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Bhagavad-gītā 14.3

मम योनिर्महद्‍ब्रह्म तस्मिन्गर्भं दधाम्यहम् । सम्भव: सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत ॥ ३ ॥
mama yonir mahad brahma
[mama yonir mahad brahma]
tasmin garbhaṁ dadhāmy aham
[tasmin garbham dadhaamy aham]
sambhavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
[sambhavah sarva-bhootaanaam]
tato bhavati bhārata
[tato bhavati bhaarata]
Word-for-word
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 .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
mama yonir mahad brahma
mama
My
yoniḥ
source of birth
mahat
the total material existence
brahma
supreme
tasmin garbhaṁ dadhāmy aham
tasmin
in that
garbham
pregnancy
dadhāmi
create
aham
I
sambhavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
sambhavaḥ
the possibility
sarva - bhūtānām
of all living entities
tataḥ
thereafter
tato bhavati bhārata
bhavati
becomes
bhārata
O son of Bharata .
Important Words
  • yoniḥ — source of birth
    Yoni — womb, source of birth. Qualified by mahat and identified with brahma in this verse. The commentators read it as mahat-prakṛti, the total material substance. Kṛṣṇa, by saying mama yoniḥ, owns it as His.
  • dadhāmi — I place, I deposit
    Dā — to give, to place. Dadhāmi: I deposit. The image is biological and exact. Matter is the womb; Kṛṣṇa, in first person, is the depositor. Without that depositing glance the womb stays barren. The Sāṅkhya philosophers' faceless prakṛti is here reclaimed for theology.
  • sambhavaḥ — coming into being
    Sam-bhū — emerging together, coming-into-being. The verse asserts that the sambhava of every species (sarva-bhūtānām) traces back to Kṛṣṇa's impregnating act. Not symbolic — causal. No being arises without that contact.
  • bhārata — O son of Bharata
    The vocative is doing work here. Arjuna is being addressed by his lineage name precisely when Kṛṣṇa is naming the cosmic lineage. Your physical lineage runs upstream into Bharata; your causal lineage runs further upstream into this verse.
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.
Classical Sanskrit analysis शास्त्रीय विश्लेषण
How Sanskrit scholars read this verse — split, rearranged, grammar-tagged. For the plain English distilled meaning, jump to Plain meaning below.
Auto-generated study layers — original analysis of the public-domain śloka. Review against a published edition for academic work.
Plain meaning (तात्पर्य · Tātparya)
Kṛṣṇa names Himself the father of all life through a vivid image: prakṛti as the womb, He as the seed-giver, the souls as the seeds. Every species, from devas to plants, traces back to this single conjugal act of puruṣa and prakṛti.
Further notes (विवरण · Vivaraṇa)
'Mahad brahma' here is not the impersonal Absolute but mahat-tattva / pradhāna — total primordial matter — relabeled 'Brahman' because it is the Lord's energy. The image of a cosmic conception inverts Sāṅkhya: there prakṛti evolves on her own, here she is impregnated by the supreme puruṣa. Cross-ref BG 7.4–6 (two prakṛtis) and 9.10 (prakṛti acts under My supervision). Prepares 14.4, where Kṛṣṇa makes the paternity claim explicit.
Prose order (अन्वय · Anvaya)
हे भारत! महद् ब्रह्म मम योनिः, तस्मिन् अहं गर्भं दधामि, ततः सर्व-भूतानां सम्भवः भवति ।
he bhārata! mahad brahma mama yoniḥ, tasmin ahaṃ garbhaṃ dadhāmi, tataḥ sarva-bhūtānāṃ sambhavaḥ bhavati |
O Bhārata, the great Brahman (total material nature) is My womb; into it I deposit the seed, and from that arises the birth of all beings.
Word split (पदच्छेद · Padaccheda)
मम योनिः महद् ब्रह्म तस्मिन् गर्भं दधामि अहम् । सम्भवः सर्व-भूतानां ततः भवति भारत ॥
mama yoniḥ mahad brahma tasmin garbhaṃ dadhāmi aham | sambhavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṃ tataḥ bhavati bhārata ||
Grammar (व्याकरण · Vyākaraṇa)
SanskritIASTGrammarMeaning
मम mama अस्मद् gen.sg. (genitive singular), 'my' My
योनिः yoniḥ योनि (f.) nom.sg. (nominative singular), 'womb, source' womb
महत् mahat महत् (adj.) nom.sg. (nominative singular)n., 'great' great
ब्रह्म brahma ब्रह्मन् (n.) nom.sg. (nominative singular), here = total material prakṛti Brahman (total prakṛti)
तस्मिन् tasmin dem. (demonstrative) pron. (pronoun) loc.sg. (locative singular)n., 'in that' in it
गर्भम् garbham गर्भ (m.) acc.sg. (accusative singular), 'embryo, seed' seed
दधामि dadhāmi √धा pres. (present) 1sg.par. (parasmaipada / active voice), 'I place, deposit' I place
अहम् aham अस्मद् nom.sg. (nominative singular), 'I' I
सम्भवः sambhavaḥ सम्भव (m.) nom.sg. (nominative singular), 'arising, birth' birth
सर्व-भूतानाम् sarva-bhūtānām सर्व (adj.) + भूत (n.) gen.pl. (genitive plural), tatpuruṣa cpd. (compound), 'of all beings' of all beings
ततः tataḥ ind. (indeclinable), 'from that' from that
भवति bhavati √भू pres. (present) 3sg.par. (parasmaipada / active voice), 'it becomes, occurs' occurs
भारत bhārata भारत (m.) voc.sg. (vocative singular), 'O descendant of Bharata' O Bhārata
Purport

