Episode 01 - Nasadiya Suktham.

NAASADIYA SOOKTHAM

(To be split as Na –sat (nonexistence)- iya sUktham)

nAsa̍dAsī̱nnO  sadā̍sītta̱dAnī̱m nAsī̱drajo̱ no vyo̍mA pa̱rO yat |

kimAva̍rīva̱ḥ kuha̱ kasya̱śarma̱nnambha̱ḥ kimAsī̱dgaha̍naṁ gabhIram ||1||

 Neither existence nor non-existence was there:

There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it. What covered it? Where was it? In whose protection? Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed?

na mṛ̱tyurAsIda̱mṛta̱ṁ na tarhi̱ na rAtryA ahna̍ AsItprake̱taḥ |Anī̍davAtaṁ sva̱dhayA tadEkaṁ̱ tasmAddhAnyanna pa̱raḥ kiñca̱nAsa̍ ||2|

Then there was neither death nor immortality nor was there night and day.But for that Breathless One breathing on Its Own.There was nothing else, surely nothing.

tamA AasIttama̍sA gū̱ḻhamagrE’prakEtaṁ sa̍li̱laṁ sarva̍mA  i̱daṁ |tu̱cchyenAbhvapi̍hitaṁ̱ yadAsIttapa̍sa̱stanma̍hi̱n ajAya̱taika̍ṁ || 3 ||

It was darkness concealed in darkness:. All this was only unillumined water. That One, which came to be, enclosed in nothing, arose at last, out of Its own intent. 

kAma̱stadagre̱ sama̍varta̱tādhi̱ mana̍sO rEta̍ḥ pratha̱mam  yadAsī̍t |sa̱to bandhu̱masa̍ti̱ nira̍vindan hṛ̱di pra̱tIṣyA ka̱vayO manIṣā ||4||

On the Cosmic Mind all pervading desire descended that was the primal seed, born of that Mind. The sages who have searched their hearts with wisdom know the kinship between what “that is” and what “that is not”.

ti̱ra̱ścInO vita̍tO ra̱śmirEṣAma̱dhaḥ svi̍dAsī  du̱pari̍ svidAsī re̱tOdhA Aa̍sanmahi̱mAna̍ Aasantsva̱dhA AvastAtpraya̍tiḥ pa̱rastAt  

And they have stretched a grid of cord criss-cross lines across the void and know what was above, and what below. Seminal powers made fertile mighty forces - Micro forces within and Macro forces out above.

ko a̱ddhA vEda̱ ka i̱ha pra voOca̱tkuta̱ AjAtA kuta̍ i̱yaṁ visṛ̍ṣhṭiḥ |a̱rvAgdEvA  a̱Sya vi̱Sarja̍ne̱nAthA  ko vEda̱ yata̍ Aba̱bhUva̍ ||6 ||

But, after all, who knows, and who can say whence it all came, and how creation happened? Were’nt the gods themselves later than creation? so who knows truly whence it has arisen?

i̱yaṁ visṛ̍ṣṭIryata̍ Aba̱bhUva̱ yadi̍vA da̱dhE yadi̍ vA na |yO a̱syA dhya̍kṣhaḥ para̱mE vyOma̱ntso a̱ṅga vEda̱ yadi̍ vA na vEda̍ || 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 may be even He does not know.

Modern cosmology tells us that the universe started with a ‘Big Bang’. Let us compare these verses with the statements of the Big Bang theory and assess the scientific approach found extensively dispersed in the Vedas and Upanishads. 

The free translation does not obviously do adequate justice to the poetic beauty of the original. If you know sanskrit reasonably well, you would admit that fact.  In just seven verses, we find ourselves in the ‘no time, no space’ mode, gradually reaching the center of deep darkness, surrounded by smooth, unending plasma. And lo! Out of shapeless nothing, matter with shape emerges. The whole description is picturesque.  

Please dwell on this for some pleasurable moments. Then try and assimilate them in your mind. And, if you could, address yourself the question, what was there, before anything could be termed as "was".

Let us make a brief foray into the hiraNyagarbha sUktha only for the close affinity its theme has to that discussed in the Naasadiya Sooktha. We would not go through the whole sooktha, though brief, as the purpose is to underline the similarity: