Rg Veda: HYMN 129 Creation

1. 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?2 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.3 Darkness there was: at first
concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos.All that
existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth
was born that Unit.4 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.5
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 yonder6 Who verily knows and who can
here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation?
The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then
whence it first came into being?7 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.

Katha Upanishad excerpt

There is no such thing as a pleasant experience as such, by itself. It is
only a relative condition created under the circumstances of an action
and reaction process taking place between the sense organs, the mind
and the objects outside. Would anybody pursue this path which is utter
foolishness? He who pursues the path of the pleasant will fall short of
his aim. Sreya adadanasya sadhu bhavati, hiyate'rthad ya u preyo
vrinite (Katha 1.2.1). It is good that we follow the good, while we
understand, to some extent, that the pleasant is actually not
something existent in the objects outside; it is only a sensation, a
reaction of the sense organs and, therefore, unreliable to the hilt.
Take an old person in a dying condition does that person have any
pleasant experience of anything in this world? The sensations are
dying completely; there is no appetite of any kind. If pleasant things
are really pleasant, they should be pleasant even at the last moment of
your departure. Where is the pleasantness at that time? The condition
of your body, mind and sense organs determines what you call
pleasant. Also, what is pleasant to you need not be pleasant to another
person. If there is real pleasantness in things, there should be
pleasantness for all people equally; why should it be attractive to you

and not attractive to another person? Why is it that what you like is not
liked by somebody else? This shows that there is no such thing as
pleasantness in anything. The pursuit of the pleasant, therefore, is a
folly on the part of an individual.
The good is the proper path. What is the good? While you know
something about this pleasant, what is the good? "Ok, I will not follow
the path of the pleasant; I shall follow the way of the good, but I should
understand what is good, isn't it?" This also is a little difficult question.
The ultimately good is to be considered as really good. He who will
help you at the time of the death of your body is a real friend. That
which will come with you when you are departing from this world is
your real comrade; anything else is not your friend. That which appears
to be good now and is bitter tomorrow may not be considered as good.
It should be always good. As they say, "A friend in need is a friend
indeed." So also is the case with the good. The good should be always
good, like a well-meaning mother.
Nothing in this world, as far as the objectivity of the things in the world
is concerned, can be regarded as always good. There is nothing in this
world which can be considered as always good. It appears to be good
for some time only, for some reason. You have covered yourself with a
blanket now because it is cold; it is good to have a blanket over your
body. But will it be good always? All the 12 months, all the 365 days of
the year will you cover yourself with blankets and woollen shawls? No;
it is relatively good under certain conditions only. Under other
conditions it is not. All appetites, all needs, all requirements, anything
that you consider as necessary all these are relative to conditions,
circumstances prevailing within you as well as without you. Therefore,
nothing in this world can be regarded as finally good.
Yet there is something that is finally good, which is the good of the soul
of an individual. That which is permanent can be regarded as good. As
things in the world are transient and passing, they cannot also be
regarded as finally good. We also pass away, as far as our body is
concerned, but the soul will not pass away. Therefore, that which is
commensurate with the needs of the soul of a person may be regarded
as really good. And, there is nothing in this world which can feed our
soul. The world can feed our sensations: our mind, intellect and ego
can be fed by the diet of this world, but the soul is suffering. Our soul is
hungry; its appetite cannot be properly met by anything in this world,
because the impermanent cannot satisfy that which is permanent. Na
hy adhruvaih prapyate hi dhruvam tat (Katha 1.2.10). "The permanent
cannot be attained through that which is impermanent." The
impermanent cannot satisfy what is permanent that is, that which is
relatively good cannot be set in tune with the soul, which is the
ultimate good.


What happens to the person who has no desires? Now, I shall tell you
about the man, the person who has no desires.Athakamayamanah
yo'kamo: who has no desire of any kind; niskama: who is bereft of any
desires; apta-kama: who has fulfilled all desires; atma-kama: who loves
only the Self. Only he who has love for the Universal Self can be said to
have fulfilled all desires; every other person has some extraneous
desire. What happens to such a person when he departs from the
body? Na tasya prana utkramanti: He will not depart. We generally say
the soul departs. In the case of a Self-realised soul, no departure takes
place. It sinks then and there into the Absolute, like a bubble in the
ocean. When the bubble in the ocean bursts, it does not travel some
distance; it dissolves itself into the bosom of the sea there and then.
Na tasya prana utkramanti: There is no space and time movement for
the soul of that great soul. Atraiva samviliyante: They become one with
the very Existence, then and there, here and now. They neither have to
go to heaven, nor to brahma-loka, nor to the Garden of Eden. The
question of going arises only because of the concept of space and
time. A timeless Eternity, which is the true essence of the soul of a
person, does not travel to any place. It melts here itself into Pure
Existence. Atraiva samviliyante brahmaiva san brahmapyeti: The Soul
is the Absolute and, therefore, it enters the Absolute.
Sections of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad
FIRST ADHYYA.
1. The Brahma-students say: Is Brahman the cause 1? Whence are we
born? Whereby do we live, and whither do we go? O ye who know
Brahman, (tell us) at whose command we abide, whether in pain or in
pleasure?
2. Should time, or nature 1, or necessity, or chance, or the elements be
considered as the cause, or he who is called the person (purusha,
vigntm)? It cannot be their union either, because that is not selfdependent 2, and the self also is powerless, because there is
(independent of him) a cause of good and evil 3.
3. The sages, devoted to meditation and concentration, have seen the
power belonging to God himself 4, hidden in its own qualities (guna).
He, being one, superintends all those causes, time, self, and the rest 5.
4 6. We meditate on him who (like a wheel) has one felly with three
tires, sixteen ends, fifty spokes, with twenty counter-spokes, and six

