All life has a divine source.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तयः सम्भवन्ति याः |तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रदः पिता ||१४-४||
sarvayoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ . tāsāṃ brahma mahadyonirahaṃ bījapradaḥ pitā ||14-4||
Use this verse for reverence toward all life.
Meaning
Whatever forms arise in all wombs, O Kaunteya, the great Brahman is their womb, and I am the seed-giving Father.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Krishna is the seed-giving Father of all forms of life.
Word-by-word meaning
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Explanation
This verse expands compassion. All beings, across forms and species, arise from the same divine source. Spiritual vision should create reverence for life.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna widens the image from the previous verse to embrace the entire range of life. Whatever form takes shape — in any species, any womb, mineral to deity — its material mother is the same mahad brahma, primordial Nature, and its spiritual father is the same Lord who imparts the seed of consciousness. Behind the dazzling variety of creatures stands a single source.
The practical fruit of this teaching is a deep vision of kinship. If every being shares one universal womb and one seed-giving Father, then all life is family at the root. Differences of body and circumstance are real, but secondary.
This is the metaphysical ground of compassion and equanimity that the chapter will later describe in the person who has transcended the guṇas. To know that the same Father seeds all forms is to lose the basis for contempt toward any of them.
In daily life
Respect every life-form as part of Krishna’s creation.
A person can treat animals and nature with more care after seeing Krishna as source of all beings.
Try this today
Do one small act of care for nature or an animal.
I honor Krishna as the source of all life.Reflect
How does this verse change my view of other life forms?
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Quick check
What does ‘कौन्तेय’ mean in this verse?
The Gita on compassion, in other chapters
- Verse 6.29A harmonized mind sees one Self in all beings and all beings in the Self — the vision of true oneness.
- Verse 13.17The one undivided Self only appears as countless separate beings — beneath the many, all is one.
- Verse 7.4Even your mind, intellect, and ego belong to Nature — you are the awareness witnessing them, not the instruments themselves.
- Verse 11.15 · ArjunaAll the powers and beings of creation, even the creator himself, abide within the one Divine.
Swipe left for 14.5 · The gunas shape and bind experience.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 14.4
Who says Bhagavad Gita 14.4, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 14.4, in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga (Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 14.4 mean?
Whatever forms arise in all wombs, O Kaunteya, the great Brahman is their womb, and I am the seed-giving Father. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 14.4 for daily life?
Respect every life-form as part of Krishna’s creation. A person can treat animals and nature with more care after seeing Krishna as source of all beings.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 14.4 mean?
सर्वयोनिषु — in all wombs / species; कौन्तेय — O son of Kunti (Arjuna); मूर्तयः — forms / bodies; सम्भवन्ति याः — which are produced; तासाम् — of them.
Where does verse 14.4 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 4 of 27 in Chapter 14, Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 14.5.