Nāsadīya Suktam – Hymn of Creation: 129th hymn, 10th Mandala, Rg Veda (10:129:1-

7)

Suktaṃ (hymn): Ēkōnathrimśadhuttharaśathatham Suktaṃ (simply means 129th hymn)

Ṛṣi (sage): Saptharchasyāsya suktasya Paramēṣti Prajāpathirrṣi (the sage Prajāpathi
Paramēṣti, who worded or sang the hymn having 7 verses)
Dēvathā (deity): Bhāvavrttham Dēvathā (a Vedic deity related to creation or cosmogony, to
whom this hymn is dedicated)
Chhandha (poetical meter): Triṣdhup Chhandhaha (a metrical system of 4 x 11 syllables,
that is 4 lined poetical meter each line consisting of 11 syllables)

ननननननननननननन ननननननननननननननननन ननननननननननन नन

ननननननन नननन ननन न
नननननननननन: नननन ननननन ननननननननननन: ननननननननननननननन
ननननननन ननन

न ननननननननननननननननननन न नननननन न ननननननननन ननननन

ननननननननननननन न
नननननननननन नननननननन नननननन ननननननननननननननननन नननन
नननननननननन ननन

ननन ननननननननननन ननननननननननननननननननननन ननननननन

ननननननन नननन न
ननननननननननननननननननननननन ननननननननननननननननननननननननन
नननननननननन ननन

ननननननननननननन ननननननननननननन नननननन नननन: ननननननन

नननननननन न
नननन नननननननननननन ननननननननननन ननननन ननननननननननन
नननननन नननननन ननन

नननननननननननन नननननन ननननननननननननननन नननननननननन न

ननननननन नननननननन न नन न
नननननननन ननननननननननननन नननननननननननन
नननननननननननननननननन नननननननननन ननन

नन नननननन ननननन न ननन ननन ननननननननननन ननननननन नननन

नननन नननननननननन न
ननननननननननननन ननननन नननननननननननननननन नन ननननन ननन
ननननननन ननन

नननन ननननननननननननननन ननननननन नननन नन नननन नननन ननन न न

नन नननननननननननननन ननननन ननननननननननननन ननननन ननननन
नननन ननन न नननन ननन
 nāsa̍dāsī̱ nno sadā̍sītta̱dānī̱ m nāsī̱ drajo̱ no vyo̍mā pa̱ro yat |
kimāva̍rīva̱ḥ kuha̱ kasya̱ śarma̱nnaṁbha̱ḥ kimā̍sī̱ dgaha̍naṁ gabhī̱ ram ||1||

