Nasadiya Sukta

See the nasadiya sukta from RigVed

नासदासीन् नो सदासीत् तदानीं नासीद् रजो नो व्योमापरो यत्
किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद् गहनं गभीरम्

Then was neither being nor non-being; there was no realm of air nor sky beyond. What covered it, and where? what sheltered it? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?

न मृत्युरासीदमृतं न तर्हि न रात्र्या अह्न आसीत्प्रकेतः
आनीदवातं स्वधया तदेकं तस्माद्धान्यन् न परः किं चनास

Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal; no sign was there, nor day's and night's divider. That One being, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it there was nothing else.

तम आसीत् तमसा गूळमग्रेऽप्रकेतं सलिलं सर्वमाइदम्
तुच्येनाभ्वपिहितं यदासीत् तपसस्तन्महिनाजायतैकम्

Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness all was indiscriminate chaos. All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of warmth was born that unit.

कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः प्रथमं यदासीत्
सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन् हृदि प्रतीष्याकवयो मनीषा

Thereafter rose desire in the beginning, desire, the primal seed and germ of spirit. Seers who searched their heart for wisdom discovered the kinship between the being and non-being.

तिरश्चीनो विततो रश्मिरेषामधः स्विदासी दुपरिस्विदासी
रेतोधाआसन् महिमान आसन् स्वधा अवस्तात् प्रयतिः परस्तात्

Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were seminal begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder.

को अद्धा वेद क इह प्र वोचत् कुत आजाता कुत इयंविसृष्टिः
अर्वाग् देवा अस्य विसर्जनेनाथा को वेद यतआबभूव

Who knows and who can say, whence it was born and whence came this creation? The Gods are later than this world's creation. Who knows then whence it first came into being?

इयं विसृष्टिर्यत आबभूव यदि वा दधे यदि वा न
यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन् सो अङ्ग वेद यदि वा नवेद

He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not, He who surveys it all from his highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps even he does not!

Udaka Shanti

ut + akam = udakam, meaning the propelling force to reach summit.

In our tradition, there are 52 samskaras mentioned. Out of these, it is advised to do atleast 16 of them including namakarana, choodakarma, vidyaramba, upanayana, vedaramba, vivaha and many others. It is a practice to chant udaka shanti when some of the above samskaras are performed.

The main advantage of udaka shanti is to attain state of tranquility when our mind is fluctuating with many bad thoughts. Also, it is a practice to store sacred water got by performing udaka shanti and use for 15 days.

In the beginning, udaka shanti contains few of the mantras from taittariya samhita and later containing mantras from taittariya brahmana of yajurveda.

We can also see few of the suktas like indra sukta, anna(food) sukta, shraddhasukta, gosukta, nasadiyasukta, some part of ablingabdi sukta and some asheerwada mantras from taittariya brahmana in the second part of udaka shanti

We also see few of the padas repeating in udaka shanti. These are called anushangas.