Sanskrit
सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः संभवन्ति याः । तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रदः पिता ॥
sarvayoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ tāsāṃ brahma mahad yonir ahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitā
Translation
In whatsoever wombs mortals are produced, O Kaunteya, the great Eternal is their womb, I their generating father.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Verse 3 generalized here: whatever form a being takes, born from whatever womb, the same two-part origin applies — prakriti as the universal womb, Krishna as the seed-giving father. This closes the cosmogonic preamble. Having established that every embodied being’s substance comes from nature, the chapter can now ask the question it actually cares about: what is it about that nature-given substance that binds the being living inside it? Verse 5 answers directly. “Whatever forms are born in any womb” — bird, tree, god, human — all have prakṛti as mother and Krishna as bīja-prada pitā, seed-giving father. The claim universalises BG 14.3 across every species at once.
Study deeper
Word by word
- sarvayoniṣu kaunteyaसर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय
- in all wombs, O son of Kuntī (sarva-yoniṣu + kaunteya)
- mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥमूर्तयः संभवन्ति याः
- whatever forms come to be (mūrtayaḥ + sambhavanti + yāḥ)
- tāsāṃ brahma mahad yonirतासां ब्रह्म महद् योनिः
- the great Brahman is their womb (tāsām + brahma + mahat + yoniḥ)
- ahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitāअहं बीजप्रदः पिता
- I am the seed-giving father (aham + bīja-pradaḥ + pitā)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Having stated the dual origin once in verse 3, Krishna doesn’t move on — he generalizes it to every possible womb, every kind of birth, before letting the subject change. That’s a deliberate sequencing choice: nail the principle down as universal first, and only then ask what actually follows from it, in verse 5. Rushing to consequence before generalizing would have left an exception somewhere for a listener to hide in.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Before you act on a rule you've noticed in your own behavior, check whether it actually holds across every case, not just the one that prompted it — a principle you haven't generalized yet still has hiding places for the exception you'd rather keep.
Professional
- Before proposing a fix based on one incident, verify the underlying pattern holds across every similar case in your system — a root cause claimed too narrowly leaves room for the same failure to recur somewhere you didn't check.
Family & Social
- Before you draw a lesson from one disagreement and apply it going forward, check whether it actually holds across the different situations in the relationship, not just the one you happen to be upset about right now.
Ask yourself
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