na mṛ̱tyurā̍sīda̱mṛta̱ṁ na tarhi̱ na rātryā̱ ahna̍ āasītprake̱taḥ |

ānīdavā̱taṁ sva̱dhayā̱ tadekaṁ̱ tasmā̍ddhā̱nyanna pa̱raḥ kiñca̱nāsa̍ ||2||
̍

tama̍ āasī̱ ttama̍sā gū̱ḻhamagre̍’prake̱taṁ sa̍li̱ laṁ sarva̍mā i̱ daṁ |

tu̱cchyenā̱bhvapi̍ hitaṁ̱ yadāsī̱ ttapa̍sa̱stanma̍hi̱ nā jā̍ya̱taika̍ṁ ||3||

kāma̱stadagre̱ sama̍varta̱tādhi̱ mana̍so̱ reta̍ḥ pratha̱maṁ yadāsī̍t |

sa̱to bandhu̱masa̍ti̱ nira̍vindan hṛ̱di pra̱tīṣyā̍ ka̱vayo̍ manī̱ ṣā ||4||

ti̱ ra̱ścīno̱ vita̍to ra̱śmire̍ṣāma̱dhaḥ svi̍ dā̱sī 3 du̱pari̍ svidāsī 3 t |

re̱to̱dhā āa̍sanmahi̱ māna̍ āasantsva̱dhā avastā̱tpraya̍tiḥ pa̱rastā̍t ||5||

ko a̱ddhā ve̍da̱ ka i̱ ha pra vo̍ca̱tkuta̱ āajā̍tā̱ kuta̍ i̱ yaṁ visṛ̍ṣṭiḥ |

a̱rvāgde̱vā a̱sya vi̱ sarja̍ne̱nāthā̱ ko ve̍da̱ yata̍ āaba̱bhūva̍ ||6||

i̱ yaṁ visṛ̍ṣṭi̱ ryata̍ āba̱bhūva̱ yadi̍ vā da̱dhe yadi̍ vā̱ na |

yo a̱syādhya̍kṣaḥ para̱me vyo̍ma̱ntso a̱ṅga ve̍da̱ yadi̍ vā̱ na veda̍ ||7||

Word for word translation: Sanskrit-English

sukta – a Vedic hymn, well or properly said or recited, speaking well, eloquent, good
recitation or speech, wise saying, song of praise; ēkōna – less by one, minus one; triṁśat –
thirty; uttara – excess; śata(ta) – hundred(th)
ṛṣi – sage; saptarca – having 7 verses; āsya – to mouth a word, to state; sukta – a Vedic
hymn, well or properly said or recited, speaking well, eloquent, good recitation or speech,
wise saying, song of praise; āsya – to mouth a word, to state; paramēṣti – superior, chief,
supremacy; prajāpati – divinity presiding over procreation, protector of life
dēvatā – deity, divinity; bhāvavṛtta – relating to creation or cosmogony; bhāva – coming
into existence, continuity of becoming, prospering, turning and transitioning into, supreme;
vṛtta – set in motion, becoming manifested, transforming, means of existence or life
chanda – pleasing, alluring, inviting, praising, delightful, desirable; chandas – metrical
science, meter, sacred text of Vedic hymns; triṣdup, triṣtubh – metrical system of 4 x 11
syllables, 4 lined poetical meter each line consisting of 11 syllables

na asad āsīn nō sad āsīt tadānīṃ na āsīd rajō nō vyōmā (a)parō yat |
kim āvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmann ambhaḥ kim āsīd gahanaṃ gabhīram || 1 ||

1) na – neither, not, no, like, as; asad (asat) – nonexistent, nonentity, nonbeing, untrue,
unreal; āsīn – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist; nō – nor, not, or not; sad (sat) – existent,
being, truth; āsīt – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist; tadānīṃ – at that time, then
2) na – neither, not, no, like, as; āsīd (āsīt) – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist; rajō (rajas) –
atmosphere, air, firmament, the ethereal spaces, the whole expanse of heaven or sky; nō – nor,
not, or not; vyōmā (vyōman) – heaven, sky, atmosphere, air, ether; parō (paras) – beyond,
further off, away, on the other side of; yat (yad) – which, whichever, whatever
3) kim – what, how, whence, wherefore, why; āvarī (āvāra) – shelter, keeping out, cover;
vaḥ – bearing, holding; kuha – where; kasya – whose; śarmann – shelter, protection,
comfort
4) ambhaḥ (ambhas) – celestial waters, power, fruit fulness; kim – what, how, whence,
wherefore, why; āsīd (āsīt) – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist; gahanaṃ (gahana) – deep,
dense, thick, impervious, impenetrable, inexplicable, hard to be understood; gabhīram
(gabhīra) – deep-sounding abyss or mystery

na mṛtyur āsīd amṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsīt prakētaḥ |

ānīd avātaṃ svadhayā tad ēkaṃ tasmād dhānyan na paraḥ kiṃ chanāsa || 2 ||

1) na – neither, not, no, like, as; mṛtyur (mṛtyu) – death; āsīd (āsīt) – seated, being at rest,
sitting, exist; amṛtaṃ (amṛta) – immortality; na – neither, not, no, like, as; tarhi – at that
time, then, at that moment
2) na – neither, not, no, like, as; rātryā (rātri) – night, stillness of night; ahna – day, series of
days, many days; āsīt – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist; prakētaḥ (praketa) – appearance,
apparition, distinction
3) ānīd (āna) – breathe; avātaṃ (avāta) – windless, windless atmosphere, untroubled;
svadhayā (sva dhayā) – by self-power, inherent power, own impulse; tad – that; ēkaṃ – the
One, alone, lonely
4) tasmād (tasmāt) – from that, on that account, therefore; dhā – (that One) bestower; anyan
(anya) – other than; na – neither, not, no, like, as; paraḥ (paras) – beyond, other than; kiṃ-
chanāsa (kim-cana) – in no way, to a certain degree, satisfactorily

