The Nasadiya Sukta (Hymn of Creation)

“Then even nothingness was not, nor existence, There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it. What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping?” In the beginning, darkness was by darkness concealed; Undifferentiated surge was this whole creation. While the boundless force of Being was by unformed Being enclosed, That One, through conscious fervor, brought itself forth to be. In the beginning, thereupon rose Self-delight, love, and desire, Which together, was of consciousness, the primeval seed. The wise, searching within their hearts, perceived there the bond of Truth in illusion. Stretched crosswise was their line, a ray of glory. Was there below? Was there above? Progenitors were there; Mighty powers to magnify were there— Potency from beneath and from above the force to move, raise, and fill. Who truly knows, who here could proclaim: whence this creation flows, where is its origin? With this great surge, the gods made their appearance. Now, therefore, who knows whence it became? Whence this detailed Self-radiance came, whether ordered or not; Only He in highest heaven, who is of this the witness— He alone knows, unless… He knows it not.