So where will your Journey of Discovering India begin

So where will your Journey of Discovering India begin ? The Beginning

obviously. And what would be an appropriate Beginning ?

Gautam Mukerjee

The Creation Hymn from the Rig Veda will be our subject of discussion this

Vice Chairman, President

month. It is the beginning of all beginnings and confirmed as that by the

The India Foundation

astrophysicist Carl Sagan in his Origin of the Universe episode from the

Emmy award winning series the COSMOS. In Sagan's words it is the closest

philosophy Man has had on the origin of the Universe in line with today's

Quantum Field Theories of Physics.

The Rig Veda was composed by Poet - Philosophers around 1500

BC. It has over a thousand hymns. There are more questions than

answers. There are puzzles, some like Japanese Koans. Most are

obscure, opaque, convoluted but sometimes crystal clear and

shining through to the readers consciousness with so much power

that you feel truly enlightened.

My favourite is the Creation Hymn, probably the most intellectually subtle

piece of non-logic from Mankind's philosophical past.

There are many translations but I love Prof. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty's the

best. She trained as a dancer with Martha Graham, took up Sanskrit at Radcliff,

going onto doctoral degrees in Indian literature from Harvard and Oxford. She

is the Mircea Eliade Professor of the History of Religions at the University of

Chicago.

This is her wonderful translation :

CREATION HYMN

(Nasadiya)..

There was neither non-existence nor existence then; there was neither
the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond. What stirred ? Where ?
In whose protection ? Was there water, bottomlessly 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.

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Desire came upon that one in the beginning; that was the first seed of the mind.
Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom found the bond of the existence
in 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 he does not know.

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		Read it at least thrice before moving on and I'm sure you'll begin to taste
		the beautiful flavor of the intellectual duel inherent in the hymn.

		It would be best to wrestle this one with your Mind but let me sow some seeds
		for your debate to take shape.

		Why specify that there was neither non-existence nor existence then ? The
		linear world of western philosophy would have left it at saying no existence.
		It is the complex, a step further world of Indian philosophy that says
		no non-existence either. Because to accept the negative is to allude to a
		positive indirectly. This is logic at its subtle best, isn't it ?

		So what is the prime mover of consciousness ? It is Desire. Desire creates
		the Will to know, to understand, to live consciously. (Read the detailed
		background note I've provided from Dr. S. Radhakrishnan's Oxford Lectures
		on Hindu philosophy. The Creation Hymn portion is great for those of you
		who want to delve deeper).

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Two roads to infinity.

		The third interesting question posed by this lovely Hymn is on the status of
		the Creator. The classic chicken and egg syndrome. Who came first. The
		Creator or the Universe ?

		The palpably vibrant query - who created the Creator ? How did he come
		to exist ? And the truest answer - WHO KNOWS ? Its really perfect in every
		logical sense. The acceptance of a Creator. The mystery of his origin.
		Leaving the question hanging without trying to provide a glib answer.

		The background philosophy of admitting that it is impossible to define
		the infinite (the source of Creation) by the finite, i.e. our very, very limited
		understanding of that infinite. Because once you define the infinite, it is
		no longer the infinite and that is just not possible. So pose the question
		but do not venture forth to answer it.

		Very, very clever.

		So how does it feel sharing 3500 year old thoughts of Scribes conjecturing on
		Creation ?

		Absolutely amazing I'd say. And if you want a more serious input; look up the
		background reading on the Introduction. That should provide a real intellectual
		high !
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		We have a wide spectrum of subjects covering the many wonderful faces
		of India. Each one will reveal beautiful secrets that will build her personality
		brick by brick for you.
		cvbcvbcvbcvbcvbcvbcvb
		Bon Voyage and see you next month. Same time. Same place.

hfghf Ta,ghfghfghfg


		Love

		Gautam
		f

The Universe as an unexpected gift. Watercolor by Greg Mort.

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