tama āsīt tamasā gūḷham agrē aprakētaṃ salilaṃ sarvam ā idam |

tuchchy ēnā abhva apihitaṃ yadā āsīt tapas as tan mahinā jāya taikam || 3 ||

1) tama (tamas) – darkness, ignorance, illusion; āsīt – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist;
tamasā – darkness, ignorance, illusion; gūḷ(d)ham – covered, hidden, concealed; agrē (agra)
– foremost, first, prominent, going in front, chief, from – up to, upon, subsequently, in the
beginning
2) aprakētaṃ (apraketa) – indiscriminate, unrecognizable, undistinguished; salilaṃ – mass
of water, heaving ocean, wave; sarvam – all, everything, of all sorts; ā – as far as, until, all
(a)round; idam – there, here, that, this
3) tuchchy (tucch(y)a) – empty, void; ēnā – thus, there, then, at that time; abhva (abhva,
abhū) – immense power, unborn, unborn germ; apihitaṃ (apihita) – placed into, covered,
concealed, enveloped; yadā – which, whichever, whatever; āsīt – seated, being at rest, sitting,
exist
4) tapas – deep meditation; as – to take place, to happen, to become, to be; tan – to assist,
render, stretch, extend, spread, spin out, weave, continue, endure, manifest, continuation,
uninterrupted succession; mahinā – greatness, mighty; jā – born, produced; yat – move
towards, join, to seek to join oneself with, unite; aikam – relating to the One

kāmas tad agrē sam avartatā ādhi manasō rētaḥ prathamaṃ yadā āsīt |
satō bandhum asati nir-avindan hṛdi pratīṣyā kavayō manīṣā || 4 ||

1) kāmas – radiance, beauty, desire, virile semen; tad – that; agrē (agra) – foremost, first,
prominent, going in front, chief, from – up to, upon, subsequently, in the beginning; sam – to
be agitated or disturbed, conjugation, union, placing together, completeness; avartatā
(āvarta, āvṛt) – repeating, doing over again, melting metals together, circular motion,
gyration, churning, stirring anything in fusion, going around, revolving, winding, revolving,
whirl; ādhi – a receptacle, place, foundation
2) manasō (manas) – mind, intellect, in the mind; rētaḥ (retas) – virile semen, seed;
prathamaṃ – foremost, first, primal; yadā – which, whichever, whatever; āsīt – seated,
being at rest, sitting, exist
3) satō (satas) – equally, like that; bandhum – connection, relation, kinship; asati (asat) –
non-being, non-existent, nonentity; nir-avindan – finding (all) out, discovered
4) hṛdi (hṛd) – heart, soul, mind; pratīṣyā (pratīṣ) – to strive after, seek, search; kavayō
(kavi) – wise men, sages, seers; manīṣā – wisdom, intelligence

tiraśchīnō vitatō raśmir ēṣām adhaḥ svid āsī3d upari svid āsī3t |
rētōdhā āsan mahimāna āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt || 5 ||

1) tiraśchīnō – transverse, horizontal, across; vitatō – spread out, extended, diffused, far-
spread; raśmir – cord, trace, ray of light, beam, splendor (intellect); ēṣām – act of seeking or
going after
2) adhaḥ (adhas) – below, down, beneath, downwards; svid – what indeed, what (do you
think); āsī3d (āsīt) – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist; upari – above, upwards; svid – what
indeed, what (do you think); āsī3t – seated, being at rest, sitting, exist
3) rētōdhā (retodhas) – impregnating, fertilizing, seed placing; āsan – be there, sitting there,
exit there; mahimāna – greatness, might, power, glory; āsan – be there, sitting there, exit
there
4) svadhā – self-power, inherent power, spontaneous power; avastāt – below, before (in
time); prayatiḥ – intention, will, effort, exertion, impulse; parastāt – above, afterwards,
further away

kō addhā vēda ka iha pra vōchat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṃ visṛṣṭiḥ |
arvāg dēvā asya visarjanē nāthā kō vēda yata ābabhūva || 6 ||

