The Nāsadīya Sūkta: An Inquiry Before Time and Space Beyond Existence

The Nāsadīya Sūkta, in its luminous ambiguity, carries us to the threshold of existence itself, inviting us into the profound silence that preceded creation, where neither being nor non-being had form, and even the gods had not yet emerged. It is a hymn that does not comfort with answers but stirs the courage to question the origin of all things, the nature of reality, and the essence of consciousness itself.

In Vedānta, it reflects the unmanifest Brahman beyond duality; in the Brahma Sūtras, it echoes the eternal source that is neither born nor perishes; in the Gita, it resonates with the mystery of the unseen, the infinite play of Prakṛti and Purusha; in Tantra, it is the womb of Śakti, the unfathomable Kāma-Kalā, pregnant with potential; in Yoga, it is the silent ocean of causal awareness where even the distinctions of “existence” and “non-existence” dissolve.

The hymn reminds us that the spiritual path is not merely about answers but about holding space for wonder, curiosity, and reverent uncertainty. Life, like the cosmos, often presents moments of suspension, of not-knowing, where the mind seeks resolution, yet the soul is beckoned to dwell in the sacred question itself. In embracing this, we cultivate humility, insight, and the deep inner freedom that comes from seeing the universe—and ourselves—as an eternal mystery unfolding, beyond comprehension, yet intimately alive within us.

Nāsadīya Sūkta (Ṛgveda 10.129)

This is an extremely profound and philosophical hymn of the Ṛgveda, also called the Sṛṣṭi Sūkta (Hymn of Creation). It raises questions about the origin of creation, existence and non-existence, and the ultimate mystery. This hymn is traditionally associated with the sage Parameṣṭhi Prajāpati.

नासदीय सूक्त (ऋग्वेद 10.129)

नासद् आसीन् नो सद् आसीत् तदानीं नासीद् रजो नो व्योमा परो यत्।
किम् आवरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्न् अम्भः किम् आसीद् गहनं गभीरम्॥Ṛgveda 10.129.1॥

nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomā paro yat |
kim āvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarman ambhaḥ kim āsīd gahanaṃ gabhīram ||

Then, there was neither non-existence nor existence. At that time, there was no realm of space, nor the sky beyond. What covered it? Where was it? Under whose protection? Was there water, deep and unfathomable?

In this first verse of the Nā́sadiya Sūkta, we confront the mystery of the absolute beginning.

• The verse speaks of primal stillness, the state before dualities—before existence and non-existence emerged. In meditation, this corresponds to the inner experience of the void (śūnya) beyond mind and concepts.

• “Neither existence nor non-existence” points to the state beyond duality, the unmanifest consciousness, the primal awareness untouched by creation or form. This is the subtle state accessed through deep pranayama and dhyāna, where we sense the “I am” prior to any thought or object.

• The questions—“What enveloped what? Where? Who sheltered it?”—are not meant to be answered intellectually. They are pointers to inner inquiry, to realize that the source of all is self-aware yet indefinable. The mind cannot grasp it, but through inner stillness, breath awareness, and yogic insight, we sense its presence.

• “Deep, unfathomable water” symbolizes the boundless potentiality of consciousness, the ocean of Shakti before form, before manifestation. The practitioner is guided to feel this depth in their subtle body, experiencing the vast silent space where creation begins.

This verse is an instruction: return in meditation to the state before thought, before the duality of “I am” and “I am not.” Just as the universe was once unmanifest, so too the Self is beyond mental constructions. By suspending identification with body, breath, and thought, we taste the “gahanaṃ gabhīram” — the unfathomable depth. The practice is not about answering “what was,” but entering the silence where such questions dissolve.

In practice: This verse invites us to rest in the unmanifest, cultivating awareness that observes without labeling, experiencing the primordial stillness from which all life and thought arise. It is a reminder that true wisdom begins in mystery, not in certainty.

न मृत्युर् आसीद् अमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत् प्रकेतः।
आनीद् अवातं स्वधया तद् एकं तस्माद् धान्यन् न परः किं चनास॥Ṛgveda 10.129.2॥

na mṛtyur āsīd amṛtaṃ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsīt praketaḥ |
ānīd avātaṃ svadhayā tad ekaṃ tasmād dhānyan na paraḥ kiṃ canāsa ||

There was no death, nor immortality then. There was no sign of night or day. That One breathed, windless, by Its own power. Apart from That, there was nothing else whatsoever.

For one walking the inner path, this verse speaks directly to the state of deep meditation beyond dualities.

• “No death, nor immortality” – In the inner stillness, the opposites vanish. The yogi does not experience mortality or eternity as concepts; both dissolve into a silence where the question does not even arise.

• “No night, no day” – This is the transcendence of time. As prāṇa withdraws from the external senses, the alternating movements of waking, sleeping, and dreaming lose their hold. The rhythm of time collapses into timeless presence.

• “That One breathed, windless, by Its own power” – Here lies the heart of yogic experience. The Upaniṣads say: prāṇasya prāṇaḥ — the breath of breath. When external breath becomes still, what remains is an inner pulsation, self-sustained, not dependent on air or lungs. It is the subtle life-force, moving without wind, known only in inner absorption. This is the witness of all breaths, the source of prāṇa.

