🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 14.3

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)

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.

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'.

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-

।।14.3।। महद् ब्रह्म योनि यहाँ महद् ब्रह्म को भूतमात्र की योनि अर्थात् कारण कहा गया है। परन्तु? यहाँ महद् ब्रह्म यह शब्द सम्पूर्ण विश्वाधिष्ठान परमात्मा के लिये प्रयुक्त नहीं है। यह शब्द जगत् की अव्यक्त अवस्था अर्थात् जड़ प्रकृति को इंगित करता है। वह अपने स्थूल और सूक्ष्म कार्यरूप विकारों की अपेक्षा बड़ी? व्यापक होने से महत् है तथा स्वविकारों का भरणपोषण करने के कारण ब्रह्म कहलाती है। इस प्रकार व्युत्पत्ति के आधार पर प्रकृति को यहाँ महद्ब्रह्म कहा गया है। इसी महद्ब्रह्म के लिये पूर्व के अध्यायों में अपरा प्रकृति? क्षेत्र? प्रकृति इत्यादि शब्दों का प्रयोग किया गया था।उससे मैं गर्भाधान करता हूँ यह महद्ब्रह्मरूप प्रकृति स्वयं जड़ होने के कारण स्वत स्वतन्त्ररूप से सृष्टि नहीं कर सकती है। इसमें शुद्ध चैतन्यस्वरूप परमात्मा जब प्रतिबिम्बित होता है? तब यह चेतनयुक्त होकर सृष्टिकार्य में प्रवृत्त होती है। परमात्मा का इसमें चैतन्यरूप से व्यक्त हो जाना ही गर्भाधान की क्रिया है। इसके फलस्वरूप सर्वप्रथम समष्टि मन को धारण करने वाले ईश्वर जिसे इस अवस्था में वेदान्त के अनुसार हिरण्यगर्भ कहते हैं व्यक्त होता है और तत्पश्चात् असंख्य जीव और नामरूपमय सृष्टि उत्पन्न होती है।सृष्टि की इस प्रक्रिया को हम इस प्रकार समझ सकते हैं कि किसी भी रचनात्मक कार्य का प्रादुर्भाव एवं विकास कर्ता के मन में उदित होने वाली वृत्ति के साथ होता है। जीवनी शक्ति से युक्त होकर वह वृत्ति शक्तिशाली बनकर स्वयं को व्यक्त करने के लिये अधीर हो उठती है। फलत वह विचारों और भावनाओं के रूप में व्यक्त होकर अन्त में कर्मरूप में परिणत हो जाती है। एक चित्रकार अपने विचारों को रंगों के माध्यम से व्यक्त करता है तो एक गायक संगीत के रूप मे शिल्पकार उसे पाषाणों के द्वारा प्रगट करता है और साहित्यकार शब्दों के माध्यम से। परन्तु इनमें से किसी भी कल्पना के मृत हो जाने पर वह अपने विचारों को कर्म रूप में अभिव्यक्त न्ाहीं कर सकता है। जैसे व्यष्टि की सृष्टि है? वैसे ही समष्टि सृष्टि को भी समझना चाहिये।समष्टि वासनाओं? विचारों? भावनाओं एवं कर्मों के संगठित रूप को प्रकृति कहते हैं? जो सत्त्वरजतमोगुणात्मिका होने से इन गुणों से नियन्त्रित होती है। इसी प्रकृति को यहाँ महद्ब्रह्म कहा गया है? जिसे वेदान्त में माया शब्द से भी सूचित किया जाता है। माया के व्यष्टि रूप को ही अविद्या कहते हैं। जीव ओर ईश्वर में भेद यह है कि जीव अविद्या के अधीन रहता है? जबकि ईश्वर माया को अपने वश में रखता है।भगवान् आगे कहते हैं