For millions
upon millions, countless years was spread darkness,
When existed neither
earth nor heaven, but only the limitless Divine Ordinance.
Then existed
neither day or night, nor sun or moon;
As the Creator was absorbed in an
unbroken trance.
Existed then neither forms of creation, nor of speech;
neither wind nor water.
Neither was creation or disappearance or
transmigration.
Then were not continents, neither regions, the seven seas,
nor rivers with water flowing.
Existed then neither heaven or the mortal
world or the nether world;
Neither hell or heaven or time that
destroys.
Hell and heaven, birth and death were then not--none arrived or
departed.
Then were not
Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva:
None other than the Sole Lord was
visible.
Neither existed then female or male, or caste and birth--
None
suffering and joy received.
Unknowable Himself, was He the source of all
utterance; Himself the unknowable unmanifested.
As it pleased Him, the world
He created;
Without a supporting power the expanse He
sustained.
Brahma,
Vishnu, and Shiva He created and to maya-attachment gave increase.
(To a rare
one was the Master's Word imparted.)
Himself He made His Ordinance operative
and watched over it:
Creating continents, spheres and nether worlds, the
hidden He made manifest.
Creating the universe Himself, He has remained
unattached.
The compassionate Lord too has made the holy center [the human
being].
Combining air, water, and fire, He created the citadel of the
body.
The Creator
fashioned the Nine Abodes [of sensation];
In the Tenth [the superconscious
mind] is lodged the Lord, unknowable, limitless.
The illimitable Lord in His
unattributed state of void assumed might;
He, the infinite One, remaining
detached:
Displaying his power, He himself from the void created inanimate
things.
From the unattributed void were created air and water.
Raising
creation, He dwells as monarch in the citadel of the body.
Lord! In the fire
and water [of the body] exists Thy light;
In Thy [original] state of void was
lodged [unmanifest] the power of creation.