1. The non-existent did not exist nor did the existent exist at that time. There existed neither the midspace nor the heaven beyond. What stirred? From where and in whose protection? Did water exist, a deep depth?
2. Death did not exist nor deathlessness then. There existed no sign of night or of day. That One breathed without wind through its inherent force. There existed nothing else beyond that.
3. Darkness existed, hidden by darkness, in the beginning. All this was a signless ocean. The (thing) coming into being, which existed concealed by emptiness—that One was born by the power of heat.
4. Then in the beginning, from thought there developed desire, which existed as the primal semen. Searching in their hearts through inspired thinking, poets found the connection of the existent in the non-existent.
5. Their cord was stretched across: Did (something) exist below (it)? Did (something) exist above? There were placers of semen and there were powers. (There was) inherent force below, offering above.
6. Who really knows? Who shall here proclaim It?—from where was it born, from where this creation? The gods are on this side of the creation of this (world). So then who does know from where it came to be?
7. This creation, from where it came to be, if it was produced or if not—he who is its overseer in the highest heaven, he surely knows. Or if he does not know.
_____________
Ṛg Veda 10.129. Translated by Joel Brereton (n.p.).