Shloka 17
पिताहमस्य जगतो माता धाता पितामह: । वेद्यं पवित्रमोंकार ऋक् साम यजुरेव च,इस सम्पूर्ण जगत॒का धाता अर्थात् धारण करनेवाला एवं कर्मोंके फलको देनेवाला, पिता, माता,” पितामह,* जाननेयोग्य, पवित्र, ओंकार* तथा ऋग्वेद, सामवेद और यजुर्वेद भी मैं ही हूँ"?
arjuna uvāca | pitāham asya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ | vedyaṁ pavitram oṁkāra ṛk sāma yajur eva ca ||
The Lord declared: “I am the father of this whole world, its mother, the sustainer and dispenser of the fruits of actions, and the grandsire. I am that which is to be known; I am the purifier; I am the sacred syllable Oṁ; and I am also the Ṛg, the Sāma, and the Yajur Veda.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The Lord is presented as the ultimate origin (father), nurturer (mother), sustainer and moral governor (dhātā as giver of karmic results), and the primordial ancestor (pitāmaha). He is also the supreme object of knowledge and the purifier, identified with Oṁ and with the three Vedas—indicating that all sacred authority and spiritual practice culminate in Him.
Within Arjuna’s dialogue with Kṛṣṇa, this verse occurs in the section where the Lord declares His all-pervading sovereignty. Arjuna voices (or echoes) the Lord’s cosmic identity: the divine is not merely a battlefield guide but the very ground of the universe and the essence of Vedic revelation.