14.4
सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय
मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः ।
तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिर्
अहं बीजप्रदः पिता ॥
sarvayoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṃ brahma mahad yonir ahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitā
Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) is still speaking, to Arjuna (अर्जुन).
The verse
Whatever forms come to be in all wombs, son of Kuntī (कुन्ती), of those the great Brahman (ब्रह्म) is the womb, and I am the father who gives the seed.
नेपालीमा
सबै योनिमा जेजस्ता रूप बन्छन्, हे कुन्तीका छोरा, तिनीहरूको योनि महान् ब्रह्म हो, र बीज दिने पिता म हुँ।
Where it sits
14.3 was one womb and one germ, and this verse spreads that pair over every womb: the great Brahman (ब्रह्म) remains the womb, and he remains the father.
Split: सर्व-योनिषु + कौन्तेय + मूर्तयः + सम्भवन्ति + याः + तासाम् + ब्रह्म + महत् + योनिः + अहम् + बीज-प्रदः + पिता
sarva-yoniṣu + kaunteya + mūrtayaḥ + sambhavanti + yāḥ + tāsām + brahma + mahat + yoniḥ + aham + bīja-pradaḥ + pitā
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| देवनागरी | Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| सर्व-योनिषु | sarva-yoniṣu | locative plural | in all wombs. |
| कौन्तेय | kaunteya | vocative | son of Kuntī (कुन्ती). |
| मूर्तयः | mūrtayaḥ | nominative plural | forms. mūrti (मूर्ति) is a formed body, and it is feminine. |
| सम्भवन्ति | sambhavanti | present, 3rd plural | they come to be. |
| याः | yāḥ | nominative feminine plural | which. Agrees with mūrtayaḥ (मूर्तयः). |
| तासाम् | tāsām | genitive feminine plural | of those. The correlative of yāḥ (याः). |
| ब्रह्म | brahma | nominative neuter | Brahman (ब्रह्म). |
| महत् | mahat | nominative neuter | great. Agrees with brahma (ब्रह्म). |
| योनिः | yoniḥ | nominative feminine | the womb. |
| अहम् | aham | nominative | I. |
| बीज-प्रदः | bīja-pradaḥ | nominative | the giver of the seed. bīja (बीज) is seed. prada (प्रद) is "who gives," from pra-dā (प्र-दा). |
| पिता | pitā | nominative of pitṛ (पितृ) | the father. |
The phrases
sarva-yoniṣu mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ (सर्व-योनिषु मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः) opens the net. Whatever forms come to be, in whatever womb. yāḥ (याः) is feminine because mūrti (मूर्ति) is feminine. kaunteya (कौन्तेय) only calls him.
tāsāṃ brahma mahat yoniḥ (तासां ब्रह्म महत् योनिः) is the one womb under all of those wombs. Of those forms, the great Brahman (ब्रह्म) is the womb. tāsām (तासाम्) answers yāḥ (याः).
ahaṃ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (अहं बीज-प्रदः पिता) is his part, the same part as the germ in 14.3. He is the father, the one who gives the seed.
Sanskrit in this line
yāḥ (याः) and tāsām (तासाम्) are one relative pair, and the gender is doing the work. mūrti (मूर्ति) is feminine, so the relative is yāḥ (याः), not ye (ये), and the correlative is tāsām (तासाम्), not teṣām (तेषाम्). "Of those" means of those forms. Lose the feminine and the womb is no longer answering the forms.
Say it back
Cover the English. Say the womb, then the father. If pitā (पिता) is said of the great Brahman (ब्रह्म), stay here. The Brahman (ब्रह्म) is the womb. He is the father.