Rig Veda 1.164.33

To translate the Vedas is a crazy, foolish task- but this verse was so beautiful I just couldn't resist expressing its poetic beauty.

The Sky is my father the creator,
The center is here, my relations,
The vast Earth is my mother,
Between these two vessels we are born and grow,
Here the father impregnated his creation.

Rgveda 1.164.33

dyaurme pitA janitA nAbhiratra

bandhurme mAtA pR^ithivImahIyam
uttAnayoshcamvoryonirantar

atrA pitA duhiturgarbhamAdhAt (Rgveda 1.164.33)

dyauH-the Sky, me- my, piita- father, janitaa-the progenitor,

naabhi-navel/center, atra- here, bandhu- friend, me- my,

maataa- mother, pR^ithivii- earth, mahii- great, iyam- this.
uttaana- spread out/stretched out/extended/vessel with mouth upwards, caMvoH- of two vessels, yoniH- place of birth/origin/receptacle, antaH- end/limit/border/inside/ within, atra- here/in this place, pitaa- the father, duhitR^i- daughter, garbha- conception/womb/ inside/interior,

adhaat- cause/grant/produce

The first part is that the sky is the father and creator-simple and clear. The next part is that the ‘center’ is here or present, the word used is nabhi (navel)- my navel is here, I am here in the navel, the middle, the center of the wheel. Some translators have put friend with navel while some put it with mother. To me it reminds me of the Native American saying of “all my relations” when speaking about the earth and its creatures. And that everything with a navel is a relation. It also has the connotation that everything ‘here’ is of the family of father sky.

The Earth is my mother, and she is described as great or expansive- as looking over a vast landscape. Then ‘here’ is described as between earth and sky as if these two were parts of a container holding the poet. And the poet is stretched out (uttAna), looking upwards- either as a baby stretching or a plant reaching upwards growing. It is this place, or containment between earth and sky that is the yoni (place of birth)- as a baby is born from the mother’s yoni- the sky and earth give birth to ‘us’, our beingness. We are cradled in them- and at the same time we are their center.

The last part is intricate; literally it means “here the father put the womb/fetus in the daughter” or “here the father conceived with his daughter”. This has many layers. In mythology the creator god Brahma took Sarasvati as his wife- the only negative of this is that he had created her- by the fact of his creating her she was his daughter…issue of incest-can she be his wife? Another time Brahma fell in love with one of his creations and it was the same case- he was the father as creator- even if he had created with the power of mind- not sexually. The symbolism here is deeper though; the father here is not a physical father but the Sky. The daughter is not a woman but that ‘matter’ which is born in the container between the earth and sky. The father-sky-spirit came into that matter (personified as daughter) with the spirit essence represented by sky and created life. The Father caused the creation to create- he instilled it with life. Sky is our spirit that brings that which would otherwise be mud to life. In this way “Here the father impregnated his creation”-with soul.