Bhagavad Gita 9.17
पिताहमस्य जगतो माता धाता पितामहः | वेद्यं पवित्रमोङ्कार ऋक्साम यजुरेव च ||
pitāham asya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ | vedyaṁ pavitram oṅkāra ṛk sāma yajur eva ca ||
Translation
I am the father of this world, the mother, the sustainer, the grandfather, the object of knowledge, the purifier, the syllable Oṁ, the Ṛk, the Sāma, and the Yajus.
Reflection
Which inherited name for the source comes most naturally to you?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Nine
The Aham widens. Krishna is father and mother and sustainer and grandfather of the world. He is the object of knowledge. He is the purifier. He is the syllable Om and the three Vedas, Rik, Sama, and Yajur. The list moves from family role to cognitive role to scriptural ground. Each of these is something the listener already venerates under some name. Krishna is collecting the venerations into one. Note the pairing of pita and mata in a single line. The verse refuses the ancient instinct to assign creation only to the male principle. The same source is named under both. A devotee with a particular instinctive attachment, to a father figure or to a mother, finds it received and accepted under whichever name first comes naturally.