Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 9, Verse 17
पिताऽहमस्य जगतो माता धाता पितामहः।
वेद्यं पवित्रमोंकार ऋक् साम यजुरेव च।।
वेद्यं पवित्रमोंकार ऋक् साम यजुरेव च।।
pitāham asya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ
vedyaṁ pavitram oṁkāra ṛk sāma yajur eva ca
also searched as "pitaham asya jagato mata dhata pitamahah"
Translation
I am the father, mother, creator, and grandfather of the universe; I am the purifier. I am the syllable Om, as well as Rk, Saman, and Yajus.
Vāṇi's rendering
I am father and mother of this world, its keeper, its grandsire; the purifier, Om, and the three Vedas.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| पिताpitā | father |
| अहम्aham | I am (joined to the previous word by sandhi: pitā + aham) |
| अस्यasya | of this |
| जगतःjagataḥ | world, all that moves |
| माताmātā | mother |
| धाताdhātā | the one who holds it together, the keeper |
| पितामहःpitāmahaḥ | grandsire, the father of the father |
| वेद्यम्vedyam | the one thing worth knowing |
| पवित्रम्pavitram | the purifier, what makes clean |
| ओंकारःoṁkāraḥ | the syllable Om (final ḥ dropped before ṛk) |
| ऋक्ṛk | the Ṛg Veda |
| सामsāma | the Sāma Veda |
| यजुःyajuḥ | the Yajur Veda (yajuḥ + eva → yajur eva) |
| एवeva | indeed, none other |
| चca | and |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 17 mean?
Krishna names himself as father, mother, keeper and grandsire of the world, and then as the purifier, Om, and the three Vedas. The point is not a list of titles. It is that origin, upkeep, and the very sound by which the sacred is invoked are one being — there is nowhere outside him to stand.
What does pitaham asya jagato mata dhata pitamahah teach us?
It refuses the split between the one who makes and the one who nurtures. Father and mother are spoken in a single breath, and dhātā — the keeper — sits between them. Whatever holds your life together today, Krishna claims that holding as his own work, not a stranger's.
Why does Krishna say He is Om and the three Vedas?
Because the means of approach is not separate from what is approached. Om is not a key that opens a door to Krishna; the syllable is already Krishna. So too the Ṛg, Sāma and Yajur. When you chant, you are not signalling across a gap — you are sounding him.
How can one being be both mother and father of the world?
Only if the being is prior to the division. Begetting and bearing are two faces of one act when there is no second. Krishna is not claiming a role here; he is dissolving the categories we use to keep the source at a comfortable distance.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Father and mother in one breath — Krishna does not choose between them. The one who begets, the one who bears, the one who sustains, the one who stood before all sustaining: all of it, one. Then the list turns strange. He is the purifier, the syllable, the three Vedas — not their author but the sound itself. Arjuna is being told that what he worships and what he worships with are not two. There is no outside from which to approach. When you say the sacred word, the word is already him; you are not reaching across a distance, you are met in your own mouth.