sets of eight; whose one rope is manifold, who proceeds on three

different roads, and whose illusion arises from two causes.
5 1. We meditate on the river whose water consists of the five streams,
which is wild and winding with its five springs, whose waves are the
five vital breaths, whose fountain head is the mind, the course of the
five kinds of perceptions. It has five whirlpools, its rapids are the five
pains; it has fifty kinds of suffering, and five branches.
6. In that vast Brahma-wheel, in which all things live and rest, the bird
flutters about, so long as he thinks that the self (in him) is different
from the mover (the god, the lord). When he has been blessed by him,
then he gains immortality 2.
7. But what is praised (in the Upanishads) is the Highest Brahman, and
in it there is the triad 1. The Highest Brahman is the safe support, it is
imperishable. The Brahma-students 2, when they have known what is
within this (world), are devoted and merged in the Brahman, free from
birth 3.
8. The Lord (sa) supports all this together, the perishable and the
imperishable, the developed and the undeveloped. The (living) self, not
being a lord, is bound 4, because he has to enjoy (the fruits of works);
but when he has known the god (deva), he is freed from all fetters.
9. There are two, one knowing (svara), the other not-knowing (gva),
both unborn, one strong, the other weak 5; there is she, the unborn,
through whom each man receives the recompense of his works 6; and
there is the infinite Self (appearing) under all forms, but himself
inactive. When a man finds out these three, that is Brahma 7.
10. That which is perishable 8 is the Pradhna 9 (the first), the
immortal and imperishable is Hara 10. The one god rules the
perishable (the pradhna) and the (living) self 1. From meditating on
him, from joining him, from becoming one with him there is further
cessation of all illusion in the end.
11. When that god is known, all fetters fall off, sufferings are
destroyed, and birth and death cease. From meditating on him there
arises, on the dissolution of the body, the third state, that of universal
lordship 2; but he only who is alone, is satisfied 3.
12. This, which rests eternally within the self, should be known; and
beyond this not anything has to be known. By knowing the enjoyer 4,
the enjoyed, and the ruler, everything has been declared to be

threefold, and this is Brahman.

13. As the form of fire, while it exists in the under-wood 5, is not seen,
nor is its seed destroyed, but it has to be seized again and again by
means of the stick and the under-wood, so it is in both cases, and the
Self has to be seized in the body by means of the pranava (the syllable
Om).
14. By making his body the under-wood, and the syllable Om the
upper-wood, man, after repeating the drill of meditation, will perceive
the bright god, like the spark hidden in the wood 1.
15. As oil in seeds, as butter in cream, as water in (dry) river-beds 2, as
fire in wood, so is the Self seized within the self, if man looks for him by
truthfulness and penance 3;
16. (If he looks) for the Self that pervades everything, as butter is
contained in milk, and the roots whereof are self-knowledge and
penance. That is the Brahman taught by the Upanishad.
FOURTH ADHYYA.
1. He, the sun, without any colour, who with set purpose 1 by means of
his power (sakti) produces endless colours 2, in whom all this comes
together in the beginning, and comes asunder in the end--may he, the
god, endow us with good thoughts 3.
2. That (Self) indeed is Agni (fire), it is ditya (sun), it is Vyu (wind), it
is Kandramas (moon); the same also is the starry firmament 4, it is
Brahman (Hiranyagarbha), it is water, it is Pragpati (Virg).
3. Thou art woman, thou art man; thou art youth, thou art maiden;
thou, as an old man, totterest 5 along on thy staff; thou art born with
thy face turned everywhere.
4. Thou art the dark-blue bee, thou art the green parrot with red eyes,
thou art the thunder-cloud, the seasons, the seas. Thou art without
beginning 1, because thou art infinite, thou from whom all worlds are
born.
5 2. There is one unborn being (female), red, white, and black, uniform,
but producing manifold offspring. There is one unborn being (male)
who loves her and lies by her; there is another who leaves her, while
she is eating what has to be eaten.

