Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9, Verse 8

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

Sanskrit verse

प्रकृतिं स्वामवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः ।
भूतग्राममिमं कृत्स्नमवशं प्रकृतेर्वशात् ॥

Transliteration

prakṛtiṃ svāmavaṣṭabhya visṛjāmi punaḥ punaḥ .
bhūtagrāmamimaṃ kṛtsnamavaśaṃ prakṛtervaśāt ॥

Meaning

Taking hold of My own prakriti, I send forth again and again this whole multitude of beings, helpless under the sway of nature.

Word meanings

प्रकृतिम् – prakriti, nature
स्वाम् – My own
अवष्टभ्य – taking control of, presiding over
विसृजामि – I send forth
पुनः पुनः – again and again
भूतग्रामम् – the multitude of beings
इमम् – this
कृत्स्नम् – entire
अवशम् – helpless, not self-governed
प्रकृतेः – of nature
वशात् – by the power of

Anvaya (word order)

स्वां प्रकृतिम् अवष्टभ्य प्रकृतेः वशात् अवशम् इमं कृत्स्नं भूतग्रामं पुनः पुनः विसृजामि ।

Explanation

This verse draws a sharp contrast between the Lord and the soul. Krishna says, ‘Taking hold of My own prakriti, I create.’ Nature is His instrument, not His master. As a skilled potter keeps the clay under his control and shapes it into vessels, so the Lord, presiding over prakriti, shapes the universe.

Beings, on the other hand, are avasham prakriter vashat, helpless under the power of nature. The soul is bound by past karma, latent desires and inborn tendencies, and so is carried into birth after birth. Shankara traces this helplessness to avidya: not knowing its true nature, the soul becomes a servant of the gunas.

An important point follows. The Lord creates, but He does not arbitrarily assign good or bad births. Each being takes birth according to its own karma; the Lord presides over the order impartially. Rain falls equally on a whole field, yet each seed sprouts according to its own kind. Divine power is the same for all; the differences arise from what each being brings.

The phrase punah punah, ‘again and again’, conveys the relentlessness of the cycle. This helplessness ends only when the soul turns to the master of prakriti, for only by His grace is nature’s grip released. As Krishna said in 7.14, those who take refuge in Him alone cross over this maya.

Context

The previous verse described the cycle of dissolution and creation. This one shows that the Lord creates as the master of prakriti while beings are subject to it. The next verse explains why, though He does all this, He is not bound by these actions.

Life lesson

The more we are ruled by habits, cravings and temperament, the less free we are. The way to freedom runs through surrender to God and self-mastery. Aim to be the disciplined master of your nature rather than its servant.

Key terms

Avashtabhya: taking control, presiding over
Bhutagrama: the whole aggregate of beings
Avasha: helpless, under another’s control
Prakriti: primal nature of three gunas, the material cause of the world