At first
there was neither being nor non-being.
There was not air,
not yet sky beyond.
What was its wrapping?
On whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable and deep?
Oh! there was no death back then
Nor yet deathlessness
Of night or day, there was no sign yet
The One breathed without breathe,
by its own impulse
Other than that all
was nothing at all.
Darkness was there,
all wrapped around by darkness
And all was water, indiscriminate
And that which was hidden,
hidden by the void
That One emerging stirring
through Tapa came to be.
So, in the beginning that love arose
Which was the primal germ cell
from which Mind took force.
The Seers,
Searching in their hearts with wisdom
Discovered,
Connection of Being, in that Non-Being.
Bearers of seed they were
and mighty forces
thrust from below
and forward move above
Even the Gods came after Its emergence
So who can tell from where it came to be
he who surveys it in the highest
he probably knows,
Or maybe he doesn't...
Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it?
From where it was born, from where came it to be?
The host of the Gods,
know not of my birth
not the great seers on earth
for they all come from me all
He who knows that I am,
beginningless and unborn,
the Lord of world,
is free from dillusionals
The world is the wheel of God
turning round and round
with all the living creatures,
upon its rim
The world is river of God
flowing from Him
flowing from Him
and flowing back unto Him.
Conscious spirit and matter unconscious
both have existed since the dawn of time
with Maya appearing to connect them both
misinterpreting Joy as outside of us.
Know Him to be enshrined inside your heart forever
Truly, there is nothing more in life to know much better
(Excerpts from 'The Treasury Of Indian Wisdom', Karan Singh)