1) kō – who, what; addhā – certainly, truly; vēda – to know; ka – who, what; iha – here, in
this world; pra – about which; vōchat (vāc, vāca) – being spoken
2) kuta (kutas) – how, whence; ājātā – produced, arose; kuta (kutas) – how, whence; iyaṃ
– this; visṛṣṭiḥ – distinct Creation, Creation in detail, Creation with intensity, manifoldness
3) arvāg (arvāk) – later, after; dēvā – God, Gods; asya – abode; visarjanē – product,
creation, coming out; nā – isn’t it?
4) āthā – then, else then, how else; kō – who, what; vēda – to know; yata – the place where;
āba – beginning; bhūva (bhu) – to come into being

iyaṃ visṛṣṭir yata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhē yadi vā na |

yō asyā adhyakṣaḥ paramē vyōman sō aṅga vēda yadi vā na vēda || 7 ||

1) iyaṃ – this; visṛṣṭir – distinct Creation, Creation in detail; yata – the place where; āba –
beginning; bhūva (bhu) – to come into being
2) yadi vā – if-or-if, whether-or, whether-or-not, yet, however; dadhē – to hold, to possess, to
give; yadi vā na – whether-or-not
3) yō – as, since; asyā – abode; adhyakṣaḥ (adhyaka – wealthy in knowledge) – supervise,
eye-witness, having powers to perceive; paramē (parama) – at the utmost, extreme,
remotest, highest; vyōman – heaven, ether, space
4) sō – to conclude, to complete; aṅga – indeed, true; vēda – to know; yadi vā – if-or-if,
whether-or, whether-or-not, yet, however; na – not; vēda – to know
Traduction: Français

(À l’époque pré-primordiale), ni la non-existence existait, ni existait alors l’existence en ce

temps-là;
Il n’y avait ni l’espace aérien, ni la sphère céleste au-delà.
Qu’est-ce couvrait le contenu? Où était-ce? Sous la garde de qui?
Était-ce de la force cosmique onduleuse, en mystère en abîme insondablement profond?

Il n’existait en ce temps-là ni la mort, ni la non-mort;

Il n’y avait pas de signe distinctif divisant la nuit du jour:
L’Un respirait, sans souffle, mû de son propre élan inhérent.
En dehors de Celui-là, alors était sûrement rien d’autre au-delà.

Des ténèbres (ou l’ignorance, l’illusion) il y avait, cachées dans les ténèbres à l’origine;
Tout ce qu’on voyait, tout autour, n’étaient qu’ondes indistinctes de toutes sortes.
Dissimulé dans le vide était, alors, le germe du pouvoir immense (de tout),
Née La Gloire (l’Esprit), s’unissant avec L’Un, aptes à soutenir la pensée profonde
frémissante.

Le Désir tourbillonnait dans L’Un (récipient), au début, de manière récurrente (répliquante),

Qui était la semence première, née de la conscience.
C’était celui (le Désir), qu’alors découvert dans la non-existence le lien de l’existence,
Par les sages, qui cherchaient au fond de leurs cœurs avec sagesse.

À travers diffusés étaient les rayons de leur intellect (de la vision), cherchant activement:
Quel était bien le dessous? Quel était en effet le dessus?
Des forces séminales, il y avait, des pouvoirs glorieux, il y avait:
L’élan spontané était en bas, le don de soi (la volonté) était en haut.

(Mais maintenant) Qui sait en vérité? Qui pourrait ici l’annoncer?

Comment et d’où est née? Comment et d’où cette Création (est arrivée)?
Même les Dieux sont venus plus tard que la Création, n’est-ce pas?
Qui d’autre sait alors d’où Celle-ci même est émanée?

