Nasadiya Sukta - Part 03

Sloka 3

Continued from Part 2
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tama āsīt tamasā ghūḷamaghre. praketaṃ salilaṃ sarvamāidam |
tuchyenābhvapihitaṃ yadāsīt tapasastanmahinājāyataikam ||  3

tama Asit tamasA gUhlam agre.
praketam salilam sarvamA idam.
tucchya ena Abhva pihitam yat Asit, 

tapas stan mahina jAyate aikam.

At first darkness lay hidden in darkness (or nothing-ness existed in nothing-ness, but concealed).
(And/ thus) water was visible everywhere.
(From) the gigantic all pervading void/ emptiness (that) existed,
With a mighty reverberation, the One was born, out of Contemplation.

Words used in Sandhi Analysis
tama - night/ drakness
gUh - hidden/ concealed
salil - water
tuCchya - Void/ Emptiness
Abhva - gigantic
pihitam - enclosed/ pervaded
stan - resound/ reverberate/ roar/ thunder/
mahina - great/ mighty

A note on Tapas
tapas - that Contemplation which leads to Creation (literally penance/ austerity)

Unfortunately, there is no appropriate English word for Tapas, in the same way as there is no word for Yajna. Tapas is more of a thought-construct or a philosophical concept. The process of Creation happens in primarily two stages -

Stage 1: the first stage is the Contemplation of Creation which is the most important stage and
Stage 2: second is the actual Creation which is a mere implementation of the outcomes of stage 1

Stage 1 is an unknown high energy and unpredictable state (somewhat similar to 'Singularity' in Physics) and the contemplation of this state is Tapas - that contemplation which leads to Creation.

To be continued in Part 4

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Subhodeep Mukhopadhyay (2011)