A declaration · expansive in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“All birth comes from a source beyond personal control.”
O Bharata, my primal nature is the womb; I place the seed in it. From that, all beings are born.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallymy · womb, source · great nature · in that · seed, embryo · I place · I · coming into being, birth · of all beings · from that · comes to be · O Bharata
All living forms arise from the union of primal nature and the seed placed within it. Krishna is explaining how birth itself unfolds.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga" (The Three Modes of Material Nature).
Verse 3 sits in Chapter 14 of the Bhagavad Gita — Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga, "The Three Modes of Material Nature". The chapter has 27 verses in total.
In a village where everyone sows rice, every family knows a crop needs both soil and seed. Krishna describes all birth that way: primal nature as the womb, himself as the one who places the seed.
Did you like this verse?
Great Brahman, prakriti, is the womb, Krishna says, and he places the seed in it, from which all beings come.
What this verse means
All living forms arise from the union of primal nature and the seed placed within it. Krishna is explaining how birth itself unfolds.
Context & commentary
Krishna turns from philosophy to cosmic explanation. After speaking of the supreme reality, he explains how all beings come into birth: primal nature is the source, and the seed is placed within it.
What it looks like today
In a village where everyone sows rice, every family knows a crop needs both soil and seed. Krishna describes all birth that way: primal nature as the womb, himself as the one who places the seed.
“The world is not random. Life arises through a deeper order already at work.”
Explore related themes: prakriti (31 verses)