The Song of Creation from the Rigveda

The Song of Creation from the Rigveda (over 3,000 years old)

At first there was neither Being nor Non-being,

No kingdom of air, no sky beyond it.

Who straddled what, and where? Who gave shelter?

Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?

There was no death then, nor immortality,

No sign of stirring, no curtain of day or night.

Only one thing, Breath, breathed, breathing without breath

Nothing else, nothing whatsoever.

Also, there was Darkness, darkness within darkness,

The darkness of undiscriminated chaos

Whatever existed then was void and formless,

Then came the stirring of warmth, giving shape…

Then rose Desire, primal Desire,

The primal seed, the germ of Spirit.

The searching Sages looked in their hearts, and knew:

Being was a manner of non-Being.

And a line cut Being from non-Being transversely:

What was above it, and what below it?

Only might makers, mighty forces,

Action flowing freely and a fund of energy