SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

"
THE SAIVA RELIGION. 2/7
and Vishapana from two texts in the Rig Veda. We have in
the Rig Veda also the germ of the later Hindu Cosmology, in
the famous Nasadasaya suktam ; and this is also the central
text of Siva Sakti worship.
In the beginning there was neither sat nor asat ;
Then there was neither sky nor atmosphere above.
What then enshrouded all this teeming universe ?
In the receptacle of what, was it contained ?
Was it enveloped in the gulf profound of water ?
*
Then was there neither death nor immortality ;
Then there was neither day, nor night, nor light,
Nor darkness, only the Existent One breathed without
, breath self-contained.
Nought else but he there was, nought else above,
beyond.
Then first came darkness, hid in darkness, gloom in
gloom ;
Next all was water, all a chaos indiscrete.
In which the one lay void, shrouded in nothingness.
Then turning inwards, he, by self- developed force
Of inner fervour and intense abstraction, grew.
First in his mind was formed Desire, (Ichcha-5akti) the
primal germ,
Productive, which, the Wise profoundly searching say,
Is the first subtle bond, connecting Sat with Asat."
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In the Rig Veda also, we find the famous text which is
repeated in the Atharva Veda and subsequently in the Sveta-
Svatara Upanishat and also in the Katha and Muodaka
Upanishats, and which forms the chief stronghold of Indian
Theism against Idealism. "Two birds, inseparable friends
cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruits, the
other Anya looks on without eating".
YAJUR VEDA.
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In the Yajur Veda the position of Rudra becomes more
established as Pasupati and Lord of sacrifices and as The One
without a second.