Nāsadīya Sūkta - Swami Krishnananda

1 N sad ya S kta This is the famous n sad ya s kta the 129th suukta of the 10th mandala of the Rigveda. n sad s n no sad s t tad n n s d rajo no vyom paro yat | kim var va kuha kasya armann ambha kim s d gahana gabh ram || 1 || Then even nothingness was not, nor existence, There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it. What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed? na m tyur s d am ta na tarhi na r try ahna s t praketa | n d av ta svadhay tad eka tasm d dh nyan na para ki can sa || 2 || Then there was neither death nor immortality Nor was there then the torch of night and day.

2 The One breathed windlessly and self-sustaining. There was that One then, and there was no other. tama s t tamas g l ham agre 'praketa salila sarvam idam | tucchyen bhv apihita yad s t tapasas tan mahin j yataikam || 3 || At first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness. All this was only unillumined water. That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing, arose at last, born of the power of heat. k mas tad agre sam avartat dhi manaso reta prathama yad s t | sato bandhum asati nir avindan h di prat y kavayo man || 4 || In the beginning desire descended on it. That was the primal seed, born of the mind.

3 The sages who have searched their hearts with wisdom know that which is kin to that which is not. tira c no vitato ra mir e m adha svid s d upari svid s t | retodh san mahim na san svadh avast t prayati parast t || 5 || And they have stretched their cord across the void, and know what was above, and what below. Seminal powers made fertile mighty forces. Below was strength, and over it was impulse. ko addh veda ka iha pra vocat kuta j t kuta iya vis i | arv g dev asya visarjanen th ko veda yata bab || 6 || But, after all, who knows, and who can say Whence it all came, and how creation happened? The gods themselves are later than creation, so who knows truly whence it has arisen?

4 Iya vis ir yata babh va yadi v dadhe yadi v na | yo asy dhyak a parame vyoman so a ga veda yadi v na veda || 7 || Whence all creation had its origin, he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not, he, who surveys it all from highest heaven, he knows - or maybe even he does not know.