Sanskrit
अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन् । प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय सम्भवाम्यात्ममायया ॥
ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san prakṛtiṃ svām adhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā
Translation
Though unborn, the imperishable Self, and also the Lord of all beings, brooding over nature which is Mine own, yet I am born through My own Power.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Verse 5 explained why Krishna isn’t bound by ordinary birth; verse 6 explains how he can be “born” at all despite being unborn and imperishable: through his own creative power acting on his own nature. This is the first formal statement of the mechanism behind the avatâra doctrine — not a compulsion into rebirth but a deliberate exercise of sovereignty over his own nature — and it sets up the “why” that verses 7-8 supply. The source text marks a printing correction here (स्वामधिष्टाय corrected to स्वामधिष्ठाय), reflected in the Devanagari above.
Concepts