न एव इह किं चन अग्रे आसीत् मृत्युना एव इदम् आवृतम् आसीत् अशनायया अशनाया हि मृत्युः तत् मनः अकुरुत आत्मन्वी स्याम् इति सः अर्चन् अचरत् तस्य अर्चतः आपः अजायन्त अर्चते वै मे कम् अभूत् इति तद् एव अर्क्यस्य अर्कत्वम् कम् ह वा अस्मै भवति यः एवम् एतद् अर्क्यस्य अर्कत्वम् वेद
na eva iha kiṃ cana agre āsīt mṛtyunā eva idam āvṛtam āsīt aśanāyayā aśanāyā hi mṛtyuḥ tat manaḥ akuruta ātmanvī syām iti saḥ arcan acarat tasya arcataḥ āpaḥ ajāyanta arcate vai me kam abhūt iti tad eva arkyasya arkatvam kam ha vā asmai bhavati yaḥ evam etad arkyasya arkatvam veda
In the beginning there was nothing here at all: all this was enveloped by death — by hunger, for hunger is death. He made up his mind: "Let me have a body!" He moved about praising; and from his praising the waters were born. "Since in my praising joy-water (ka) came to me" — this is the arka and the nature of the arka. Joy comes to one who thus knows the nature of the arka.
2d128b35dc28 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:37:41 AM UTC
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The Bṛhadāraṇyaka's cosmogony begins more terribly than any other: "there was nothing — all was enveloped by death-hunger". The first person of this book is Death, and death is interpreted as hunger: aśanāyā hi mṛtyuḥ. A brilliant equation: death is neither rest nor emptiness but an everlasting craving, a maw that can never have enough. The world, so long as it does not know the Immortal, lives inside hunger and by the laws of hunger — devouring and devoured.
Yet even Death, on desiring ("let me have a body"), begins not with devouring but with praise: arcan acarat, "he moved about worshipping". And from that worship the waters were born — the moisture called ka, "joy". Even hunger's first fruitful act is praise; even death, in order to create, must for a moment become a worshipper. Hence the etymological seal: arka (at once hymn, fire and sun) is "that from whose worship (arc) joy (ka) arises".
For a bhakti ear there is a double bottom here: the world is mortal, for it was born of hunger — yet the very fabric of its creation keeps the trace of praise, and therefore from any point of the world one may return to the praising out of which it came. Joy (ka) comes by the same road to this day: arcate vai me kam — "to me who praise, joy".