BHAGAVAD-GITA 14:3

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 14:3

 

mama yonir mahad brahma

tasmin garbham dadhamy aham

sam bhavah sarva-bhutanam

tato bhavati bharata

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

mama--My; yonih--source of birth; mahat--the total material existence;

brahma--supreme; tasmin--in that; garbham--pregnancy; dadhami--create;

aham--I; sambhavah--the possibility; sarva-bhutanam--of all living

entities; tatah--thereafter; bhavati--becomes; bharata--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.

 

PURPORT

 

This is an explanation of the world: everything that takes place is

due to the combination of ksetra and ksetra-jna, 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 (Mundaka Upanisad

1.1.19): tasmad etad brahma nama-rupam annam ca jayate. 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.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.