Shloka

तपाम्यहमहं वर्षं निगृह्णाम्युत्सृजामि च |
अमृतं चैव मृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहमर्जुन ||९-१९||

Transliteration

tapāmyahamahaṃ varṣaṃ nigṛhṇāmyutsṛjāmi ca .
amṛtaṃ caiva mṛtyuśca sadasaccāhamarjuna ||9-19||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

9.19. I give heat; I hold back and also end forth rains; I am immortality and also death, the real and also the unreal, O Arjuna !

Shri Purohit Swami

9.19 I am the Heat of the Sun, I release and hold back the Rains. I am Death and Immortality; I am Being and Not-Being.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

9.16-19 Ahim kratuh etc. upto Arjuna. The Brahman-being is of course only one and admits of no parts. The action also depends only on the assumed [or not real] causes. Hence, it accomplishes the aloneness (or oneness) of the Brahman. For, if it is performed with the realisation that all the different causes are nothing but the Self, then the action is not far away from reaching the Bhagavat. That has also been stated -

‘This self same action-power of Siva, if it exists in the ignorant, binds [him]; the same power, when it is realised that it is a path to his own Self [Siva], then it leads to the goal (the Lord).’ (SpK, III, 16).

I have myself (Ag.) stated elsewhere as :

The intellect that confirms, in the beginning, to [the duality of] the beings and the non-beings; the same intellect does not conform, at the time of withdrawl, to [the duality of] the beings and the non-beings.

This subject has been discussed in detail in different places. Hence let us stop [the present discussion] here.

I give heat etc. This is said in the context of discussing the One that admits no duality. But if the Brahman can be attained by means of external sacrifices also, then, is a different god (different from Vasudeva) worshipped in the sacrifices like the Agnistoma ? If it is admitted, then it would lead to the doctrine of duality. If [on the other hand] it is Vasudeva Himself, the how is it that emancipation is not attained by the performence [of these sacrifices] ? Therefore it is stated -

Sri Ramanuja

9.19 I send out ‘heat’ in the form of fire, the sun etc. I ‘hold back’ the rain during summer. Likewise, I pour out the rains during the rainy season. I am ‘immortality as well as death’ - I am both these conditions through which the world lives and dies. Why say more? I am ’the being and the non-being.’ Being is that which exists in the present time. Non-being is that which existed in the past and that which may exist in the future, but is not experienced now as existing. The meaning is that, I alone am existent, having all the entities for my modes, as all intelligent and inhert beings existing in all states, constitute My body. In this way, they (the wise) worship Me, contemplating, through the realisation of My essential unity, as the entire universe distinguished by names and forms and characterished by varied pluralities constituting My body. I alone exist; all the pluralities are only My modes.

Thus, after depiciting the character of the noble-minded, whose enjoyment consists of only the experience of the Lord, and in order to bring into bolder relief their greatness, He describes the behaviour of ignorant men who covet the objects of desire.

Sri Shankaracharya

9.19 O Arjuna, aham, I, in the form of the sun; tapami, give heat through some intense rays. Through some rays utsrjami, I pour down; varsam, rain. Having poured down, again nigrhnami, I withdraw it through some rays-for eight months. Again I pour it down in the rainy season. I am eva ca, verily; the amrtam, nectar of the gods; and mrtyuh, death of the mortals. I Myself am sat, existence-the effect which has come into bneing in relation to its cause; and its opposite, asat, nonexistence. [Nonexistence: the cause which has not become manifest as the effect possessing name and form, It cannot be admitted that the effect has absolute existence, for the Upanisad says, ‘All transformation has speech as it basis, and it is name only’ (Ch.6. 1. 4). Nor can it be said that the cause has absolute non-existence, for there is the text,‘৷৷.by what logic can the existent come verily out of nonexistence? But surely,৷৷.all this was Existence, one without a second’ (op. cit. 6.2.2).] It is not that the Lord is Himself absolutely nonexistence; nor are effect and cause (absolutely) existence and nonexistent (respectively). Those men of Knowledge who meditate of Me while worshpping Me according to the respective forms of sacrifices mentioned above-regardomg Me as one or multifirious, etc.-, they attain Me alone according to their conceptions.

Swami Adidevananda

9.19 I give heat. I hold back and send forth the rain. I am immortality as well as death, O Arjuna. I am the being, as also the non-being.

Swami Gambirananda

9.19 O Arjuna, I give heat, I withhold and pour down rain. I am verily the nectar, and also death existence and nonexistence.

Swami Sivananda

9.19 (As the sun) I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also death, existence and non-existence, O Arjuna.

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

9.19 तपामि give heat? अहम् I? अहम् I? वर्षम् rain? निगृह्णामि withhold? उत्सृजामि send forth? च and? अमृतम् immortality? च and? एव also? मृत्युः death? च and? सत् existence? असत् nonexistence? च and? अहम् I? अर्जुन O Arjuna.Commentary I radiate heat in the form of the sun. I send forth the rain in the form of Indra in the rainy season and I take it back during the rest of the year.Sat Existence? the manifested world (the effect).Asat Nonexistence? the unmanifested (the cause).Nonexistence does not mean nothingness. The subtle? unmanifested cause is spoken of as nonexitence. The Self or Brahman or the Eternal can never be altogether nonexistence. It always exists. It is Existence Absolute. If you say that the subtle unmanifested cause is nothing? it is impossible to conceive existence coming out of nothing. The Chhandogya Upanishad asks? How can existence come out of nonexistence It is simply absurd to conceive that existence has arisen out of nonexistence (nothing).For a Vedantin ( student or follower of Vedanta) Brahman (the Absolute) is Sat (existence) because It always exists and because It is unchanging. This manifested world is Asat or unreal. For the worldlyminded people who have neither understanding nor knowledge of Brahman? who are endowed with gross and impure mind? who do not have a sharp and subtle intellect? and who ca perceive the gross forms only? this manifested world is the Sat and the subtle unmanifested MulaPrakriti (the primordial Nature)? the cause of this manifested world? is Asat. For them Brahman also is Asat. The unmanifested refers to MulaPrakriti and Para Brahman also because both are hidden.Every object has three states? viz.? the gross (Sthula)? the subtle (Sukshma) and the causal (Karana). Mahakarana (the great causeless cause) is Para Brahman. The gross and the subtle states are the effects of Karana. What you see outside is the physical body. This physical body is moved by the astral (the subtle) body made up of the mind? liferoce and the senses. The causal body is the seedbody. From this seedbody have sprung the subtle and the gross bodies. Take the case of an orange. The outer skin is its physical body the inner pulp or essence is the subtle body the innermost causal body which gives rise to the pulp and the outer skin is the seed. This is only a gross illustration. The orange has got another kind of subtle and causal bodies. The worldlyminded man beholds the physical body only and takes this as the Truth. For him? the astral and the causal bodies are unreal.