Verse 14.3

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 14.3:

मम योनिर् महद् ब्रह्म तस्मिन् गर्भं दधाम्य् अहम् ।
सम्भवः सर्व-भूतानां ततो भवति भारत ॥ ३ ॥

mama yonir mahad brahma tasmin garbhaṃ dadhāmy aham |
sambhavaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṃ tato bhavati bhārata || 3 ||

mama–My; yoniḥ–womb; mahat–great; brahma–spirit (in the form of material nature); tasmin–in that (womb); garbham–an embryo (in the form of the hosts of conscious beings); dadhāmi–impregnate; aham–I; sambhavaḥ–birth; sarva-bhūtānām–of all living entities; tataḥ–thereby; bhavati–comes about; bhārata–O descendant of Bharata.

O descendant of Bharata, the immense sum-total of the material reality (brahma) is My womb, which I impregnate with the seeds of the living entities, who are marginal by nature. It is from here that all souls take birth.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

The cause of material bondage is association with the guṇas, the three binding qualities of material nature, which is the consequence of ignorance since time immemorial. To explain this, Śrī Bhagavān is describing how kṣetra (literally, ‘the field’, the material body) and kṣetra-jña (the knower of the field) are born. “Mahat-brahma is My, Parameśvara’s, womb.” That which cannot be divided by time and place and whose limit cannot be ascertained is called mahat (great). Here brahma refers to prakṛti, or material nature, because the creation is an expansion of brahma. In this way, the word mahad-brahma is formed.

In the Śrutis, the word brahma is also sometimes used for prakṛti. Dadhāmi means ‘I place the seed in the form of the jīva in that prakṛti, thereby impregnating it’. Itas tv anyāṃ prakṛtiṃ viddhi me parām jīva-bhūtām (Gītā 7.5). This statement mentions that the source of the conscious entities, the jīva-prakṛti, is the marginal potency, the taṭasthā-śakti, and because it is the life of all beings, the word garbha (conception) has been used. Tataḥ means, ‘All living entities (sarva-bhūtānām) beginning from Lord Brahmā are born as a result of My impregnating material nature (prakṛti).’

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

In this material world, everything happens by the combination of kṣetra (the body) and kṣetra-jña (the living entity).

This combination of prakṛti (material nature) and puruṣa (the living entity) happens only by the will of the Lord. The scorpion lays eggs in a pile of rice. People say that scorpions are born from rice, but in fact, rice is not the cause of the scorpions’ birth. Scorpions are actually born from eggs. In the same way, the birth of the living entity is not caused by material nature. Bhagavān places the living entity, the seed, in the womb of material nature, but people think that the jīva is born from material nature. Every living entity gets a different type of body according to his past actions. Prakṛti simply creates various material bodies under the supervision of Bhagavān. The jīvas who identify themselves with their body enjoy happiness or undergo misery according to their previous activities. It should be clearly understood that Parameśvara is the original cause of both the living entities and the universe.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “The origin of material nature is the universal womb. I impregnate that universal womb, and all beings are born from that. The material aspect of My parā-prakṛti (transcendental nature) is brahma (material nature), into which I place the seeds of the taṭasthā-jīvas. Indeed, all the living entities beginning from Lord Brahmā are born in this way.”