Cette Création – d’où Elle même est émanée,

Si (Elle) était (Elle-même) formée, ou si (Elle) n’était pas –
Car Lui est Son témoin (ou observateur), ayant sa demeure aux cieux plus extrêmes,
Pour en déduire, Il le sait seul sans doute – ou peut-être même Il ne le sait pas!

Explanation:

The Nāsadīya Sukta, begins by stating paradoxically “na asad āsīt nō sad āsīt“, “Not non
existence was, nor was existence“. In this stanza, they are really talking about a time and state,
that is truly pre-primordial in nature, which is beyond human being’s comprehension and even
supreme being’s perception. Here, the word “ambhas” is mostly translated as water. Though
“ambhas” means celestial waters, it has other meanings like power or fruitfulness, etc. as well.
But if we consider “gahanaṃ gabhīram” from the same line, which means impervious, hard to
understand strange abyss or mystery, then that is not the place, where one can find water, but a
cosmic mystery. So “ambhas” should be translated as immeasurable flowing, undulating
cosmic mystery or force or power. Throughout this stanza everything seems to be in
impenetrably inexplicable dense deep-sounding abyss of mystery, where existent and
nonexistent state of both existence and nonexistence are existentially nonexistent.

In the second stanza however to warm up, they started to use known terms like death,
immortality, night and day, paralleling the first two lines of first stanza. But again, they revert
to another paradox, “That One breathed breathlessly on its own“. The usage of “Tad Ekam“,
“That One” is just utter brilliance. Both words are neuter genders, which yield no clue about its
nature. It is supposed to mean the prior stage, unevolved state of “The Brahmam“, “The
Nadhabrahmam“, “The Creation as Principle“. But what is going on here? “Breathed without
breath?“. It is supposed to mean “That One” was alive and waiting to happen, despite the
complete absence of the means to exist, the act of existing and everything else. And they
categorically state this in the next line that “Other than That One there was in no way anything
else, at all“.

In the third stanza, they highlight “Tamas“, the Darkness, not just the pitch black darkness, but
also the darkness of ignorance, that is the absence of available information, and the darkness of
veil put on by illusion. Indiscriminate heaving cosmic waves of all sorts were there, but we may
not perceive them because of darkness, ignorance and illusion. Concealed in the tenebrous void
was the unborn germ of immense power, dormant and hibernating, waiting to burst out. As we
are expecting the immense power to burst out, something else happens. Arose was That, born
of Might. “mahinā jā” can also be translated as birth of Might. They are talking about a raw
entity with no name, but which has all attributes of a thing called “mind“. They are trying to
figure it out, what it is indeed, which is so powerful and mighty that could render “Tapas“. Yes,
they are indeed talking about the birth of Mind, a raw primal mind, but without giving it a name
yet, which seeks to join itself and have unison with the “Ekam, That One“, ready to endure, to
render, to manifest “Tapas, deep thought“. “Tapas” is wrongly translated as its literal meaning
“Heat“. But, “Tapas” is a very common term in Hinduism, which means penance, deep
meditation or intense effort. Here we are talking about the intense inner heat of mind, when it
is rendered complete still. So in this stanza, slowly somewhat concrete concepts emerge out of
abstraction, like Darkness, heaving Cosmic waves, void, unborn germ of power, mind and
Tapas.

In the fourth stanza “Kama” is introduced, which has many meanings, but here it acts as
“Desire, Willpower” playing the role of virile semen, whirls into “Ekam, That One“, penetrating
it and entering into its freshly born and mated Mind, playing the role of receptacle, ovum. Only
here they are naming it as Mind “Manas“. It was once raw, unnamed and unknown, now it
became Mind only because it mated with “Ekam, That One” in the previous stanza. The Desire
descends into It in a recurring, repeating and replicating manner, “avartata“, agitating, stirring,
churning and fusing things. Now, the “unborn power” left hanging in the third stanza, the Mind,
“Tapas, deep thought“, all come together inside “Ekam, That One” to create the “primal seed,
which is born of Mind” pregnant with Desire. A Desire to exist, to create itself, to burst out, to
expand out and to evolve. The great lineage of sages, who are relentlessly questioning and
searching deep inside their hearts with wisdom, now, they found out, this Desire was
responsible for all things, but foremost the kinship of existence in nonexistence. These two are
nagging their mind since the beginning. So, the first thing they wanted to find out was what are
they and what is their kinship. Now, they found out! And things are really starting to happen.

