Verse 2No night, no day

न मृत्युरासीदमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः ।

आनीदवातं स्वधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन्न परः किञ्चनास ॥

na mṛtyur āsīd amṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsīt praketaḥ |

ānīd avātaṃ svadhayā tad ekaṃ tasmād dhānyan na paraḥ kiṃ canāsa ||

Meaning

There was neither death nor immortality then. There was no sign of night or day. That One breathed, windless, by its own power. Other than that there was nothing at all.

Word by word

Words joined in recitation are shown split. Where sounds change at the joins, the dictionary form is given under the word.

Reflection

Now time itself is removed. There is no death and no deathlessness, and nothing to tell night from day. Without difference, light from dark, this from that, there is nothing to know at all. Yet here comes the hymn's first positive statement: that One breathed, without wind, by its own power. Breath is prāṇa, the sign of life, and it points to ātman, the Self. So the beginning is not inert matter. It is alive, and nothing outside it sets it moving.

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