Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 6
अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन्।
प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय संभवाम्यात्ममायया।।
प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय संभवाम्यात्ममायया।।
ajo ’pi sannavyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san
prakṛtiṁ svām adhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmyātma-māyayā
also searched as "ajo pi sannavyayatma bhutanam ishvaro pi san"
Translation
Though I am birthless and of immutable nature, and the Lord of all beings, yet by employing My own Nature (Prakrti), I am born out of My own free will.
Vāṇi's rendering
Unborn, undying, lord of all beings — yet commanding my own nature, I take birth by my own power.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अजःajaḥ | unborn (appears as 'ajo' before the following word) |
| अपिapi | though, even |
| सन्san | being |
| अव्ययात्माavyaya-ātmā | of undecaying self, imperishable in nature |
| भूतानाम्bhūtānām | of all beings |
| ईश्वरःīśvaraḥ | lord, master (appears as 'īśvaro' before the following word) |
| अपिapi | though, even |
| सन्san | being |
| प्रकृतिम्prakṛtim | nature, the creative ground of all becoming |
| स्वाम्svām | my own |
| अधिष्ठायadhiṣṭhāya | standing over, taking command of |
| सम्भवामिsambhavāmi | I come into being, I take birth |
| आत्ममाययाātma-māyayā | by my own power of appearing |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 6 mean?
It means Krishna's birth is unlike yours. You were born because nature carried you here; he takes birth by standing over that same nature and commanding it. Unborn and undecaying, he still enters a body — and the entering costs him nothing. What looks like a limitation is a chosen appearance, ātma-māyayā, by his own power.
What does ajo pi sannavyayatma bhutanam ishvaro pi san mean?
Unborn, though seeming to be born. Undecaying, though wearing something that ages. Lord of all beings, though walking among them as one of them. The line stacks these contradictions on purpose, so that when Arjuna looks at his charioteer he stops seeing only a cousin holding reins.
If Krishna is unborn, how can he be born?
Because the two happen at different depths. Prakṛti is what he wields, not what wields him, so a body is something he puts on rather than something he becomes. The Gītā does not resolve this into logic. It asks you to hold both — the unchanging and the arriving — as one presence.
What is atma-mayaya in this verse?
His own power of appearing. Not a trick and not an illusion in the dismissive sense, but the capacity to become visible without ceasing to be limitless. Every avatāra rests on this word. When form shows up in your life carrying more than form should carry, that is what this verse names.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Birth, here, is not something that happens to Krishna. It is something he does. Everything born is pushed into being — by karma, by hunger, by nature having its way. Krishna reverses the direction: he stands over prakṛti rather than under it, and comes into a body the way you might step into a room. Nothing is lost in the coming. The unborn stays unborn. Arjuna is being told who is standing beside him in the chariot, and why that presence is not diminished by having hands and a voice. What arrives in your life uninvited, he arrives by choosing. Look again at who is speaking to you.