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- What germ primeval did the waters cherish,
- Wherein the gods all saw themselves together,
- Which is beyond the earth, beyond that heaven,
- Beyond the mighty gods' mysterious dwelling?
- That germ primeval did the waters cherish,
- Wherein the gods together all assembled,
- The One that in the goat's[1] source is established,
- Within which all the worlds are comprehended.
- Ye cannot find him who these worlds created:
- That which comes nearer to you is another.
In a cosmogonic poem (x. 121) of considerable beauty the creator further appears under the name of Hiraṇyagarbha, "germ of gold," a notion doubtless suggested by the rising sun. Here, too, the waters are, in producing Agni, regarded as bearing the germ of all life.
- The Germ of Gold at first came into being,
- Produced as the one lord of all existence.
- The earth he has supported and this heaven:
- What god shall we with sacrifices worship?
- Who gives the breath of life and vital power,
- To whose commands the gods all render homage,
- Whose shade is death and life immortal:
- What god shall we with sacrifices worship?
- What time the mighty waters came containing
- All germs of life and generating Agni,
- Then was produced the gods' one vital spirit:
- What god shall we with sacrifices worship?
- Who with his mighty power surveyed the waters
- That intellect and sacrifice engendered,
- The one god over all the gods exalted:
- What god shall we with sacrifices worship?
- ↑ The sun is probably meant.