6 1. Two birds, inseparable friends, cling to the same tree. One of them
eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating.
7. On the same tree man sits grieving, immersed, bewildered, by his
own impotence (an-s). But when he sees the other lord (sa)
contented, and knows his glory, then his grief passes away.
8 2. He who does not know that indestructible being of the Rig-Veda,
that highest ether-like (Self) wherein all the gods reside, of what use is
the Rig-Veda to him? Those only who know it, rest contented.
9. That from which the maker (myin 3) sends forth all this--the sacred
verses, the offerings, the sacrifices, the panaceas, the past, the future,
and all that the Vedas declare--in that the other is bound up through
that my.
10. Know then Prakriti (nature) is My (art), and the great Lord the
Myin (maker); the whole world is filled with what are his members.
11. If a man has discerned him, who being one only, rules over every
germ (cause), in whom all this comes together and comes asunder
again, who is the lord, the bestower of blessing, the adorable god, then
he passes for ever into that peace.
12 1. He, the creator and supporter of the gods, Rudra, the great seer,
the lord of all, who saw 2, Hiranyagarbha being born, may he endow us
with good thoughts.
13. He who is the sovereign of the gods, he in whom all the worlds 3
rest, he who rules over all two-footed and four-footed beings, to that
god 4 let us sacrifice an oblation.
14. He who has known him who is more subtile than subtile, in the
midst of chaos, creating all things, having many forms, alone
enveloping everything 5, the happy one (Siva), passes into peace for
ever.
15. He also was in time 1 the guardian of this world, the lord of all,
hidden in all beings. In him the Brahmarshis and the deities are
united 2, and he who knows him cuts the fetters of death asunder.
16. He who knows Siva (the blessed) hidden in all beings, like the
subtile film that rises from out the clarified butter 3, alone enveloping
everything,--he who knows the god, is freed from all fetters.

17. That god, the maker of all things, the great Self 4, always dwelling
in the heart of man, is perceived by the heart, the soul, the mind 5;-they who know it become immortal.
18. When the light has risen 6, there is no day, no night, neither
existence nor non-existence 7; Siva (the blessed) alone is there. That is
the eternal, the adorable light of Savitri 8,--and the ancient wisdom
proceeded thence.
19. No one has grasped him above, or across, or in the middle 9. There
is no image of him whose name is Great Glory.
20. His form cannot be seen, no one perceives him with the eye.
Those 10 who through heart and mind know him thus abiding in the
heart, become immortal.
21. 'Thou art unborn,' with these words some one comes near to thee,
trembling. O Rudra, let thy gracious 1 face protect me for ever!
22 2. O Rudra! hurt us not in our offspring and descendants, hurt us
not in our own lives, nor in our cows, nor in our horses! Do not slay our
men in thy wrath, for, holding oblations, we call on thee always.
FIFTH ADHYYA.
1. In the imperishable and infinite Highest Brahman 1, wherein the two,
knowledge and ignorance, are hidden 2, the one, ignorance,
perishes 3, the other, knowledge, is immortal; but he who controls
both, knowledge and ignorance, is another 4.
2. It is he who, being one only, rules over every germ (cause), over all
forms, and over all germs; it is he who, in the beginning, bears 5 in his
thoughts the wise son, the fiery, whom he wishes to look on 6 while he
is born 7.
3 8. In that field 9 in which the god, after spreading out one net after
another 10 in various ways, draws it together again, the Lord, the great
Self 11, having further created the lords 1, thus carries on his lordship
over all.
4. As the car (of the sun) shines, lighting up all quarters, above, below,
and across, thus does that god, the holy, the adorable, being one, rule
over all that has the nature of a germ 2.
5. He, being one, rules over all and everything, so that the universal

germ ripens its nature, diversifies all natures that can be ripened 3,
and determines all qualities 4.
6 5. Brahma (Hiranyagarbha) knows this, which is hidden in the
Upanishads, which are hidden in the Vedas, as the Brahma-germ. The
ancient gods and poets who knew it, they became it and were
immortal.
7 1. But he who is endowed with qualities, and performs works that are
to bear fruit, and enjoys the reward of whatever he has done, migrates
through his own works, the lord of life, assuming all forms, led by the
three Gunas, and following the three paths 2.
8 3. That lower one also, not larger than a thumb, but brilliant like the
sun, who is endowed with personality and thoughts, with the quality of
mind and the quality of body, is seen small even like the point of a
goad.
9. That living soul is to be known as part of the hundredth part of the
point of a hair 4, divided a hundred times, and yet it is to be infinite.
10. It is not woman, it is not man, nor is it neuter; whatever body it
takes, with that it is joined 5 (only).
11 6. By means of thoughts, touching, seeing, and passions the
incarnate Self assumes successively in various places various forms 1,
in accordance with his deeds, just as the body grows when food and
drink are poured into it.
12. That incarnate Self, according to his own qualities, chooses
(assumes) many shapes, coarse or subtile, and having himself caused
his union with them, he is seen as another and another 2, through the
qualities of his acts, and through the qualities of his body.
13 3. He who knows him who has no beginning and no end, in the
midst of chaos, creating all things, having many forms, alone
enveloping everything, is freed from all fetters.
14. Those who know him who is to be grasped by the mind, who is not
to be called the nest (the body 4), who makes existence and nonexistence, the happy one (Siva), who also creates the elements 1, they
have left the body.
SIXTH ADHYYA.

