In the last article we have gonethrough the fine elements of approaching nāsadīya sūkta and we touche dupon the first stanza. In the present article let us proceed further.
na = Not; mṛtyur = Death; āsīd = existeth; amṛtaṃ = un-death; na = not; tarhi = at that time; na = not; rātrayā = Night; ahna = Daytime; āsīt = existeth; prakētaḥ = sight; ānīd = To breath; avātṃ = No wind; svadhayā = Selfsustained; tadēkaṃ = That/It alone; tasmād = therefore; dhā = existing (wearing); anyan = other than that/it; na = No ; paraḥ = Beyond; kiṃ = What; ca = and; nĀsa = not seated!
Neither death nor life existeth nor night nor day light, at that moment. That alone breathed windless, having self sustaining capabilty. Therefore, what else existed beyond and above? (meaning nothing else was there beyond “THAT”).
Just to recap a bit, what was “The Moment” that is being spoken? It was the moment of birth of creation. So, the moment when the ONE apparently seperates as many, by the unfathomable layer of illusion. Now, What are the characteristics of this moment? 1st stanza described that this moment, being moment of creation, is still ONE and hence no dual exists to it. DO you know when in an egg, a chick is formed out of the soft matter? We do not. But before the formation and after the formation, being a continuous process, there must be a MOMENT when the seemingly life-less matter turns into LIFE of chick. This moment, when enlarged to creation being created from the deep abyss, is nothing but poetically expressed Nāsadīya.
Important terms to be first understoor:
With these concepts in backgroung of the intuitive mind, we can explore the hymn in its magnified glory. It seems that at the moment of creation, the moment just before hatching of the Egg of cosmos (brahmāṇḍa), there was no life or death. Infact that line meant there was no manifestation of the principle of “RITAM” (because RITAM = AMRITAM + MRITAM combined) i.e, the cycles have not yet begun. It seems that to see what is going on there, neither there is day nor night (i.e., neither sunlight nor starlight). That means, there is nothing awaken nor asleep to affirmatively suggest, for, there was no dual to the ONE.
Now comes an interesting part – “Ānīd+avātaṃ” i.e, the One is breating without air. Many are confused at this line. If no one else is existing and nothing else is existing, why say a trivial thing that “thereis no air” and how come the ONE “breathes” at all and that too with no air? This is a crucial line of this stanza-2. Avātaṃ is wrongly translated as “not air/not wind”. Actually, remove air from the wind, what exists? Remove water from waves, what exists? The oscillatory principle of air/water molecules exists. On this principle, when the physical air molecules superimpose, they too osscilate. So “Avātaṃ” means that which remains when you remove the vātaṃ/wind – The PULSATION. Infact, pulsation is called “Spandana” in Sanskrit and according to “Spanda Kārikās” of Śaivism, SPANDANA or the first pulsation is the primary cause of creation.
Now, the moment of consideration is not a dormant slumber (praḷaya) but the fine moments just before creation. So, if it were Praḷaya (dissolution), there would be nothing to describe as nothing exists except the ONE. But just before the creation, something emerges from nothing. It seems that something is not nothingness nor somthingness nor rajas nor waters nor awakeneing of consciousness nor its dormant sleep ….. etc., but it is PULSATION. So, this pulsation starts in the ONE-THAT which is ever existing. This pulsation causes the first stir of RAJAS which we spoke in stanza-1. That stur causes all the rest of dualities that are being mentioned to manifest. Even the tiniest of the atom vobrates (rajō guṇa) due to this first PULSATION that continues to exist in creation as eternal LAW DHARMA, and so does a new born baby in the form of a periodical CRY. So it is said that “THAT is breathing without wind” symbolically.
Because these pulsations occurs “in IT” rather than “by it”, the IT is called as “SWADHĀ” – self sustaining. Generally swadha means food offered for the pitṛ dēvās in death rituals. The food that we offer for reproductory angels in actuality is nothing but the progeny or the BODIES. Hence swadha means a body. So, the IT that we are speaking of, has these PULSATIONS as its body at the time of creation. These pulsations express as the whirl of rajas and thereby the movements of waters of life (stanza-1). All this happens “in” the body of IT which is the ONE (Ēkaṃ). That is the true meaning. But the moment is before creation and hence, nothing as such yet manifested, except for the birth of pulsations in IT (as the waves in ocean or thoughts in our mind).
At last it is being said that “There is nothing dual to it” which is easy to grasp once everything studeid above is understood properly. And hence, the rhetorical question as to “What else exists beyond this?” was asked- meaning nothing else exists beyond IT, as this alone is the starting point of creation.
PhD (Quantum Physics), M.Sc. (IIT Madras), B.Tech. (LNMIIT).
Bridging the depths of Science and the wisdom of the Vedas
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