Gita 9.17

Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga

पिताहमस्य जगतो माता धाता पितामहः । वेद्यं पवित्रमोङ्कार ऋक्साम यजुरेव च ॥

pitāham asya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ | vedyaṁ pavitram oṁkāra ṛk sāma yajur eva ca ||

In essence: The entire cosmic family tree collapses into One - Krishna is simultaneously father, mother, grandfather, and the very syllable Om from which all Vedas emerge.

A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply

Sadhak-Guru Dialogue

Sadhak: "This seems like an exaggeration. How can one being be father, mother, grandfather, and the Vedas all at once? These are distinct things."

Guru: "Tell me, when you dream at night and your dream contains your parents, who is actually appearing as those parents?"

Sadhak: "I suppose... my own mind creates the dream images of my parents."

Guru: "Exactly. And in the dream, they seem completely separate from you, don't they? They speak to you, disagree with you, surprise you. Yet upon waking you realize - one consciousness was appearing as the dreamer, the parents, and the entire dream world. Now consider: what if waking reality operates on the same principle at a cosmic scale?"

Sadhak: "But in my dream, the parents are not real. They disappear when I wake up. My real parents exist independently of my mind."

Guru: "Do they? Where did your parents come from? From their parents. And those from theirs. Trace the line back far enough and you arrive at... what?"

Sadhak: "I don't know. The origin of life. Some first being."

Guru: "And where did that first being come from? From the creative principle itself. Krishna is declaring that He is not just one ancestor in the chain - He is the principle of ancestry itself, appearing as all ancestors. He is not your father competing with your mother - He is the fathering principle and the mothering principle, the masculine and feminine creative forces that appear as separate in manifestation but are one in essence."

Sadhak: "Why mention the Vedas then? What do scriptures have to do with family relationships?"

Guru: "Because after establishing that all beings come from Him, He establishes that all knowledge comes from Him too. The Vedas are humanity's attempt to understand the universe - to know the father, mother, grandfather of existence. And Krishna says: 'That knowledge you seek? I am both the object of that knowledge and the knowledge itself. The questions and the answers arise from Me.' This is why He mentions Oṁkāra first - Om is the sound from which all other sounds emerge. From Om comes the Rig Veda's hymns, the Sama Veda's songs, the Yajur Veda's rituals. All paths of knowing lead to and from the same source."

Sadhak: "So when I study scripture, I am studying Krishna?"

Guru: "More than that - Krishna is studying Himself through you. The seeker is Krishna seeking, the scripture is Krishna teaching, the understanding that arises is Krishna understanding Himself. This verse doesn't just tell you what to worship - it reveals that you have always been within the Divine family, seeking your own origin with tools your origin provided."

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🌅 Daily Practice

🌅 Morning

Before any activity, spend two minutes chanting Om three times - once for each Veda, once for each aspect (father, mother, grandfather). As you chant, feel that you are not calling to a distant deity but vibrating with the very sound that generated the universe. After chanting, acknowledge: 'The One who created me, who nurtures me, whose lineage I carry - that One is within me as this very awareness.' Carry this recognition into your day.

☀️ Daytime

Whenever you interact with parents, elders, or any family member today, pause internally and recognize: 'Krishna is appearing as this person in my life.' This includes difficult family members - the teaching isn't that everyone becomes easy to deal with, but that every relationship is an opportunity to encounter the Divine in disguise. Also, when you learn something new today - from a book, a person, or experience - acknowledge that this knowledge is another form of the Vedas, another way Krishna teaches.

🌙 Evening

Before sleep, contemplate your personal lineage - your parents, grandparents, ancestors extending back in time. See this line not as separate individuals but as one river of life flowing through many forms. Acknowledge that the same life force that animated your ancestors is now animating you, and it will continue through whatever comes after you. Rest in the recognition that you are not a separate droplet but part of an unbroken stream originating in and returning to the infinite ocean of Krishna.

Common Questions

If Krishna is the father, mother, and grandfather of everyone, does that mean we are all literally His children? What about our human parents?

This verse operates on two levels simultaneously. On the relative level, your human parents are real and deserve your respect - they are the immediate instruments through which you came into being. On the absolute level, the creative power that enabled them to create you, the maternal love that nurtured you, the ancestral lineage that carried genetic and cultural inheritance - all of these are manifestations of Krishna's nature. Your parents are like waves through which the ocean expresses itself. Honoring your parents is honoring Krishna appearing as your parents. The verse doesn't invalidate human relationships; it reveals their sacred depth.

Why does Krishna include only three Vedas and not the Atharva Veda?

In the historical context of the Gita, the 'trayi-vidya' or triple Veda tradition was the most prominent framework. The Atharva Veda was sometimes considered a later addition or a specialized branch dealing with practical matters. However, the deeper meaning is that Krishna is not limiting Himself to three books - He is declaring Himself as the principle of revealed knowledge itself. Whether knowledge comes in three forms or thirty, all authentic revelation emerges from the same source. The specific number is less important than the message: all genuine spiritual knowledge, in whatever form, is Krishna speaking.

How can Om be Krishna if Om is also considered Brahman in other texts?

This is precisely the point. Om is Brahman, Krishna is Brahman, and all sacred sounds are expressions of one Reality. The various names - Brahman, Krishna, Om, Tat - are not competing labels for different entities but different doorways into the same infinite room. When you chant Om, you invoke the same presence Krishna speaks of. When you meditate on Brahman, you contemplate Krishna's ultimate nature. The apparent multiplicity of divine names and forms serves to provide multiple access points for seekers with different temperaments, but all paths lead to the recognition that there is only One appearing as many.

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