Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 13
चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः।
तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्।।
तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्।।
cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ
tasya kartāram api māṁ viddhyakartāram avyayam
also searched as "chaturvarnyam maya srishtam guna karma vibhagashah"
Translation
The system of four stations was created by Me, according to the distinction of Gunas and Karma. Though I am their creator, know Me to be non-agent and immutable.
Vāṇi's rendering
I made the four varnas, divided by quality and work. Yet know me as the changeless non-doer behind it.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| चातुर्वर्ण्यम्cātur-varṇyaṁ | the fourfold order of varṇas — the four stations of human work |
| मयाmayā | by me |
| सृष्टम्sṛṣṭaṁ | brought forth, made |
| गुणकर्मविभागशःguṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ | divided according to inner quality and the work that follows from it |
| तस्यtasya | of that |
| कर्तारम्kartāram | the maker, the one who does it |
| अपिapi | even so, though |
| माम्māṁ | me |
| विद्धिviddhi | know (joined with the next word by sandhi: viddhi + akartāram) |
| अकर्तारम्akartāram | the non-doer, one who performs nothing |
| अव्ययम्avyayam | changeless, never spent |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 13 mean?
Krishna says the fourfold order came from him, sorted by guṇa and karma — inner quality and the work it produces. Then he adds the hard part: though he made it, he is no doer in it, and nothing in it touches him. The order is real. It is not ultimate, and it is not what he is.
What does chaturvarnyam maya srishtam mean?
"I made the four varṇas." But read the next word — vibhāgaśaḥ, by division, and the division named is guṇa-karma, not birth. Krishna is describing how temperament and labour sort themselves in any society. He owns the pattern and then, in the same verse, steps out of it entirely.
Does this verse justify the caste system by birth?
The verse says guṇa and karma, not janma. What Krishna divides is quality and work, which are seen in a person, not inherited on paper. Later custom hardened this into birth; the Gītā's own word does not. And Krishna immediately calls himself akartā — not the doer of it, not defending it.
How can Krishna be the creator and the non-doer at the same time?
Sunlight makes the seed split, the vine climb, the fruit ripen — and does none of it. Action belongs to guṇa acting on guṇa. Krishna is the changeless ground that lets the turning turn. This is the same freedom he is offering you: be fully in the work, and untouched by it.
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Commentary
Krishna claims the four varṇas and disowns them in the same breath. He does not say birth divided people; he says quality and work did — guṇa and karma, what someone is made of and what they do with it. Then the stranger half: the maker is not the doer. What is made runs by its own turning, and Krishna stands changeless behind it, unstained by the machinery. Arjuna is being shown that even the order he was born into is not the last word about him. Your station describes your work. It does not describe the one doing it.