This is an explanation of the world: everything that takes place is due to the combination of kṣetra and kṣetra-jña, 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.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
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.
Commentary

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.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
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.
Commentary

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 sañjāyate kiñcit (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.

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

COMMON THEME: These verses explain how the soul comes into the material world and is placed within the

modes of material nature

Material nature is the mother, supplying living-entity with the body (14.3)
The Lord puts him there by His potent glance and thus impregnates the material nature with the seed
Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
14.3 Mama, My own Maya, i.e. Prakrti consisting of the three alities, which belongs to Me; is the yonih, womb [Here Ast. adds 'karanam, cause' (-off all the creatures).-Tr.] for all the creatures. Since it (Prakrti) is great (mahat) as compared with all its effects, and it is the sustainer (brahma) [Prakrti is brahma since it permeates all of its own products.-A.G.] of all its own transformations, therefore the womb itself is alified as mahat brahma. Tasmin, in that, in the womb which is the great-sustainer; aham, I, God, possessed of the power in the form of the two aspects, viz the field and the Knower of the field; dadhami, place, deposit; garbham, the seed-the seed of the birth of Hiranayagarbha, te seed which is the cause of the birth of all things-; i.e., I bring the field into association with the Knower of the field who conforms to the nature of the limiting adjuncts, viz ignorance, desire and activity. Tatah, from that, from that deposition of the seed; O scion of the Bharata dynasty, bhavati, occurs; sambhavah, the birth, origination; sarva-bhutanam, of all things, following the birth of Hiranyagarbha.
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
14.3 In that great brahman forming my womb, I lay the germ. The non-conscient Prakrti is alluded to in the text 'Earth, water, fire, air, ether, Manas, Buddhi and Ahankara - thus My Prakrti is eightfold' (7.4-5). This Prakrti is designated here by the name 'the great brahman' by reason of its being the cause of modifications like the Mahat, the Ahankara etc. In the Srutis also, here and there, even the Prakrti is designated as brahman, as in: 'He who is all-knowing, all-wise, whose austerity consists of knowledge - from Him are produced this brahman as also food, i.e., the universe of name and form' (Mun. U., 1.1.9) The higher Prakrti, which is the mass of conscient selves, alluded to in the passage, 'Know My higher Prakrti to be distinct from this; it is the life-principle' (7.5). It is here expressed by the term 'Garbha', the source or womb in which all living beings originate. I lay the germ, constituting the mass of conscious beings, in that great brahman, which is non-conscient and forms the womb. From that conjunction between the two Prakrtis, brought about by My will is brought forth the origin of all entities from Brahma down to tuft to grass. He continues to say: 'I Myself bring about the conjunction of the conscient and unconscient Prakrtis in the manifested state of effect'.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
14.3 Mama etc. For Me : [For Me] Who am of the nature of the inexplicable Supreme Bliss, the mighty Brahman : the Brahman that is identical with My own energy, allowing expansion [of all in It]. Taking hold of just My own energy of Self-consciousness, I cause the beginningless tiny [individual] Souls to pass through the cycle of birth and death by way of favouring them. Therefore-
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
14.3 My womb is the great Brahma; in that I place the germ; thence, O Arjuna, is the birth of all beings.
Commentary