The fifth stanza. Now, these sages place their mind’s eye everywhere, sending, diffusing,
broadcasting mighty rays of their splendorous intellect, searching actively below and above,
downwards and upwards, beneath and beyond. They started to identify things: impregnating
forces, glorious powers, the requirement of spontaneous powers to lie beneath to actively create
new things, of intentional efforts, willpower, to lie above to actively expand, render and make
things evolve and so on. From here on the usage of “Ekam” is dropped out. Since it got
manifested and started to evolve, it will be called in future as “Visrshti, the primal Creation“.

The sixth stanza. And now that, they have perceived it all, understood the nature of pre-
primordial time and state, the nature of “Ekam, That One“, the immensity of the Cosmos, how
things unfolded, infinity, illusion and all, here, their unburdened skeptical mind kicks in. As
Carl Sagan so eloquently put, these sages with their “tradition of skeptical questioning and
unselfconscious humility before the great cosmic mysteries“, they started to question and doubt
their own inference, acquired knowledge and wisdom. How much this could be true, for the
Devas, Gods, these so called superior beings, with, say, some 11-dimensional vision or senses,
even they themselves came only after “the Creation“. Note the name change. From here on they
started to use the word “Visrshti“. Western scholars wrongly translate it as “Vi + Srshti =
Secondary Creation” because of the prefix “Vi“, which has multiple meanings, among them are
division, in two parts and so on. But in has also other meanings as distinction, ordered in detail
and others. So, the proper translation is “a different type of distinct Creation or Creation with
intensity, which is primal in nature“, which is supposed to mean “Creation as principle, The
Ultimate Supreme Reality“. So, who can, with at most certainty, proclaim, what is the true
nature of reality and how things really unfolded.

Final stanza. “This Creation” unfolded and evolved from “Ekam, That One” , whence it came
into full being. Whether it is self made, a “Svayambhu“, akin to “Linga“, which is sinisterly
interpreted as “Shiva’s phallus“, whereas its true meaning is simply a “symbol“, depicting the
sacred energy, the sacred sound, “Nada“, self manifesting out of an hourglass drum, out of its
membrane, on its own accord. Or, for “This Creation“, whether there involved any influence of
some external forces? As The Dweller, who is wealthy in knowledge, “adhyaka“, who has
superior powers to perceive, observe things, “adhyaksha“, and who took abode in extreme
heavens, perhaps He indeed knows all – or possibly even he knows nothing, at all!

Notes:

1) No matter how hard I try, I’m in no way be able to translate the poetical beauty and the
intended real meaning of these hymns. In just 7 hymns, we are immediately transported to a
mysterious place, where nothing exists in the beginning and slowly with accompanying
narration of lyrical beauty, sounds, aspirated phonemes, breathings and Vedic accent, we are
shown the evolution of things occupying our mindscape in an astonishing manner. And in the
end, we are left to wonder about the hard hitting questions resulting from immense wisdom and
humility before the great cosmic mysteries.

