Sanskrit
सर्वभूतानि कौन्तेय प्रकृतिं यान्ति मामिकाम् । कल्पक्षये पुनस्तानि कल्पादौ विसृजाम्यहम् ॥
sarvabhūtāni kaunteya prakṛtiṃ yānti māmikām kalpakṣaye punas tāni kalpādau visṛjāmy aham
Translation
All beings, O Kaunteya, enter my lower nature at the end of a world-age; at the beginning of a world-age again I emanate them.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The scale shifts from static metaphysics to cyclical cosmology: beings dissolve into Krishna’s “lower nature” (prakṛti) at the end of a kalpa and are re-emanated when the next one begins. This introduces prakṛti as a technical term the chapter leans on through verse 10 — nature as the instrument of manifestation, distinct from Krishna himself, who is named its “supervisor” (adhyakṣa) at verse 10.