Verse 9.18

Verse 9.18: “(I am) the Goal, the Sustainer, the Lord, the Witness, the Abode, the Refuge, the Benefactor; the Origin, the Dissolution, the Stay, the Ark, the Seed Imperishable. (278)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

That great Abode am I, where, as to a haven of rest retires the primeval nature, in which is stored the entire universe of living and nonliving things. I am in fact the Lord of the Goddess of Plenty and Wealth of the entire cosmic creation; by Me the Prakriti lives; by My presiding authority she gives birth to the universe; and thus I am the eternal enjoyer of the creations out of the three gunas of Prakriti. I am the sovereign Lord of the universe. By My command, does she spread out everywhere. So does wind waft unceasingly, and fire bum; and clouds shower (rain); the mountains too shall not stir from their places, the seas shall not outflow their limits; so too the earth shall bear the weight of all beings—all these live and move by My command. Why, even the Vedic word is utterance inspired by Me; and the Sun moves when moved by Me. The vital air (Prana—prāṇa) which is the source of life in the world, moves when moved by Me, and death itself works under My sway and lays its hand on mortals. These Gods are then the servants, who work at My behest—their sovereign Lord and Master.

Though I am the sovereign Lord and Master over the entire creation, yet am I the universal spectator, Oh son of Pandu, like the sky; I am also the one that pervades all created things of diverse names and forms and also their support. Just as there arise ripples in water and yet water fills these ripples, I am likewise the support that sustains the entire created world which thus lives in Me and by Me. One who dedicates his life to Me devotedly is freed by Me from the bondage of birth and death. I am, therefore, the sole refuge to those who live by staking all on Me. I am essentially one supreme unity; yet become manifold through the qualities of Prakriti and thus I live the manifold life of the living world. Is not the Sun reflected (in water) without distinction of sea or a pond? So am I the inward spirit and most endeared friend of all alike, from the God Brahmadev [Brahmadeva] downwards. I am thus, O Pandav [Pandava], the fountain-head of all vitality in the Universe: the root-cause of creation and destruction of the world.

The seed buds into a tree and yet the entire life of the tree is again stored up in the seed; so is the universe created from the primeval Will and in the end reabsorbed into that Will. The Will, being in essence the non-manifest desires rolled up, is the seed of the universe, and at the end of the cycle of creation (kalpa) reverts to its original home that is I, The Supreme Lord. Here space is nought, and so, names and forms cease to exist. Separate individual things disappear and all distinction of kind too dissolves. At that time I am the treasure-house where, as to an antechamber of creations, all the Gods, with the latent powers of desires rolled into the will to create, retire and recoup themselves for the next creation.