Sanskrit · Devanagari
अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन्। प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय सम्भवाम्यात्ममायया ॥
Sanskrit · IAST
ajo.api sannavyayātmā bhūtānāmīśvaro.api san prakṛtiṃ svāmadhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmyātmamāyayā
English witness
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882Even though I am unborn and inexhaustible in (my) essence even though I am lord of all beings still I take up the control of my own nature and am born by means of my delusive power.
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29 translations and commentaries are aligned to this verse. Choose up to three; the root verse and Telang witness stay above them.
Śaṅkarācārya
।।4.6।। अजोऽपि जन्मरहितोऽपि सन् तथा अव्ययात्मा अक्षीणज्ञानशक्तिस्वभावोऽपि सन् तथा भूतानां ब्रह्मादिस्तम्बपर्यन्तानाम् ईश्वरः ईशनशीलोऽपि सन् प्रकृतिं स्वां मम वैष्णवीं मायां त्रिगुणात्मिकाम् यस्या वशे सर्वं जगत् वर्तते यया मोहितं सत् स्वमात्मानं वासुदेवं न जानाति तां प्रकृतिं स्वाम् अधिष्ठाय वशीकृत्य संभवामि देहवानिव भवामि जात इव आत्ममायया आत्मनः मायया न परमार्थतो लोकवत्।।तच्च जन्म कदा किमर्थं च इत्युच्यते
b0a77e8daa5c…Rāmānuja
4.6 Without forsaking any of the My special alities, as supreme rulership, birthless, imperishability etc., I am born by My free will. Prakrti means one's own nature. The meaning is that by employment of My own Nature and taking a form of My choice, I incarnate by My own will (Maya). The character of My own Nature becomes evident from the following Srutis: 'Him who is of sun-like colour, beyond darkness (Tamas)' (Sve. U., 3.8), 'Him who abides beyond Rajas (active matter)' (Sama 17.1.4.2); 'This Golden Person who is within the sun' (Cha. U. 1.6.6); 'Within the heart, there is the Person consisting of mind, immortal and golden' (Tai. U. 1.6.1); 'All mortal creatures have come from the self-luminous Person' (Yaj., 32.2); 'Whose form is light, whose will is truth, who is the self of ethereal space, who contains all actions, contains all desires, contains all odours, contains all tastes' (Cha. U., 3.14.2); 'Like a raiment of golden colour' (Br. U., 4.3.6). 'Atma-mayaya' means through the Maya which belongs to Myself. Here the term Maya is identical with knowledge as stated in the lexicon of Yaska: 'Maya is wisdom, knowledge.' Further there is the usage of competent people: 'By Maya, He knows the good and bad of his creatures.' Hence by My own knowledge means 'by My will.' Hence, without abandoning My essential attributes which belong to Me the Lord of all, such as being free of sins, having auspicious attributes etc., and creating My own form similar to the configuration of gods, men etc., I incarnate in the form of gods etc. The Sruti teaches the same thing: 'Being unborn, He is born in various forms' (Tai. A., 3.12.7). The purport is that His birth is ite unlike that of ordinary beings. The dissimilarity consists in that He is born out of His own will unlike ordinary beings whose birth is necessitated by their Karma. Thus constured, there is no contradiction also between what was taught earlier and what is taught later as in the statements: 'Many births of Mine have passed, O Arjuna, and similarly yours also. I know them all' (4.5); 'I incarnate Myself' (4.7); and 'He who thus knows in truth My birth and work' (4.9). [All this elaboration is meant to refute the doctrine of mere apparency of incarnations as taught by the Advaitins. Ramanuja, as stated in his Introduction to the Bhasya, upholds the absolute reality of incarnations.] Sri Krsna now specifies the times of His incarnations.
27ab7619312f…Swami Sivananda
4.6 अजः unborn? अपि also? सन् being? अव्ययात्मा of imperishable nature? भूतानाम् of beings? ईश्वरः the Lord? अपि also? सन् being? प्रकृतिम् Nature? स्वाम् My own? अधिष्ठाय governing? संभवामि come into being? आत्ममायया by My own Maya.Commentary Man is bound by Karma. So he takes birth. He is under the clutches of Nature. He,is deluded by the three alities of Nature whereas the Lord has Maya under His perfect control. He rules over Nature? and so He is not under the thraldom of the alities o Nature. He appears to be born and embodied through His own Maya or illusory power? but is not so in reality. His embodiment is ? as a matter of fact? apparent? It cannot affect in the least His true divine nature. (Cf.IX.8).
4fc6e6e2e647…These supplied texts come from the pinned VedicScriptures dataset under GPL-3.0 and await independent alignment review.