NASADIYA SUKTAM

NASADIYA SUKTAM.

I have used the method learned from my Sanskrit school and college classes in finding the meanings of the hymns. The hymns are poetry and the words are placed for their rhyme. They are to be placed in proper prose order i.e. Anvayam in Sanskrit. Then the meaning of those words i.e. Artham. This allows to come to their summing i.e. Saram. The result follows:-

nasadasinno sadasittadanim |

nasidrajo no vyoma paro yat |
kimavarivah kuhakasya sharmann |

ambhah kimasid gahanam gabhiram \\1||

thadanim=at the (long past) time;

asad na aasid=non-being (nothing) was not (there)

sad na aasid=being (something) was not there.

raja: na aasid=dust (earth) was not (there)

vyoma: na (aasid)=sky (heaven) (was) not

paraschid=beyond.

avariva: kim?=what is shrouded?

Sharman kuhakasya?=on whose behalf?

Gahanam gabhiram ambha: aasid kim?=was it deep all pervading waters?

In the long past time, there was no nothing nor something was there. There was nothing of earth or any heaven beyond. In whose behalf, all things shrouded? Was it then in deep all pervasive waters (that no one knows)? 1.

  

na mrutyurasidamrutam na tarhi |

na ratrya ahna asit praketah |
anidavatam svadhaya tadekam | tasmaddhanyannaparah ki~jchanasa || 2 ||

mrithyu: na aasid=no death was there.

tharhi amritam na (aasid)=however, deathlessness was also not there.

praketa:=separated

ratria na=no nights

ahna na aasid=days were not.

tadekam swadhaya=that one on its own

aanidavad=breathing.

tasmad anya:=no other than that

kincha apara: na aasa=anything else was not (there)

There was no death or life; no separate days and nights. On its own it was breathing. There was nothing else than the one (breathing). 2.

tama asittamasa guhlamagre praketam | salilam sarvamaidam |
tuchchenabhvapihitam yadasit | tamasastanmahina jayataikam || 3 ||

agre=in front

tamasa gudham=shrouded in darkness,

praketam tama: aasid=was separated darkness.

Idam sarvam salilam aa=all were waters?

yad tama: thuchena ambhahpihitam aasid=the darkness that was enveloped with little water;

tanmahimanat ekam jayata=it became one on its own power.

That darkness was shrouded in darkness but were all waters? It was separated with little water enveloping it and it became one on its own power. 3.

kamastadagre samavartatadhi |

manaso retah prathamam yadasit |
sato bandhumasati niravindanna |

hrudi pratishya kavayo manisha || 4 ||

tadagre kama: samavartata adhi=desire cameforth to it.

yad manasa: pradhamam reta: aasid=that was the first (appearance of) mental seed.

manisha: kavaya: hridi pratishya=learned sages searched (their) hearts;

sata: asadi bandhum niravadan=(they found the) relation of being and nonbeing.

First desire came that raised its mental seed. (reta: also mean energy or semen that is capable of impregnation/creation.) Learned seers through their deep contemplation found the relation being to nonbeing. 4.

tirashchino vitato rashmireshamadhah | svidasi duparisvidasi |
retodha asan mahiman asanna |

svadho avastat prayatih parastat || 5 ||

esham rasmi: tiraschina: vitata:=the rays/light spread out around,

adhasvid aasid=from down was it,

uparasvid aasid=far above was it.

mahimana: retodha: aasan=forceful energizers were there,

svadho avastad=from the given situation

parastat pratati:=movement forward.

Light spread out around, was it from down under and also far from above?

Might be there were forceful energizers to move forward in the given situation. 5.

ko addha veda ka iha pravochat |

kut ajata kut iyam visrushtih |
arvagdeva asya visarjanaya |

atha ko veda yata ababhuva || 6 ||

ko adha veda?=who had the knowledge?

iha ka: pravochad= who spelled it here?

kuta ajata:=where from (it) appeared?

iyam visrishti: kuta:=what for this creation?

deva: asya visarjaya arvag=gods came later than that creation;

adha ka: veda? then who knew?

yata aababhuva? from where it happened?

Who had the knowledge and who spelled it?

Where from it appeared and for what? Gods will not know since they came later. So who knew that where it happened? 6.

iyam visrushtiryata ababhuva |

yadi va dadhe yadi va na |
yo asyadhyakshah parame vyomann |

so amga veda yadi va na veda || 7 ||

yata: iyan visrishti: ababhuva?=from where creation came forth?

yadi va dadhe, yadi va na (dadhe)=does it sustain or not sustained?

yo asya adhyaksha:=who was presiding over it,

parame vyoman=(from) top of heaven;

sa: anga veda=he might well know?

va yadi na veda=or (even he) might not know?

From where the creation came forth and how it is sustained or was it not sustained?

The one presiding over from high heavens well might know or even he may not know? (Since there is no evidence of any thing.) 7.

In the long past time, there was no nothing nor something. There was nothing of earth or any heaven beyond. In whose behalf, all things shrouded? Was it then in deep all pervasive waters (that no one knows)?

There was no death or life; no separate days and nights. On its own it was breathing. There was nothing else than the one (breathing).

That darkness was shrouded in darkness but was these all waters? It was separated with little water enveloping it and it became one on its own power.

First desire came that raised its mental seed. (reta: also mean energy or semen that is capable of impregnation/creation.) Learned seers through their deep contemplation found the relation being to nonbeing.

Light spread out around, was it from down under and also far from above?

Might be there were forceful energizers to move forward in the given situation?

Who had the knowledge and who spelled it? Where from it appeared and for what? Gods will not know since they came later. So who knew that where it happened?

From where the creation came forth and how it is sustained or was it not sustained?

The one presiding over from high heaven well might know or even he may not know?

There are some words in the text that seek some probing. They are “aasid”, “yada”, “yadi”, “kama” and “reta:”. In sanskrit the words are considered significant in their meanings. The words “aasid” is affirmative but when used in combination with “yada” and “yadi” they mean questionings.

One might find the context of these words in text. They show speculations that are contradictory, imaginations and questions specifying skepticism on the part of the Rishi, on the subjects mentioned. His imagination follows experience of life here. He finds some human traits in the primordial one. Death cannot create anything; only living and breathing one could do it. So also is desire. “kama” in Sanskrit is not just desire but sexual appetite and “reta:” also means ‘semen’. The Rishi attributes these to the one breathing to explain this act of creation. At the end the Rishi re-asserts his skeptical views by the questioning the one presiding in the high heaven.

K.N.Krishnan.

Feb.2011.