Sukta 129

नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत्। किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनं गभीरम्॥

nāsadāsīnno sadāsīttadānīṁ nāsīdrajo no vyomā paro yat | kimāvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmannambhaḥ kimāsīdgahanaṁ gabhīram ||

THEN was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it. What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?

न मृत्युरासीदमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः। आनीदवातं स्वधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन्न परः किं चनास॥

na mṛtyurāsīdamṛtaṁ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsītpraketaḥ | ānīdavātaṁ svadhayā tadekaṁ tasmāddhānyanna paraḥ kiṁ canāsa ||

Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.

तम आसीत्तमसा गूळ्हमग्रेऽप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमा इदम्। तुच्छ्येनाभ्वपिहितं यदासीत्तपसस्तन्महिनाजायतैकम्॥

tama āsīttamasā gūḻhamagre'praketaṁ salilaṁ sarvamā idam | tucchyenābhvapihitaṁ yadāsīttapasastanmahinājāyataikam ||

Darkness there was: at first concealed in darknew this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.

कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः प्रथमं यदासीत्। सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन्हृदि प्रतीष्या कवयो मनीषा॥

kāmastadagre samavartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṁ yadāsīt | sato bandhumasati niravindanhṛdi pratīṣyā kavayo manīṣā ||

Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.

तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः स्विदासी३दुपरि स्विदासी३त्। रेतोधा आसन्महिमान आसन्स्वधा अवस्तात्प्रयतिः परस्तात्॥

tiraścīno vitato raśmireṣāmadhaḥ svidāsī3dupari svidāsī3t | retodhā āsanmahimāna āsansvadhā avastātprayatiḥ parastāt ||

Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder

को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत्कुत आजाता कुत इयं विसृष्टिः। अर्वाग्देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यत आबभूव॥

ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocatkuta ājātā kuta iyaṁ visṛṣṭiḥ | arvāgdevā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yata ābabhūva ||

Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? TheGods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?

इयं विसृष्टिर्यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न। यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन्सो अङ्ग वेद यदि वा न वेद॥

iyaṁ visṛṣṭiryata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na | yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyomanso aṅga veda yadi vā na veda ||

He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.