Meaning -
As Rshabha that shines in suns and stars and pervades vibrant in planets proclaiming its power and personality loud and bold like Indra among the divinities, so may Brahma, scholar of the Vedas, celebrate with holy words and describe the variety of its manifestations in various parts and forms of existence. Note: From mantra 12 to 17, there is Brahma’s metaphoric description of Rshabha, the Cosmic Purusha, Vishvarupa as it is called in mantra 22. To understand this description literally as celebration of the animal ‘bull’ would do no justice to the Purusha. If ‘Rshabha’ were to mean ‘the bull’ literally, then the human prayer in Rgveda 10, 166, 1: Make me the Rshabha among equals would be meaningless. To understand this description properly, we should remember that Veda is the knowledge of nature, humanity and Divinity. The three exist together in an organismic union of relationship, nature being the Shakti of Divinity and the mother of humanity (Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 1, 7). So the Veda often describes the humanity of Divinity and the divinity of humanity. For example, in Atharva-Veda 10, 2, 31, the human body is described as ‘the invincible city of gods’, and Divinity is described as ‘thousand headed and thousand eyed Purusha’ (Rgveda 10,90,1) ‘thousand handed’ (Atharva Veda 19, 6,1), and even as ‘thousand-homed Vrshabha’ in Atharva-veda (4, 5, 1) and Rgveda (7, 55, 7). The metaphoric, therefore, should not be confused with the literal meaning. And if one insists on the anthropomorphic interpretation of Divinity, as some scholars have done, let us further remember that in the ‘literal style’ even language has been described as four horned and three-footed (Rgveda 4, 58, 3), which description makes no sense unless we interpret the metaphor.