There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
What stirred?
Where?
In whose protection?
Was there water, bottlemlessly deep?
There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day.
That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse.
Other than that there was nothing beyond.
Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning,
with no distinguishing sign, all this was water.
The life force that was covered with emptiness,
that One arose through the power of heat.
Desire came upon that One in the beginning,
that was the first seed of mind.
Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom
found the bond of existence and non-existence.
Their cord was extended across.
Was there below?
Was there above?
There were seed-placers, there were powers.
There was impulse beneath, there was giving forth above.
Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced?
Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen
– perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not –
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps even He does not know.
Translation by Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty. From the Book “The Rig Veda – Anthology”
Isn’t it Ironic that we read the translation of our own work by foreigner!
Good work!
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Fabulous post
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Thanks
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Nice
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Well compiled and a lot to learn from these beautiful lines. Great piece of work, Debashree!
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When I was young I enjoyed O’Flaherty’s “Siva: The Erotic Ascetic” and to a lesser extent, her book on “Evil in Hindu Mythology.” But overall, I find her too “structural” in her analyses. Perhaps she does a better job of just translating. I think I own this book too, somewhere in my bookshelves… but The Veda doesn’t really do it for me anymore. Not to offend any traditional Hindus. It’s just *my* truth.
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What ?
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Cord of “existence and non existence” …. Deep. Just like the manifested reality and the ocean of probabilities. I love the depth and expanse of this. Thanks for posting.
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Welcome ππ
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thanks for sharing…
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Welcome ππ
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Hindu mystical thought has always seemed to me to be well thought through and I found this excerpt compelling.
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