सा ह इयम् ईक्षाम् चक्रे कथम् नु मा आत्मनः एव जनयित्वा सम्भवति हन्त तिरो असानि इति सा गौर् अभवत् वृषभः इतरः ताम् सम् एव अभवत् ततः गावः अजायन्त वडवा इतरा अभवत् अश्ववृषः इतरः गर्दभी इतरा गर्दभः इतरः ताम् सम् एव अभवत् ततः एकशफम् अजायत अजा इतरा अभवत् बस्तः इतरः अविः इतरा मेषः इतरः ताम् सम् एव अभवत् ततः अजावयः अजायन्त एवम् एव यद् इदम् किञ्च मिथुनम् आ पिपीलिकाभ्यः तत् सर्वम् असृजत
sā ha iyam īkṣām cakre katham nu mā ātmanaḥ eva janayitvā sambhavati hanta tiro asāni iti sā gaur abhavat vṛṣabhaḥ itaraḥ tām sam eva abhavat tataḥ gāvaḥ ajāyanta vaḍavā itarā abhavat aśvavṛṣaḥ itaraḥ gardabhī itarā gardabhaḥ itaraḥ tām sam eva abhavat tataḥ ekaśapham ajāyata ajā itarā abhavat bastaḥ itaraḥ aviḥ itarā meṣaḥ itaraḥ tām sam eva abhavat tataḥ ajāvayaḥ ajāyanta evam eva yad idam kiñca mithunam ā pipīlikābhyaḥ tat sarvam asṛjata
But she reflected: "How can he unite with me, having begotten me out of himself? Come — let me hide." She became a cow, he a bull, and united with her: cows were born. She became a mare, he a stallion; she a she-ass, he an ass: the single-hoofed were born. She became a she-goat, he a he-goat; she a ewe, he a ram: goats and sheep were born. So he created everything that pairs, down to the ants.
4c4f3edfadbe · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:43:11 AM UTC
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The first mother flees, changing her shapes; the first father overtakes her, taking the matching ones: a chase of creation in which all the kinds of the living are born "down to the ants". Behind the mythological daring lies a double truth. The first: everything living is paired and akin; a cow and an ant are fruits of one and the same primal couple, and therefore every creature is a man's relative through their forebears.
The second is subtler: life multiplies by a play of hiding and finding. She hides — he seeks; tiro 'sāni, "let me hide" — and the world gains a new order of beings with each turn of the chase. Creation goes on as a hide-and-seek of the One with himself — and is this not the origin of the Lord's eternal play with the soul: he hides in order to be sought, and every seeking is fruitful. Māyā as "concealment" is here no enemy but a partner in the nuptial game of being.