9.19 Deathlessness and death Krishna speaks
तपाम्यहमहं वर्षं निगृह्णाम्युत्सृजामि च
अमृतं चैव मृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहमर्जुन
tapāmyaham ahaṁ varṣhaṁ nigṛihṇāmyutsṛijāmi cha
amṛitaṁ chaiva mṛityuśh cha sad asach chāham arjuna
I give heat; I withhold the rain and I send it. I am deathlessness and I am death; I am what is, and what is not, Arjuna.
Explanation
Deathlessness and death.
I give heat; I withhold the rain and I send it. I am what is, and what is not.
The claim is symmetrical and that is the difficulty. Nothing is being kept out of the account — not drought, not death, not non-being — which is the same refusal to hand destruction to somebody else that 7.6 and 13.17 make.
Word by word
- tapāmi
- radiate heat
- aham
- I
- aham
- I
- varṣham
- rain
- nigṛihṇāmi
- withhold
- utsṛijāmi
- send forth
- cha
- and
- amṛitam
- immortality
- cha
- and
- eva
- also
- mṛityuḥ
- death
- cha
- and
- sat
- eternal spirit
- asat
- temporary matter
- cha
- and
- aham
- I
- arjuna
- Arjun
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