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The Nasadiya Sukta
1a The non-existent did not exist, nor did the existent exist at that time.
There existed neither the midspace nor the heaven beyond.
b What stirred? From where and in whose protection?
Did water exist, a deep depth?
2a Death did not exist nor deathlessness then.
There existed no sign of night nor of day.
b That one breathed without wind through its inherent force.
There existed nothing else beyond that.
3a Darkness existed, hidden by darkness, in the beginning.
All this was a signless ocean.
b When the thing coming into being was concealed by
emptiness, then was the one born by the power of heat.
4a Then, in the beginning, from thought there developed desire,
which existed as the primal semen.
b Searching in their hearts through inspired thinking,
poets found the connection of the existent in the non-existent.
5a Their cord was stretched across.
Did something exist below it? Did something exist above?
b There were placers of semen and there were powers.
There was inherent force below, offering above.
6a Who really knows? Who shall here proclaim it?—
from where was it born, from where this creation?
b The gods are on this side of the creation of this world.
So then, who does know from where it came to be?
7a This creation—from where it came to
be, if it was produced or if not—
b he who is the overseer of this world in the highest heaven,
he surely knows. Or if he does not know…? (Brereton 250-258)
Part of ancient Hindu Vedas...
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