14-3

मम योनिः महत् ब्रह्म तस्मिन् गर्भम् दधाम्यहम् ।
सम्भवः सर्व भूतानाम् ततो भवति भारत ॥ ३ ॥

mama yoniH mahat brahma tasmin garbham dadhAmyaham |
sambhavaH sarva bhUtAnAm tato bhavati bhArata || 3 ||

भारत [bhArata] Arjuna, ब्रह्म [brahma] the universe मम योनिः [mama yoniH] it is My womb. महत् [mahat] It is a manifestation of the plasma that resulted from cosmic inflation . तस्मिन् [tasmin] In that, अहम् दधामि [aham dadhAmi] I bring together गर्भम् [garbham] life that can reproduce. ततः [tataH] Then, सम्भवः [sambhavaH] the creation सर्व भूतानाम् [sarva bhUtAnAm] of all beings भवति [bhavati] happens.

My universe is the origin from which everything came into being. That is My womb. In that, I infuse consciousness and give birth. The Lord described this in 7-4 by explaining His material attribute: ‘This universe of mine is divided into eight categories: Solids, liquids, gasses, energy, space, mind, the gross collections and the notion of individuality.’

Before creation, the Lord’s inanimate matter exists as the subtle singularity . At the time of creation, it changes into plasma, then into the state in which subatomic particles were formed, then the atoms and then the five elements of Solids, liquids, gasses, energy and space.

Since it expands into this huge universe, it’s called as महत् ब्रह्म [mahat brahma] , the one which becomes huge.

It isn’t common to use the word ब्रह्म [brahma] to refer to the universe. The word ब्रह्म [brahma] means something that’s expansive. Though it is commonly used to describe the principal architect of the universe, it is also used in several places to mean the universe itself. This is illustrated next.

In the scriptures, the universe has been referred to by the word ब्रह्म [brahma] , as in मुंडक, १-१-९ [muMDaka, 1-1-9] : ‘This material world gets created, becomes recognizable and gets ready to be experienced. This material world, known as ‘brahma’ comes from the One who is aware of everything, has full depth of understanding and whose endeavors are full of awareness’.

The inanimate matter in the material world is one attribute of the Lord. The conscious Self is the other.

The Self is described to be beyond the material environment in 7-5: ‘My ultimate nature is distinct from the universe. It is in the form of a conscious being by whom this world is sustained’. This supreme attribute of the Lord has been described as the set of all that’s conscious.

The conscious Self, when infused in the environment, acts as the seed to create all beings. This is how these beings are created in the womb.

The Lord continues - ‘In the huge universe, which is My inanimate womb, I give birth – I bring together this environment and the collection of consciousness.

The inanimate environment is experienced; The Self is the one who experiences – this attribute of Mine brings consciousness to the world. I bring the Self and its environment together.

Then, all beings, right from the principal engineer of the universe down to a germ, come into being from My two attributes - the environment and the Self. They are joined by My will’.

Next, the Lord says that even after creating this universe, He continues to bring together His inanimate and conscious attributes in each being that is born.