सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः । तासां ब्रह्म महद् योनिर् अहं बीजप्रदः पिता ॥
sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ | tāsāṃ brahma mahad yonir ahaṃ bīja-pradaḥ pitā ||
From all wombs all bodies arise — but the great Brahman is the womb and Krishna the seed-giving Father.
Word by word (3)
- sarva-yoniṣu mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
- — whatever forms (mūrtayaḥ) arise in all wombs (sarva-yoniṣu) — every species, every body-type
- tāsāṃ mahad brahma yoniḥ
- — of all those, Mahat-brahma (Great Prakṛti) is the (material) womb — the common matrix of all species
- aham bīja-pradaḥ pitā
- — I am the seed-giving Father (bīja-prada = one who bestows the seed; pitā = father)
Whatever forms are born in any womb whatsoever — in all species everywhere — the Great Brahman (Mahat-Prakṛti) is their womb and I am the seed-giving Father.
A modern analogy
Clay is the mother of every clay pot regardless of shape; the potter's hand is the father. All species share one material womb (Prakṛti) and one seed-giver (Puruṣa-consciousness). The pot thinks it is unique — but it's all the same clay, the same potter.
V3 stated the principle (Mahat-brahma as yoni); V4 applies it universally: every species, every body arises from this single cosmogonic pair. This grounds the guṇa-teaching in its widest scope — the guṇas that will be described from V5 onward are NOT just human qualities; they are the binding forces operative in ALL forms of embodied existence, across ALL species.
bīja-pradaḥ pitā (seed-giving Father) specifies Krishna's role precisely: He provides the germ (consciousness-seed) that animates Prakṛti's forms. He does not create the material substrate — that is Prakṛti's domain. This Puruṣa-Prakṛti division of labor (consciousness vs. matter) is the cosmological basis for Ch.14's teaching: the guṇas are Prakṛti's children, not Puruṣa's — yet Puruṣa appears bound by them.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Whatever forms are produced, O son of Kunti, in any wombs whatsoever, the Great Brahman is their womb, I the seed-giving Father. [1]
Whatever forms are produced, O son of Kunti, in all the wombs, the great Prakriti is their womb, and I the seed-giving Father. [4]
Of the bodies which are born from all wombs, the main womb is the great Brahman, and I am the father, the giver of the seed. [9]
Whatever bodily forms are born in all wombs, of them Brahma is the mighty womb, and I the seed-imparting Sire. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Better to die with clean hands than to win with blood on them.
Dying in rajas, one is born among the action-attached; dying in tamas, one is born in irrational wombs.
The jīva is an eternal fragment of Me — drawing the 6-sense apparatus (5 senses + mind) toward itself in Prakṛti.
Sattva, rajas, tamas — three guṇas born of Prakṛti — bind the indestructible ātman in every body.
I would rather be killed than kill them — a statement of love that goes beyond self-preservation.
Cast off this petty weakness of heart — rise. This is not who you are.