Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Krishna continues to mention how various universal manifestation are connected to Him. 

Bg 9.19

tapāmy aham ahaṁ varṣaṁ
nigṛhṇāmy utsṛjāmi ca
amṛtaṁ caiva mṛtyuś ca
sad asac cāham arjuna

Word for word: 

tapāmi — give heat; aham — I; aham — I; varṣam — rain; nigṛhṇāmi — withhold; utsṛjāmi — send forth; ca — and; amṛtam — immortality; ca — and; eva — certainly; mṛtyuḥ — death; ca — and; sat — spirit; asat — matter;ca — and; aham — I; arjuna — O Arjuna.

Translation: 

O Arjuna, I give heat, and I withhold and send forth the rain. I am immortality, and I am also death personified. Both spirit and matter are in Me.

 

tapāmy aham, it is I who give heat

ahaṁ varṣaṁ, it is I who cause the rains 

nigṛhṇāmy utsṛjāmi ca, it is I who hold back rains and it is I who send forth rains.

amṛtaṁ caiva mṛtyuś ca, it is I who is mortality, and I am death, 

sad asac cāham Arjuna, I am matter and spirit, it can be cause and effect at various places.

The point here is we see everything in the universe as connected with Absolute Truth, even from the point of material science the Sun is critical for existence which gives heat and light without which we will not survive, so Krishna is saying it is I who give heat and energy and similarly we need water and it is Krishna who is providing water and Krishna who is withholding water. So here Krishna is taking conception into something broader, so till previous verse it was more in terms of positives, I am the shelter I am the well-wisher, I am the maintainer, I am the destination, so we see God in the positives of the world but what about the negatives in this world there are positives and negatives, so we see rains coming is good, but when rains doesn’t come we say that is bad, so if the rain coming is by God’s will is it that rain not coming is also God’s will? So here the point which we have to understand is the God is neutral, that Krishna has talked in 9.9, udāsīna-vad āsīnam, that whatever creation, maintenance and destruction happens He is like a judge, overseeing but not having an emotional agenda against anyone, He is detached, unbiased, neutral, but we see both positive and negative as manifestation of power of Absolute Truth. so devotees learn to see God both in positives and negatives of the world. So when bombs was falling on Kolkata, Prabhupada see that also Krishna coming but that was not very pleasant form of Krishna, so devotees see Krishna everywhere. So meaning of Krishna is coming is not Krishna is on the side of Japanese but power of death is also manifestation of Krishna. So Krishna gives the knowledge by which immortality can be achieved and also one who doesn’t chooses so will continue in cycle of birth and death, 

We have talked in 7.4 and 7.5 how matter and spirit are both energies of Krishna and in 7.6 Krishna said whatever exist in material world is a combination of both and both comes from Him, 

So this way Krishna is helping us to see everything in material world with an spiritual vision. So this is Vishwa Roopa Upasana. But Krishna is revealing something very important here which is often not known to one who is doing Vishwa Roopa Upasana, that is when normal people do Vishwa Roopa Upasana they do not know that it is Krishna whom they are worshiping through Visva Roopa Upasana, that is why in SB when Vishwa Roopa Upasana is talked it is talked that it is first step in God realisation and from first step later steps will come. It is first step as one starts thinking about God as His manifestation of gigantic manifestation, but here Krishna is helping Vishwa Roopa Upashaka in understanding that actually all this is connected with Me. And all this is ultimately going to lead to Me. So I am the ultimate goal of all this.

End of transcription.