Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9, Verse 19

तपाम्यहमहं वर्षं निगृह्णाम्युत्सृजामि च । अमृतं चैव मृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहमर्जुन

tapāmyahamahaṃ varṣaṃ nigṛhṇāmyutsṛjāmi ca | amṛtaṃ caiva mṛtyuśca sadasaccāhamarjuna

Translation

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

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

tapāmi

burn

aham

I

varṣam

rain

nigṛhṇāmi

hold back

utsṛjāmi

let go

ca

and

amṛtam

immortality

ca

and

eva

even

mṛtyuḥ

death

ca

and

sat

being

asat

non-being

ca

and

aham

I

arjuna

O Arjuna

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

As the sun I give heat by some powerful rays; by certain rays I send forth rain; and having sent it forth I take it back by certain rays during eight months, and again send it forth in the rainy season. I am the immortality of the gods (devas) and the death of the mortals. I am existence — the manifested, the effect, which manifests itself in relation to the cause; and I am the reverse, the non-existence — the unmanifested, the cause. The Lord can never be altogether non-existent.