नासदासीन नो सदासीत तदानीं नासीद रजो नो वयोमापरो यत |
nāsadāsīn no sadāsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomāparo yat |
1. THEN was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air,
no sky beyond it.
किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद गहनं गभीरम
||
kimāvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmannambhaḥ kimāsīd ghahanaṃ
ghabhīram ||
What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there,
unfathomed depth of water?
न मर्त्युरासीदम्र्तं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न
आसीत्प्रकेतः |
na mṛtyurāsīdamṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsītpraketaḥ |
2 Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there,
the day's and night's divider.
आनीदवातं सवधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन न परः किं चनास
||
ānīdavātaṃ svadhayā tadekaṃ tasmāddhānyan na paraḥ kiṃ canāsa ||
That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it
was nothing whatsoever.
तम आसीत तमसा गूळमग्रे.अप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमािदम |
tama āsīt tamasā ghūḷ[Link]ṃ salilaṃ sarvamāidam |
3 Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was
indiscriminated chaos.
तुछ्येनाभ्वपिहितं यदासीत तपसस्तन्महिनाजायतैकम ||
tuchyenābhvapihitaṃ yadāsīt tapasastanmahinājāyataikam ||
All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of
Warmth was born that Unit.
कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत |
kāmastadaghre samavartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṃ yadāsīt |
4 Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and
germ of Spirit.
सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ||
sato bandhumasati niravindan hṛdi pratīṣyākavayo manīṣā ||
Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's
kinship in the non-existent.
तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः सविदासी.अ.अ.अत |
tiraścīno vitato raśmireṣāmadhaḥ svidāsī.[Link] |
5 Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it
then, and what below it?
रेतोधाासन महिमान आसन सवधा अवस्तात परयतिः परस्तात ||
retodhāāsan mahimāna āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt ||
There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and
energy up yonder
को अद्धा वेद क इह पर वोचत कुत आजाता कुत
इयंविस्र्ष्टिः |
ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṃvisṛṣṭiḥ |
6 Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born
and whence comes this creation?
अर्वाग देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यताबभूव ||
arvāgh devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yataābabhūva ||
The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then
whence it first came into being?
इयं विस्र्ष्टिर्यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न |
iyaṃ visṛṣṭiryata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na |
7 He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not
form it,
यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे वयोमन सो अङग वेद यदि वा नवेद ||
yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅgha veda yadi vā naveda ||
Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or
perhaps he knows not. -
