Unit -2

Explanation:-hymn of creation

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!