1 1. Some wise men, deluded, speak of Nature, and others of Time (as
the cause of everything 2); but it is the greatness of God by which this
Brahma-wheel is made to turn.
2. It is at the command of him who always covers this world, the
knower, the time of time 3, who assumes qualities and all
knowledge 4, it is at his command that this work (creation) unfolds
itself, which is called earth, water, fire, air, and ether;
3 5. He who, after he has done that work and rested again, and after
he has brought together one essence (the self) with the other (matter),
with one, two, three, or eight, with time also and with the subtile
qualities of the mind,
4. Who, after starting 6 the works endowed with (the three) qualities,
can order all things, yet when, in the absence of all these, he has
caused the destruction of the work, goes on, being in truth 7 different
(from all he has produced);
5. He is the beginning, producing the causes which unite (the soul with
the body), and, being above the three kinds of time (past, present,
future), he is seen as without parts 1, after we have first worshipped
that adorable god, who has many forms, and who is the true source (of
all things), as dwelling in our own mind.
6. He is beyond all the forms of the tree 2 (of the world) and of time, he
is the other, from whom this world moves round, when 3 one has
known him who brings good and removes evil, the lord of bliss, as
dwelling within the self, the immortal, the support of all.
7. Let us know that highest great lord of lords 1, the highest deity of
deities, the master of masters, the highest above, as god, the lord of
the world, the adorable.
8. There is no effect and no cause known of him, no one is seen like
unto him or better; his high power is revealed as manifold, as inherent,
acting as force and knowledge.
9. There is no master of his in the world, no ruler of his, not even a sign
of him 2. He is the cause, the lord of the lords of the organs 3, and
there is of him neither parent nor lord.
10. That only god who spontaneously covered himself, like a spider,
with threads drawn from the first cause (pradhna), grant us entrance
into Brahman 4.

11. He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the self
within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the
witness, the perceiver 1, the only one, free from qualities.
12 2. He is the one ruler of many who (seem to act, but really do) not
act 3; he makes the one seed manifold. The wise who perceive him
within their self, to them belongs eternal happiness, not to others.
13 4. He is the eternal among eternals, the thinker among thinkers,
who, though one, fulfils the desires of many. He who has known that
cause which is to be apprehended by Skhya (philosophy) and Yoga
(religious discipline), he is freed from all fetters.
14. The 1 sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor
these lightnings, and much less this fire. When he shines, everything
shines after him; by his light all this is lightened.
15. He is the one bird 2 in the midst of the world; he is also (like) the
fire (of the sun) that has set in the ocean. A man who knows him truly,
passes over death 3; there is no other path to go.
16. He makes all, he knows all, the self-caused, the knower 4, the time
of time (destroyer of time), who assumes qualities and knows
everything, the master of nature and of man 5, the lord of the three
qualities (guna), the cause of the bondage, the existence, and the
liberation of the world 6.
17. He who has become that 7, he is the immortal, remaining the lord,
the knower, the ever-present guardian of this world, who rules this
world for ever, for no one else is able to rule it.
18. Seeking for freedom I go for refuge to that God who is the light of
his own thoughts 8, he who first creates Brahman (m.) 1 and delivers
the Vedas to him;
19. Who is without parts, without actions, tranquil, without fault,
without taint 2, the highest bridge to immortality--like a fire that has
consumed its fuel.
20. Only when men shall roll up the sky like a hide, will there be an end
of misery, unless God has first been known 3.
21. Through the power of his penance and through the grace of God 4
has the wise Svetsvatara truly 5 proclaimed Brahman, the highest

and holiest, to the best of ascetics 6, as approved by the company of

Rishis.
22. This highest mystery in the Vednta, delivered in a former age,
should not be given to one whose passions have not been subdued,
nor to one who is not a son, or who is not a pupil 1.
23. If these truths have been told to a high-minded man, who feels the
highest devotion for God, and for his Guru as for God, then they will
shine forth,--then they will shine forth indeed.