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The Beginnings of Hindu Theosophy
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gins to create through the force of devotion (tapas). Here an even more primary condition is assumed: the fundamental force is itself put forth by, or is born from, devotion. This devotional fervor marks either another start at a primeval cause, or, paradoxical as this may seem, is the devotional fervor of the yet uncreated sages. Anyhow these sages appear upon the scene as dei ex machina in the next stanza, and then, after this gap has been spanned, the work of creation can really proceed.


FOURTH STANZA.

"Desire arose in the beginning in That; it was the first seed of mind. The sages by devotion found the root of being in non-being, seeking it in (their) heart.”

Desire, Kāma, the equivalent of Greek Ἔρως Love," means here the desire to live; it is the first possible seed or fruit of the mind, for there is no conceivable action of the mind which is not preceded by life. The second hemistich introduces an even more primordial creative rôle on the part of the sages, whose devotion is the real promotive force in the act of creation. The poet does not tell whence come the sages at this stage of the drama. The production of this creation, which is here defined as "being" coming out of "non-being," contradicts, the first stanza where "non-being" is denied: "How

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