Bg. 14.3 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

मम योनिर्महद्‍ब्रह्म तस्मिन्गर्भं दधाम्यहम् । सम्भव: सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत ॥ ३ ॥

Verse text

mama yonir mahad brahma tasmin garbhaṁ dadhāmy aham sambhavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ tato bhavati bhārata

Synonyms

mama — My ; yoniḥ — source of birth ; mahat — the total material existence ; brahma — supreme ; tasmin — in that ; garbham — pregnancy ; dadhāmi — create ; aham — I ; sambhavaḥ — the possibility ; sarva-bhūtānām — of all living entities ; tataḥ — thereafter ; bhavati — becomes ; bhārata — O son of Bharata.

Translation

The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth, and it is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible the births of all living beings, O son of Bharata.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

3. The great expanse called prakṛti is My womb. In that womb I place the seed in the form of all jīvas. The birth of all beings comes from that, O descendent of Bharata.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

3. The great expanse of prakṛti is My womb. In that womb, I place the seed of all jīvas. The birth of all beings comes from that, O descendent of Bharata.

Purport

This is an explanation of the world: everything that takes place is due to the combination of kṣetra and kṣetra-jṣa, the body and the spirit soul. This combination of material nature and the living entity is made possible by the Supreme God Himself. The mahat-tattva is the total cause of the total cosmic manifestation; and that total substance of the material cause, in which there are three modes of nature, is sometimes called Brahman. The Supreme Personality impregnates that total substance, and thus innumerable universes become possible. This total material substance, the mahat-tattva, is described as Brahman in the Vedic literature ( Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.19): tasmād etad brahma nāma-rūpam annaṁ ca jāyate. The Supreme Person impregnates that Brahman with the seeds of the living entities. The twenty-four elements, beginning from earth, water, fire and air, are all material energy, and they constitute what is called mahad brahma, or the great Brahman, the material nature. As explained in the Seventh Chapter, beyond this there is another, superior nature – the living entity. Into material nature the superior nature is mixed by the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thereafter all living entities are born of this material nature. The scorpion lays its eggs in piles of rice, and sometimes it is said that the scorpion is born out of rice. But the rice is not the cause of the scorpion. Actually, the eggs were laid by the mother. Similarly, material nature is not the cause of the birth of the living entities. The seed is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they only seem to come out as products of material nature. Thus every living entity, according to his past activities, has a different body, created by this material nature, so that the entity can enjoy or suffer according to his past deeds. The Lord is the cause of all the manifestations of living entities in this material world.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In order to explain how the contact of the jīva with the guṇas through beginningless ignorance creates bondage, the Lord speaks about the method of appearance of the field and knower of the field. My (Supreme Lord’s) place of impregnation is prakṛti, called mahat, because it extends through all place and time continuously. It is called brahma because it is the cause of increase (root is bṛh). In some śruti texts, prakṛti is referred to as brahma. I place the seed (garbha) within that prakṛti. The Lord said itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parāṁ jīva-bhūtām: know this other prakṛti of Mine, which is superior and which gives rise to the jīvas. (BG 7.5) From this it is understood that there is a mass of consciousness, the jīva-prakṛti, which is called the tataṣṭha-śakti. This is called the seed (garbha), because it is gives life to all beings. Then (tataḥ) from My action of placing the seed (jīva-śakti) in the prakṛti, the appearance of all the entities such as Brahmā and others takes place.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

Having thus praised the topic to be spoken, and producing taste for that in the hearer, the Lord makes clear here that the Lord is the cause of the combination of prakṛti and jīva. This combination was previously described in two verses starting with bhūmir āpaḥ (BG 7.4), [Note: These two verses explain that prakṛti and jīva are the Lord’s energies.] and in yāvat saṣjāyate kiṣcit (BG 13.27). [Note: This verse explains that everything in the world is combination of these two energies.] The cause of the whole world (mahat) is the pradhāna composed of the guṇas (brahma). This pradhāna is the womb, the place which holds the seeds (yoniḥ). It belongs to Me, the Lord of all, the creator of millions of universes. The word brahma here means pradhāna, as shown by the śruti brahma nāma-rūpam annaṁ ca jāyate: this brahma becomes name, form and food, (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.9) In that great pradhāna, functioning as a womb, I offer (dadhāmi) the multitude of small particles of consciousness (garbham). What was called dull prakṛti with the words bhumir apo ’nalo vayuḥ, described as earth, water and other elements, is here called mahad brahman. What was called conscious prakṛti with the word itas tv anyām is here called the garbha, since it is the seed of all living entities. The meaning here is that I join together the conscious enjoying entities with the material prakṛti which serves as the field for their enjoyment. From this pradhāna, or from the combination of the two prakṛtis, or from the offering into the pradhāna of the jīvas (tataḥ), the birth of all entities from Brahmā down to grass takes place.