The Divine holds all opposites.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
तपाम्यहमहं वर्षं निगृह्णाम्युत्सृजामि च |अमृतं चैव मृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहमर्जुन ||९-१९||
tapāmyahamahaṃ varṣaṃ nigṛhṇāmyutsṛjāmi ca . amṛtaṃ caiva mṛtyuśca sadasaccāhamarjuna ||9-19||
Use this verse during difficult seasons.
Meaning
I give heat, withhold and send rain; I am immortality and death, being and non-being, O Arjuna.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Krishna is present in life’s opposites.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
This verse expands devotion beyond pleasant experiences. Krishna is present in heat, rain, life, death, presence, and absence.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna now reveals that he is the Divine behind all opposites. As the sun he gives heat; as the heavens he both withholds and releases the rain. He is amrita (immortality) and mrityu (death), sat (being) and asat (non-being). The pairs we experience as contradictions — life and death, presence and absence — are held within a single, encompassing reality.
This is a bold spiritual truth: God is not only the pleasant half of existence but its totality. Death is not God's enemy but God's own face; non-being is not a fall from being but its complement. For the seeker, this dissolves the fearful division of life into good and bad halves.
When even death and dissolution are recognised as the Divine, the dread that shadows human life softens into acceptance, and we can meet both the giving and the taking of life with equanimity.
In daily life
Look for Krishna not only in comfort but also in challenge.
A difficult season may still carry divine teaching.
Try this today
Reflect on one challenge as a place of learning.
Krishna is present through all opposites.Reflect
Where do I fail to see Krishna because life is uncomfortable?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘सत् असत् च अहम्’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on immortality, in other chapters
- Verse 2.20The soul — your deepest nature — was never born and will never die. Death is a transition for the body, not the end of consciousness.
- Verse 13.13The ultimate reality cannot be boxed into our usual categories — knowing it directly is what liberates.
- Verse 14.20Rising beyond Nature's three qualities frees you from birth, decay, and death, awakening the deathless Self you have always been.
- Verse 7.30Steady remembrance of the Divine woven through life holds firm even at death's threshold — practice now what you wish to recall then.
Swipe left for 9.20 · Merit can give pleasure, but not final freedom.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 9.19
Who says Bhagavad Gita 9.19, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 9.19, in Chapter 9, Raja Vidya Yoga (Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 9.19 mean?
I give heat, withhold and send rain; I am immortality and death, being and non-being, O Arjuna. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 9.19 for daily life?
Look for Krishna not only in comfort but also in challenge. A difficult season may still carry divine teaching.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 9.19 mean?
तपामि अहम् — I give heat (as the sun); अहं वर्षम् — I am the rain; निगृह्णामि — I withhold; उत्सृजामि च — and I send forth; अमृतम् च एव — immortality indeed.
Where does verse 9.19 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 19 of 34 in Chapter 9, Raja Vidya Yoga. The next verse is 9.20.