14.3 मम My? योनिः womb? महत् the great? ब्रह्म Brahma? तस्मिन् in that? गर्भम् germ? दधामि bears? अहम I? संभवः the birth? सर्वभूतानाम् of all beings? ततः thence? भवति is? भारत O descendant of Bharata (Arjuna).Commentary My womb is the great Nature. The cosmos is evolved out of His Nature. Nature is called the great Brahma for She is the resting place of the five subtle elements and also the Mahat (cosmic mind). She is callled the great Brahma? because through Her the whole manifestation takes place.All changes arise out of this great Nature. So She has got the name Mulaprakriti or Primordial Nature or the original principle. From the point of view of the Unmanifest She is called Avyakta. The Vedantins call Her Maya (illusion). The Sankhyas call Her Prakriti.This Prakriti is called great because She is greater than all Her effects. This Nature? made of the three alities? is the material cause of all beings. As She is the source or cause of all Her,modifications and also nourishes all the modifications with Her energy? She is called Brahma.I place in it (the Mahabrahma) the embryo of life then all beings begin to come to life therefrom. In the great Brahma or Nature I place the germ or the seed for the birth of Hiranyagarbha and the seed gives birth to all beings. The birth of Hiranyagarbha or Brahma (the Creator) gives rise to the birth of beings. The Primordial Nature is like the clay. She cannot create the forms Herself. She gives birth to Brahma Who creates all beings just as the potter creates various forms from the clay. I am endowed with the two Saktis? viz.? the superior and the inferior Natures (Cf. VII. 4 and 5)? the field and its knower. I unite these two (the Spirit and the matter). The individual soul comes under the influence of the limiting adjuncts? viz.? ignorance? desire and action. On account of ignorance (Avidya)? the individual soul forgets his original divine nature? gets himself entangled in the meshes of desire (Kama) and action (Karma)? and revolves in the wheel of birth and death. The individual soul turns towards ignorance without knowing his own true divine nature. The Jiva (individual soul) being overpowered by ignorance and the modifications? forgets its pristine purity and moves in various forms.The Primordial Nature or the Unmanifested is a dark matrix with infinite potentialities. It is not a substance. Sound and energy are in an undifferentiated state in It. The whole world gets involved into It during the cosmic dissolution. There is no relationship of substance or ality between It and the three Gunas. The alities are the Mulaprakriti and the latter is the former in a state of poise or eilibrium. This manifested world of the three alities is compared to a twisted rope of three colours? viz.? white? red and black. Each colour represents a Guna. Sattvic is white? Rajas is red and Tamas is black. The three are not in a state of eilibrium in the manifested world.Water and the seed coming in contact with the earth produce sprouts which grow into trees. In the womb of Nature? the seed develops into the eightfold elements -- earth? water? fire? air? ether? mind? intellect and egoism. The first fruit of the contact of Nature with the soul is the MahatTattva or intellect. From intellect mind is born from mind egoism from egoism? the five elements.There are four classes of beings? viz.? Jarayuja? Andaja? Svedaja and Udbhijja. The Jarayuja is born of the placenta (viviparous). Human beings? cows? elephants? horses? etc.? belong to this class. In this variety the five senses of knowledge exist. The Andaja is born of eggs (oviparous). In this variety the elements of wind and ether predominate. Lice come under the category of Svedaja they are born of sweat. In this variety fire and water predominate. Trees that are born of seeds are classified under the head Udbhijja in this variety earth and water predominate. (Cf.VII.6IX.17XV.7)

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
14.3 My womb is the great-sustainer. In that I place the seed. From that, O scion of the Bharata dynasty, occurs the birth of all things.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
14.3 The eternal Cosmos is My womb, in which I plant the seed, from which all beings are born, O Prince!
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)Tapas (Austerity / Discipline)Vairagya (Detachment / Dispassion)Prema (Divine Love)
Related verses
BG 7.10 BG 9.10 BG 13.27 SB 3.26.10 SB 3.5.25 SB 11.24.3 CC Ādi 5.58 CC Madhya 20.272 CC Ādi 6.15 Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.5Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.7
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth — I impregnate that Brahman; the birth of all beings becomes possible.
Practical Applications
  • Recognize that even material existence requires Kṛṣṇa's impregnating contact.
  • Don't separate matter from divine causation.
  • Honor matter as Kṛṣṇa-touched.
Reflection Questions
  • Where do I treat matter as Kṛṣṇa-less?
  • What changes when I see the impregnating Lord behind it?
Analogy

Soil alone, however rich, will not grow a single blade until a seed is dropped into it. Material nature is the soil; Kṛṣṇa's glance is the seed. Without that glance the cosmos is inert mass.

Stories
Brahmā's tapasya before creation

At the dawn of a new kalpa, Brahmā awakens on the lotus and finds himself surrounded by undifferentiated water and matter. He cannot create. He sits in tapasya for a thousand celestial years until the Lord reveals Himself and impregnates the situation with the power to bring forth.

The Bhāgavatam keeps the point precise: even Brahmā, the cosmic engineer, cannot begin without the Lord's impregnating contact with mahat-tattva. Matter is the womb; Kṛṣṇa is the seed-giver. The whole creation runs on this asymmetry.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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