Sköpunarsálmur Rigveda

 There was neither non-existence nor existence then.
There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
What stirred?
Where?
In whose protection?
Was there water, bottlemlessly deep?

There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day.
That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse.
Other than that there was nothing beyond.

Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning,
with no distinguishing sign, all this was water.
The life force that was covered with emptiness,
that One arose through the power of heat.

Desire came upon that One in the beginning,
that was the first seed of mind.
Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom
found the bond of existence and non-existence.

Their cord was extended across.
Was there below?
Was there above?
There were seed-placers, there were powers.
There was impulse beneath, there was giving forth above.

Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced?
Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?

Whence this creation has arisen
– perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not –
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps He does not know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasadiya_Sukta

Athugasemdir

[Svanur Gísli Þorkelsson, 28.8.2009 kl. 01:06]

Ég hef ekki séð þessa þýðingu fyrr. Mjög skemmtileg og flott. Takk fyrir þetta.

[Ómar Bjarki Kristjánsson, 28.8.2009 kl. 17:59]

Að mínu mati ótrúlega magnað.  Þetta skilur eftir svo mikið sko.  Kannski séstaklega fyrir persónu sem elst bara upp í hefðbundini vestrænni kristni síðari ára.  Þ.e. nalgunin einhvernveginn kemur með alveg nýja og óvænta sýn á viðfangsefnið.   Maður bara:  Haa ? O.s.frv. 

Eg sá þetta fyrst í gamla daga í íslenskri þýngu.  Man ekki hver þýddi.  Einhver af þessum gömlu köppum.  Fullyrði ekki að það hafi verið Sören Sörensson.  Man það ekki alveg.

En það er samt betra á ensku.  Líklega enn betra á sanskrít.

Snilldaropnun: "There was neither non-existence nor existence then"  Þetta minnir mig hafa verið þýtt á ísl. "þá var hvorki verund né ei-verund"

[Svanur Gísli Þorkelsson, 28.8.2009 kl. 18:49]

Opnunin áréttar að mínu mati að hefðbundin hugtök ná ekki yfir það sem er handan efnis.

Ómælisdjúpin (bottlemlessly deep) eru gömul aríönsk kenning yfir almættið. Og "þráin" (Desire) sem hvati að veru, endurómar, "Innst í kjarna verundar minnar þekkti ég ást mína til þín, þess vegna skapaði ég þig",...einnig úr persneskum bókmenntum.

En algjörlega sammála þér um að þetta er magnaður texti.