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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 14.4
सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तय: सम्भवन्ति या: ।
तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रद: पिता ॥ ४ ॥
sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
All species are born in material nature, and Kṛṣṇa is their seed-giving father.
Prabhupāda explains that material nature is the mother, and living beings appear in various forms according to their past deeds.
Understand that Kṛṣṇa is the original father of every living being.
These notes cover verses 14.3–4
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
Material nature is the mother, supplying living-entity with the body (14.3)
The total material substance, called Brahman is the source of birth
Lord impregnates that Brahman with living entities
Analogy — Scorpion lays its eggs in rice, but the rice is not the cause of the scorpion
This refutes that material nature is the cause of the birth of living entities
Actual seed is given by the Supreme Lord himself
Text 14.3 gives an explanation of the world as follows:
Everything that takes place is due to combination of ksetra (body) and ksetra-jna (spirit soul)
This combination of the living-entity is made possible by the Supreme God himself
Mahat-tattva — It is the total cause of the total cosmic manifestation;
Total substance of the material cause, in which there are three modes of material nature, is sometimes called Brahman
Ref. Mundaka Upanisad
‘Mahad-Brahma’ — Great Brahman refers to the material nature
Constituted by 24 elements which constitute the inferior energy
This Living entity constitutes the superior energy
Living entities are seen everywhere, on all the planets (14.4)
On earth, even within water and fire
Even on the highest planet, where Brahma is situated
Krishna glorifies the knowledge that He will speak now
By Him, the Supreme Lord, the material energy is impregnated with the living entities
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: bhagavān, vibhūti.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 14.4 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to krishna’s nature?
Notice something excellent and see it as His opulence.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.