Bharat Ek khoj: Opening songNasadiya Sukta

 I am a big fan of good old television serials that used to come on Doordarshan. One such serial was "Bharat Ek Khoj" based on Jawahar Lal Nehru's "Discovery of India". My mother says that when I was very young say 2 to 3 years old, I used to recite that entire shloka and the subsequent song of that serial. People used to get amazed at this. I still remember the song and the shlokas. The only difference is that I know now the correct pronounciation and meaning of that song. I found out that the song is based on teachings of Rig Veda.

It is called "Nasadiya Sukta" (Nasadiya means'not-being') of Rig Veda where the basic question of existence is asked. The rishi, the narrator of the veda asks the question that when there was "nothing" absolutely "nothing" then the 1st thing that came into being was called "GOD". How can we say that 'He' was symbolism of truth when no such concept was known. Rishi asks how was the world created.
The answer is given in the sukta itself. They say that when there was nothing, there was a warmth. The darkness was wrapped all over even then the first seed was born called desire. The knowledged people tried to differentiate between 'being' and 'not-being'.
The question of whether the God is worth devoting to or not is also answered in the later part of the song where the symbolism of knowledge called "Hiranya-garbh" is defined. It describes which God should we pray to while performing 'karma' or a 'yajna'. The last line says that "the ONE whose arms are widespread and engulf each one of us, YES, that God is worth devoting".
Presented below is the actual Hindi Lyrics of that Song.

नासदासीन नो सदासीत तदानीं नासीद रजो नो वयोमापरो यत ।

किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद गहनं गम्भीरम॥

सृष्टि से पहले सत नहीं था

असत भी नहीं

अंतरिक्ष भी नहीं

आकाश भी नहीं था

छिपा था क्या, कहाँ किसने ढका था

उस पल तो अगम अतल जल भी कहां था

नही थी मृत्यु , जी अमरता भी नही,

नही था दिन, रात भी नही,

हवा भी नही, साँस थी स्वयमेव फिर भी,

नही था कोई कुछ भी , परम तत्त्व से अलग , या परे भी

कर्म बनकर बीज पहला जो उगा,

काम बनकर वो जगा।

कवियों, ज्ञानियों ने जाना ,

असत और सत का निकट सम्बन्ध पहचाना

पहले सम्बन्ध में - हिरण्य

परम तत्त्व उसपर

ऊपर या नीचे ....... वह था बंटा हुआ ।

पुरूष और स्त्री बना हुआ ....

-----------(not remember it now; the full song was shown only in last episode)

ऊपर .......नीचे ......

सृष्टि यह बनी कैसे ,

किससे आई है कहाँ से ।

क्या कोई जानता है ,

बता सकता है ।

देवों को नही ज्ञान,

वे आए सृजन में क्यों ??

सृष्टि का कौन है कर्ता? कर्ता है या है विकर्ता?

ऊँचे आकाश में रहता

सदा अध्यक्ष बना रहता
वही सचमुच में जानता
या नहीं भी जानता

है किसी को नही पता

नही पता
नही है पता
नही है पता