• “Apart from That, there was nothing else whatsoever” – The yogi realizes that when all thoughts, movements, and categories fall away, what remains is That One alone. It is not experienced as an object, but as the very ground of awareness. In that state, nothing else stands apart, nothing else exists independently.

तम आसीत् तमसा गूऌहम् अग्रे ऽप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वम् आ इदम्।
तुच्छ्येनाभ्व् अपिहितं यद् आसीत् तपसस् तन् महिनाजायतैकम्॥Ṛgveda 10.129.3॥

tama āsīt tamasā gūḷham agre ’praketaṃ salilaṃ sarvam ā idam |
tucchyenābhv apihitaṃ yad āsīt tapasas tan mahinājāyataikam ||

Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning. All this was an unmanifest ocean, without distinctive sign. Covered by emptiness, that One came to be, through the great power of heat (tapas).

This verse describes the moment of inner stillness before the dawn of realization.

• “Darkness hidden by darkness” – this is the state of deep meditation where mind and senses have withdrawn, and even subtle awareness seems veiled. There is no external perception and no inner light yet revealed. For the yogi, this corresponds to the pratyāhāra stage, when awareness is turned inward, but the clarity of Self is not yet unveiled.

• “Unmanifest ocean, without distinctive sign” – here, consciousness is like an ocean before waves arise. The mind has not projected names, forms, or categories. The yogi experiences a vast stillness, undifferentiated and signless, where even the sense of “I am meditating” dissolves.

• “Covered by emptiness” – this is the void-like experience many yogis encounter: a sense of nothingness, a blank vastness. The ego feels it as a kind of emptiness, but it is in truth the womb of awakening.

• “Through tapas, the One arose” – from the depth of silence, through the power of inner heat, of concentrated energy, awareness awakens into its true nature. Tapas here is not outer austerity but the inner fire generated by prāṇa disciplined through Kriya. When breath is refined and prāṇa flows upward through suṣumṇā, this tapas awakens the One, the realization of pure consciousness.

So, this verse maps the transition from deep inner void to the arising of direct Self-awareness. It tells us: do not fear the darkness or emptiness you encounter in meditation. Sit steady. The fire of tapas will reveal the One Reality hidden within it.

कामस् तद् अग्रे सम् अवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः प्रथमं यद् आसीत्।
सतो बन्धुम् असति निर् अविन्दन् हृदि प्रतीष्या कवयो मनीषा॥Ṛgveda 10.129.4॥

kāmas tad agre sam avartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṃ yad āsīt |
sato bandhum asati nir avindan hṛdi pratīṣyā kavayo manīṣā ||

In the beginning, desire (kāma) arose, the primal seed of mind. The seers, searching with wisdom in their hearts, found the link between existence (sat) and non-existence (asat).

This verse points to the subtle movement that gives rise to creation—kāma, not in the ordinary sense of lust, but as the primordial urge, the will-to-be, the pulse of manifestation. In the stillness before creation, there arises a vibration, a first stirring, like the movement of prāṇa in deep meditation.

This is an inner reality. In the depth of practice, when the breath slows and mind grows silent, one may sense a subtle current—the icchā-śakti, the seed of thought itself. That is kāma here: the very first ripple in the ocean of stillness.

The ṛṣis say this was the “first seed of mind.” In Kriyā, we experience the same: before any thought arises, there is a subtle energetic impulse, almost like a current flowing in the inner space of the heart-mind. If we are still enough, we can notice this “first arising.”

The seers did not stop at the impulse. They searched deeper. In the silence of the heart, through tapas and meditation, they discovered the hidden connection—how sat (manifested being) is linked to asat (the unmanifest). That bridge is experienced in samādhi: the yogi rests at the junction where thought has not yet become form, but is no longer unmanifest.

So, this verse becomes a map:

• Sit in stillness.
• Watch the subtle stirrings in the heart-mind.
• Trace desire back to its root.
• There, between sat and asat, lies the luminous awareness, beyond all dualities.

This is why Kriyā is not suppression of desire, but its transcendence. We don’t fight the current; we ride it back to its source, the silence beyond sat and asat.

तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिर् एषाम् अधः स्विद् आसी३द् उपरि स्विद् आसी३त्।
रेतोधा आसन् महिमान आसन् स्वधा अवस्तात् प्रयतिः परस्तात्॥Ṛgveda 10.129.5॥

Tiraścīno vitato raśmir eṣām adhaḥ svid āsīd upari svid āsīt.
Retodhā āsan mahimān āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt.

The rays of the sun spread in all directions; below them was the fluid, and above them was the fluid.
From the waters came the seeds; there was the greatness of the waters. Svadhā (the nourishing principle) stood in front, and Prayatiḥ (the striving force, or life energy) stood behind.

Here, the verse maps the cosmic process of creation to the inner process of subtle energy awakening.

