiratory Man” is that it maps only the cardio-respiratory apparatus of the body. Its organs correspond only to the constituent parts and organs of this system; and therefore, this virtual body extends only up to the end of the thoracic cavity in the (real) human body. It is for this reason that the “feet” of this Respiratory Man are seen to rest on Ananta, the thoracic diaphragm.

This is an interesting model. The spiritual personality inhabiting the body cannot be seen. Yet his interface with its various systems (like the respiratory which has a non-autonomic dimension) is clearly seen. Therefore, in a certain sense, it is the system that models the (invisible) body of the spiritual personality and its working.

There is clearly a purely mechanical aspect of breathing (pulmonary ventilation) involving the respiratory muscles, the parietal and visceral pleura and the alveoli; and a neurological control of it involving the cortex of the brain, respiratory centers in the brain-stem, nerves, sensory receptors, etc. Both these aspects appear to have been fully recognized in this conception of a “Respiratory Man.”

Unbeknownst to many, terms like dharma and rta in the texts of the Vedas and the Puranas have a meaning entirely different from the conventional (non-microcosmic) one. These refer to the maintenance of the process of respiration in the body of the jiva engaged in by the neural entities (for a discussion on this topic based on passages from the Gita, see this earlier post). It is therefore a purely respiratory dharma. The “men” (neural entities, nerve cells) of the microcosm do karma (neuronal activity) to maintain this dharma.

Further, is this the tantra way of conceiving God, which is referred to by Sankaradeva also in his Bhakti Ratnakara? “Tantra” means “system” and therefore, the tantrika worship, in the light of this model, would mean worshiping God in the form of a system (the respiratory system). God’s body is conceived as a system (comprising parts) and worshiped. But of course, whether such a form of worship is warranted by scripture or whether it is the aim of the text to prescribe any such worship at all is a different matter and out of the scope of this discussion.