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BG 9.19 — 9.19 (As the sun) I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also death, existence and non-existence, O Arjuna.
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तपाम्यहमहं वर्षं निगृह्णाम्युत्सृजामि च |
अमृतं चैव मृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहमर्जुन ||९-१९||

tapāmyahamahaṃ varṣaṃ nigṛhṇāmyutsṛjāmi ca . amṛtaṃ caiva mṛtyuśca sadasaccāhamarjuna ||9-19||


9.19 (As the sun) I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also death, existence and non-existence, O Arjuna.

Word-by-word meanings

9.19 तपामि give heat? अहम् I? अहम् I? वर्षम् rain? निगृह्णामि withhold? उत्सृजामि send forth? च and? अमृतम् immortality? च and? एव also? मृत्युः death? च and? सत् existence? असत् nonexistence? च and? अहम् I? अर्जुन O Arjuna.Commentary I radiate heat in the form of the sun. I send forth the rain in the form of Indra in the rainy season and I take it back during the rest of the year.Sat Existence? the manifested world (the effect).Asat Nonexistence? the unmanifested (the cause).Nonexistence does n

Commentaries

Non-dualism. The individual self and Brahman are one. The world is appearance (maya). Liberation through knowledge.

Swami Gambirananda

9.19 O Arjuna, I give heat, I withhold and pour down rain. I am verily the nectar, and also death existence and nonexistence.

Sri Shankaracharya

9.19 O Arjuna, aham, I, in the form of the sun; tapami, give heat through some intense rays. Through some rays utsrjami, I pour down; varsam, rain. Having poured down, again nigrhnami, I withdraw it through some rays-for eight months. Again I pour it down in the rainy season. I am eva ca, verily; the amrtam, nectar of the gods; and mrtyuh, death of the mortals. I Myself am sat, existence-the effect which has come into bneing in relation to its cause; and its opposite, asat, nonexistence. [Nonexistence: the cause which has not become manifest as the effect possessing name and form, It cannot be admitted that the effect has absolute existence, for the Upanisad says, 'All transformation has speech as it basis, and it is name only' (Ch.6. 1. 4). Nor can it be said that the cause has absolute non-existence, for there is the text,'৷৷.by what logic can the existent come verily out of nonexistence? But surely,৷৷.all this was Existence, one without a second' (op. cit. 6.2.2).] It is not that the Lord is Himself absolutely nonexistence; nor are effect and cause (absolutely) existence and nonexistent (respectively). Those men of Knowledge who meditate of Me while worshpping Me according to the respective forms of sacrifices mentioned above-regardomg Me as one or multifirious, etc.-, they attain Me alone according to their conceptions.

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This interpretation draws on the Advaita tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

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