Sanskrit is extremely beautiful, yet a very sophisticated language. It is as if the Gods, humans
and all came together and constructed this language, piece by piece, to suit the purpose of
representing in-depth ideas of philosophy, spirituality, science and so on. In fact, the word
“Samskrta“, Sanskrit word for Sanskrit, literally means put together, well constructed,
perfected, purified, refined, etc. The words like Dharma, Karma, Yoga etc. are hard to be
translated with just one single meaning as they represent concepts of deep philosophical-
spiritual-scientific thoughts with multitude of meanings. When you word “Nāda, sacred
sound“, it gives a meaning, renders certain feelings, evokes certain emotion and finally plays
with the consciousness, all which can in no way be translated or interpreted. When worded, the
terms “Nadābrahmam” or “Nādōpāsana“, they simply increase the complexity.
The word “gabhīram” gives the mental picture of a deep-sounding abyss of mystery. But the
aspirated “b” along with accented breathing evokes a strange feeling while playing with your
consciousness. This could be experienced only by Hindus initiated in the tradition since the
childhood. When “gahanaṃ” is added it only increases the complexity. And putting “ambhas”
in front of it changes the entire game. So, these translations are absolutely incomplete and in no
way close to the poetical beauty of these hymns.

2) There is this small thing that is nagging me back in my mind, which is probably another
paradox. It’s the usage of “Manas, Mind“, “Tapas, deep thought” and “Kama, desire“. Since,
there existed nothing except “Ekam, That One“, where from they came? What are they? Mind,
deep thought and desire of who or what? The usage is definite article “The” and not possessive
pronoun “its“. It is not “its Mind“, but “The Mind“. It is my inference that, we are talking about
the Mind, the deep thought and the desire of “Ekam, That One“, “Visrshti, the Creation“,
“Devas, Gods, Superior Beings“, humans, if robots created by humans achieve consciousness
then theirs and so on. It’s the collective mind of The Unknown, The Creation as principle,
created, creators, co-creators, materialistic creation as we know of and so on. When nothing
existed, this collective consciousness, which is supposed to occur only after when the primal
mind is created, somehow miraculously manifested itself in the beginning, sought to join and
united with “Ekam, That One“. That’s the paradox.

This concept of collective mind is very well understood in Hinduism. That’s why the
“Mahāvākyas, The Great Sayings” all state the same thing. prajñānam brahma – Supreme
consciousness is Brahmam. ayam ātmā brahma – This Atman, Self, is Brahmam. tat tvam asi
– Thou art That, You are That. aham brahmāsmi – I, the inner self, is Brahmam. All clearly
state that, “I am THE Infinite Reality, therefore I’m Divine” as long as I follow Dharma, the
eternal divine laws. That’s why “Namaste” means “I bow to the Brahmam, the Divine, that
resides in you“.

3) Throughout this material, I used the term “God or Gods” for sake of clarity. But as per Hindu
understanding of sacred realms, the right term should be “Divinity or Divinities” or “Devatas”
or “Devas and Devis“. In Hinduism, there are millions of such divinities each representing
divine forms of a thing, entity, concept, idea and so on such as Agni for fire, Yama for death,
Ganesh for knowledge, wisdom, humility, Lakshmi for wealth, Ganga for river Ganges,
Dhanvantari for study of medicine, Vishnu for protection and so on.

The Devata Bhavavrta is one such Divinity representing cosmogony, the idea of creation, its
origin and so on. With that in mind, now reconsider the last stanza, where a Dweller, Observer
or Overseer is mentioned. Who is this Dweller? Are they collective of all “Gods and
Goddesses“, that is “Devas and Devis“? Or it is this Divinity Bhavavrta? If this is the case, then
the sages are referring to The Creation itself and the events that unfolded since the first stanza.
It seems, the latter is the case. This stanza is extremely cryptic and concise in nature. In the
second line, only the word “dadhē” is used. No subject is given and also this is the only line,
which is two syllables short, that is only 9 syllables are there instead of 11. “dadhē” could refer
to “(It) is made or self-made” or “being held or holding itself” and so on.

If we stick to “self-made or holding itself” and the “Dweller or Overseer” is indeed referring to
“The Creation itself“, then it could dramatically change the meaning of the remaining two lines.
We could translate them as “(3) The event, The Creation, that took abode (place) in extreme
heavens under its own self-observation, self-surveillance and self-witness (4) It knows, It is self-
aware of all, all the truth and reality. Or perhaps even it knows nothing, it is not self-aware at
all. Everything happened as a matter of fact by the divine act of cosmic laws and nature“. As
divine principles, as entities of such complexity, enigma, beauty, full of things waiting to burst
out, and they indeed burst out and created this mighty Cosmos, “Ekam, That One” and “Visrshti,
The Creation” both must be self-aware and all knowing. Indeed, in Hinduism and in later
scriptures, “The Creation as principle” is viewed as all knowing Ultimate Supreme Reality,
which is the source of supreme consciousness. It is only the sages’ skeptical mind at play
proposing, just for the sake of argument, that even It may not be aware of all. Which I call the
audacious questioning mind!

