Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9, Verse 19

Chapter 9 – Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

तपाम्यहमहं वर्षं निगृह्णाम्युत्सृजामि च ।
अमृतं चैव मृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहमर्जुन ॥

Transliteration

tapāmyahamahaṃ varṣaṃ nigṛhṇāmyutsṛjāmi ca .
amṛtaṃ caiva mṛtyuśca sadasaccāhamarjuna ॥

Meaning

I give heat; I hold back and send forth the rain. I am immortality and also death; I am both being and non-being, O Arjuna.

Word meanings

तपामि – I radiate heat
अहम् – I
अहम् – I
वर्षम् – the rain
निगृह्णामि – I withhold
उत्सृजामि – I send forth
च – and
अमृतम् – immortality, life
च – and
एव – indeed
मृत्युः – death
च – and
सत् – being, the manifest
असत् – non-being, the unmanifest
च – and
अहम् – I
अर्जुन – O Arjuna

Anvaya (word order)

अर्जुन, अहं तपामि, अहं वर्षं निगृह्णामि उत्सृजामि च; अहम् अमृतं च एव मृत्युः च, सत् असत् च (अस्मि) ।

Explanation

With this verse the description of the Lord who ‘faces everywhere’ reaches its climax. He now names the great forces of nature on which all life depends. ‘I give heat’: as the sun He radiates warmth, turning the seasons, ripening crops and lifting the ocean’s water into the clouds.

‘I hold back and send forth the rain.’ Shankara explains that during the eight dry months the sun draws up water with its rays and holds it, and in the rainy season releases it. Drought and abundance alike lie in the hand of the one power that keeps nature in balance.

‘I am immortality and also death.’ Giving life and taking it are both His powers. The nectar of the gods, the life of creatures and the liberation of the wise are He; and death, which as time gathers everything in, is also He. This frees the devotee from the terror of death, for death too is a face of the Beloved.

‘I am being and non-being.’ For Shankara, sat is the manifest world of effects and asat its unmanifest cause. Ramanuja takes sat as what exists now and asat as what has been or is yet to be, all of it the Lord’s body. Either way, no aspect of existence lies outside Him.

Context

In verses 16 to 18 Krishna described Himself as sacrifice, as parent and as refuge. Here He completes the picture as the forces of nature and all aspects of existence. From the next verse He explains that those who perform Vedic rites for heavenly rewards reach heaven but must return.

Life lesson

Sunshine and rain, birth and death are all the play of one divine power. When we see God’s hand in both joy and sorrow, fear and complaint lessen and gratitude grows.

Key terms

Amrita: immortality, life, liberation
Mrityu: death, the power of withdrawal
Sat: being, the manifest world
Asat: non-being, the unmanifest cause