1. Tirashchīno vitato raśmir – The rays stretching in all directions are like the expansion of awareness in meditation. Consciousness radiates outward but remains anchored in its origin. This mirrors the movement of prāṇa along the subtle channels, reaching all aspects of the mind and body.

2. Adhaḥ svid āsīd, upari svid āsīt – The fluid below and above symbolizes the subtle energy (bindu) surrounding the practitioner, representing the etheric field, or akasha. In practice, this is the experience of microcosm and macrocosm merging: the yogi feels energy both within and beyond.

3. Retodhā āsan – ‘Seeds’ emerging from the waters point to the potential for creation within. This is the awakening of latent spiritual potential, where each breath and awareness sows the seed of higher consciousness.

4. Mahimān āsan – The greatness of the waters reflects the vast potential of pure awareness. Meditatively, this is the experience of spaciousness and inner depth, the field in which energy moves freely.

5. Svadhā avastāt, Prayatiḥ parastāt – Svadhā, nourishing principle, is the inner support and self-sustaining force; Prayatiḥ, the striving energy, is the movement or effort of consciousness to manifest or evolve. This shows the balance of receptivity and action, surrender and effort, within the inner journey.

This verse is describing the subtle anatomy of creation and consciousness. Just as the cosmic waters give rise to seeds, in meditation, the mind and prāṇa give rise to insight and awakening. Svadhā (nourishment) stabilizes us internally, while Prayatiḥ (the striving force) moves us forward. Recognizing this duality—support and effort, stillness and movement—is central to Kriya Yoga and Self-Realization.

को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत् कुत आजाता कुत इयं विसृष्टिः।
अर्वाग् देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यत आबभूव॥Ṛgveda 10.129.6॥

ko addhā veda ka iha pravocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṃ visṛṣṭiḥ |
arvāg devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yat ābabhūva ||

Who really knows? Who can say here, from where it has arisen, and how this creation has come into being?
The gods themselves are later than this world’s creation. Who then can truly know its origin?

This verse is an invitation to acknowledge the limits of conceptual understanding. It reflects the subtle truth that the mind, bound by time and space, cannot grasp the ultimate source of manifestation. Before form, before thought, there is only the unmanifest consciousness—pure awareness.

The question “Who knows?” directs the seeker inward. It suggests that the ultimate knowledge is not intellectual but experiential. The origin of all, the creation of phenomena, is not something external that can be calculated or explained; it is realized through the inner witnessing, through stillness and meditative awareness.

In practice, this verse encourages the yogi to turn attention from speculative curiosity to direct perception. The mind learns to rest in the mystery without grasping. This deepens the understanding of Pralaya (dissolution) and Sṛṣṭi (manifestation) as expressions of the same undivided consciousness. It is a call to cultivate inner silence, where the questions of origin dissolve into the experience of pure being.

इयं विसृष्टिर् यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न।
यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन् सो अङ्ग वेद यदि वा न वेद॥Ṛgveda 10.129.7॥

iyaṃ visṛṣṭir yat ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na
yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅga veda yadi vā na veda

This same creation — whatever it was, it came into being, whether it acted or not, whether it existed or not. Who is the overseer of this in the highest heaven? That one knows, or perhaps does not know.

This verse is a profound acknowledgment of the ultimate mystery of existence. It confronts the seeker with the incomprehensible nature of creation itself.

• “This same creation… came into being, whether it acted or not”: This points to the subtle understanding that the manifest world is a spontaneous unfolding of Prakṛti (nature). Our attempts to fully grasp its origin with intellect are always partial, for the origin is beyond dualities of action/non-action, being/non-being.

• “Who is the overseer… knows, or perhaps does not know”: This is the humility of true knowledge. In meditation and spiritual practice, we cultivate the awareness that the Supreme Consciousness pervades all, yet the mind can only perceive fragments of it. It teaches surrender — a recognition that ultimate knowledge lies beyond thought, beyond even the self’s grasp.

• When observing the arising of thoughts, sensations, or experiences, one mirrors this verse: watch creation unfold without insisting on controlling it.

• Let the awareness be the silent witness. In doing so, we touch the “overseer in the highest heaven” within ourselves — the inner witness or sakshi, which knows and yet transcends knowing.

This verse invites the practitioner to rest in the mystery, to acknowledge that some aspects of reality are inherently ungraspable by the mind. The true meditation is not to resolve, but to witness — and in witnessing, we align with the cosmic flow itself.

Conclusion

The Nāsadīya Sūkta does not provide definitive answers; instead, it guides the seeker into the space where questions arise and dissolve. Its verses lead us from the unmanifest substratum through the first stirrings of creation, subtle intelligence, and cosmic forces, to the recognition of ultimate unknowability. For the spiritual seekers, the Sūkta becomes a living practice: a meditation on the source of existence, an exploration of consciousness beyond duality, and a reminder that the deepest truths are experienced rather than conceptualized. By engaging with this hymn, one cultivates inner stillness, clarity, humility, and reverence, integrating the profound insights of Vedic, Tantric, and Yogic wisdom into both meditation and daily life.