4) The fact often omitted is that, when we say “the great sages“, we are not just talking about
spiritual minds but also scientific minds. In Hinduism science, spirituality, philosophy, art and
everything lived together hand in hand. In fact, the science and mathematics we have today
happened because of these sages inquiries into spiritual world. Famous example is the designing
of “Yajna peeta (fire altars)” and “Yantras (in Buddhism Mandalas, these intense geometrical
patterns)” for “Yajna services“, wrongly interpreted as sacrifice, but they are acts of offering
labour, materials or oblation, which are vegetal, benign and auspicious in nature, to Devas,
Gods. These designing process involved, then, a thorough inquiry into geometry and other fields
of mathematics. They are called the famous “Shulba Sutras“, which are part of larger corpus of
texts called the “Shrauta Sutras” consisting of intense mathematical and other formulas.

Famous mathematicians like Aryabhata, grammarians like Panini, who was also a great
mathematician, surgeons like Sushruta and countless others were great sages as well. Zero,
infinity, Indian numerals (wrongly called as Arabic numerals), linguistic, musicology,
metallurgy, all happened because of spiritual and philosophical inquiries into this strange
unknown world called spirit world. Whatever knowledge acquired in spiritual and philosophical
inquiries went into scientific and mathematical enquiries. Whatever found through scientific
and mathematical studies went back into spiritual and philosophical studies. There are many
examples for this, but the most famous one is those beautiful bronze statues of Shiva as
handsome Nataraja, The Cosmic Dancer. Here, spirituality, philosophy, science, storytelling,
metallurgy, music, dance, all come together to give a complete holistic human experience about
a divine figure.

5) While the publication of “Karpasa (cotton) in ancient India” and other recent research
pushed back the dating of Vedas by additional 4000 years, that is putting it around 8000-9000
YA (years ago), one important aspect that’s often overlooked or rather deliberately ignored
altogether is the references to Rishis, great sages. In all Hindu scriptures, most of the authors
claim that the scripture in question is not their own work. They repeat time and again, that they
are works of “Kavayo, Rshayo, etc.” great wise men, sages, seers from ancient past. The author
is simply repeating the old work.

In this regard, the fourth stanza is very important. When the author says “the sages searched
their heart with wisdom (kavayo – wise men, intellects, seers; manisha – wisdom)” he is
speaking of a great lineage of sages preceded him. These sages, his worthy predecessors, for
ages, continuously searched their heart with intellect to arrive at this conclusion, which was
then cross-verified and accepted by other sages. Then, before the author’s time, this process of
searching and seeking was ongoing nonstop for aeons. So, this is another important clue that
indicates the age of Vedas is in fact much older.

In the famous mantra “Satyameva Jayathe – Truth alone triumphs” from “Mundaka Upanishad,
3.1.6“, this theme is repeating with the line “yena kramanthyrshayo hyapthakama” meaning
“The Rshayo, the great sages, whose desires have been completely fulfilled, took the divine path
of truth, laid out by truth, to reach where the supreme treasure of truth resides, to taste the
fruits of supreme truth“. These sages’ relentless search, quest and lust for knowledge, wisdom
and truth is a recurring theme throughout all the sacred scriptures of Hinduism.

6) As the hymn begins with questioning the existence and ends with doubting the knowing, it is
in fact, “To be, or not to be, that is not the real question“. But, it is indeed, “To know or not to
know, that is the ultimate question“. Knowing, knowledge, that’s what make great intelligence
species, great communities, cultures and civilizations. “Veda va na veda“, that’s what made this
great Vedic Indian Civilization.