Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 6 — Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga
Sanskrit
अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन् | प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय सम्भवाम्यात्ममायया ||४-६||
Transliteration
ajo.api sannavyayātmā bhūtānāmīśvaro.api san . prakṛtiṃ svāmadhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmyātmamāyayā ||4-6||
Hindi Meaning
।।4.6।। यद्यपि मैं अजन्मा और अविनाशी स्वरूप हूँ और भूतमात्र का ईश्वर हूँ (तथापि) अपनी प्रकृति को अपने अधीन रखकर (अधिष्ठाय) मैं अपनी माया से जन्म लेता हूँ।।
English Meaning
Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.
Commentary
The Lord has spoken about the peculiarity of His birth: although He may appear like an ordinary person, He remembers everything of His many, many past “births,” whereas a common man cannot remember what he has done even a few hours before. If someone is asked what he did exactly at the same time one day earlier, it would be very difficult for a common man to answer immediately. He would surely have to dredge his memory to recall what he was doing exactly at the same time one day before. And yet, men often dare claim to be God, or Kṛṣṇa. One should not be misled by such meaningless claims. Then again, the Lord explains His prakṛti, or His form. Prakṛti means “nature,” as well as svarūpa, or “one’s own form.” The Lord says that He appears in His own body. He does not change His body, as the common living entity changes from one body to another. The conditioned soul may have one kind of body in the present birth, but he has a different body in the next birth. In the material world, the living entity has no fixed body but transmigrates from one body to another. The Lord, however, does not do so. Whenever He appears, He does so in the same original body, by His internal potency. In other words, Kṛṣṇa appears in this material world in His original eternal form, with two hands, holding a flute. He appears exactly in His eternal body, uncontaminated by this material world. Although He appears in the same transcendental body and is Lord of the universe, it still appears that He takes His birth like an ordinary living entity. And although His body does not deteriorate like a material body, it still appears that Lord Kṛṣṇa grows from childhood to boyhood and from boyhood to youth. But astonishingly enough He never ages beyond youth. At the time of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, He had many grandchildren at home; or, in other words, He had sufficiently aged by material calculations. Still He looked just like a young man twenty or twenty-five years old. We never see a picture of Kṛṣṇa in old age because He never grows old like us, although He is the oldest person in the whole creation – past, present and future. Neither His body nor His intelligence ever deteriorates or changes. Therefore, it is clear that in spite of His being in the material world, He is the same unborn, eternal form of bliss and knowledge, changeless in His transcendental body and intelligence. Factually, His appearance and disappearance are like the sun’s rising, moving before us and then disappearing from our eyesight. When the sun is out of sight, we think that the sun has set, and when the sun is before our eyes, we think that the sun is on the horizon. Actually, the sun is always in its fixed position, but owing to our defective, insufficient senses, we calculate the appearance and disappearance of the sun in the sky. And because Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance and disappearance are completely different from that of any ordinary, common living entity, it is evident that He is eternal, blissful knowledge by His internal potency – and He is never contaminated by material nature. The Vedas also confirm that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unborn yet He still appears to take His birth in multimanifestations. The Vedic supplementary literatures also confirm that even though the Lord appears to be taking His birth, He is still without change of body. In the Bhāgavatam , He appears before His mother as Nārāyaṇa, with four hands and the decorations of the six kinds of full opulences. His appearance in His original eternal form is His causeless mercy, bestowed upon the living entities so that they can concentrate on the Supreme Lord as He is, and not on mental concoctions or imaginations, which the impersonalist wrongly thinks the Lord’s forms to be. The word māyā, or ātma-māyā, refers to the Lord’s causeless mercy, according to the Viśva-kośa dictionary. The Lord is conscious of all of His previous appearances and disappearances, but a common living entity forgets everything about his past body as soon as he gets another body. He is the Lord of all living entities because He performs wonderful and superhuman activities while He is on this earth. Therefore, the Lord is always the same Absolute Truth and is without differentiation between His form and self, or between His quality and body. A question may now be raised as to why the Lord appears and disappears in this world. This is explained in the next verse.
Hinglish Commentary
Bhagwan ne apni janm ki ajeebiyat ke baare mein baat ki hai: wo dekhne mein ek aam insaan ki tarah lag sakte hain, lekin unhe apne anek janmon ki yaad hai, jabki aam insaan ko yaad karna bhi mushkil hota hai ki usne pichle kuch ghanton mein kya kiya. Agar kisi se pucha jaye ki usne ek din pehle is samay kya kiya tha, toh aam insaan ko turant jawab dena mushkil ho jaata hai. Lekin phir bhi, log khud ko Bhagwan ya Krishna kehne ki himmat karte hain. Aise bekaar ke dawaon se humein behka nahi jaana chahiye. Bhagwan apne prakriti ya roop ke baare mein bhi samjhate hain. Prakriti ka matlab hai “prakriti” ya “apna roop.” Bhagwan kehte hain ki wo apne hi sharir mein dikhte hain. Wo apna sharir nahi badalte, jabki aam prani ek sharir se doosre sharir mein badalte hain. Ek conditioned atma is janm mein ek tarah ka sharir rakhti hai, lekin agle janm mein wo alag sharir le leti hai. Is material duniya mein, prani ka koi fix sharir nahi hota, wo ek sharir se doosre sharir mein chalte rehte hain. Lekin Bhagwan aisa nahi karte. Jab bhi wo dikhte hain, wo apne asli sharir mein aate hain, apni antahshakti se. Matlab, Krishna is material duniya mein apne asli amar roop mein dikhte hain, do haath ke saath, bansuri pakad ke. Unka sharir kabhi bhi is material duniya se prabhavit nahi hota. Halanki wo ek aam insaan ki tarah dikhte hain, lekin unka sharir kabhi bhi budhape mein nahi badalta. Kurukshetra ke yudh ke samay, unke ghar par bahut se potey the; yaani, unka sharir material hisaab se kaafi budha ho gaya tha. Lekin wo hamesha ek 20 ya 25 saal ke jawaan ki tarah dikhte hain. Hum kabhi bhi Krishna ka budhape mein chitra nahi dekhte, kyunki wo humare jaise kabhi budhe nahi hote, jabki wo poori srishti ke sabse purane vyakti hain – ateet, vartaman aur bhavishya. Na to unka sharir kabhi kharab hota hai, na unki buddhi. Isliye, yeh saaf hai ki wo material duniya mein hone ke bawajood, wo wahi amar, eternal roop hain, jo anand aur gyaan se bhara hai, aur apne transcendental sharir aur buddhi mein kabhi nahi badalte. Unka aana aur jaana suraj ke ugne aur doobne ki tarah hai; wo hamesha apne sthaan par hote hain, lekin humare kamzor indriyon ki wajah se hum unhe aise samajhte hain. Aur kyunki Bhagwan Krishna ka aana aur jaana aam praniyon se bilkul alag hai, yeh saaf hai ki wo amar, anand aur gyaan hain, jo kabhi bhi material prakriti se prabhavit nahi hote. Vedas bhi yeh confirm karte hain ki Bhagwan amar hain, lekin wo anek roop mein dikhte hain. Vedic sahayak sahitye bhi yeh kehte hain ki jab Bhagwan dikhte hain, toh wo apne sharir mein koi badlav nahi karte. Bhagavatam mein, wo apni maa ke saamne Narayana ke roop mein dikhte hain, chaar haath ke saath aur chhe prakaar ki sampoorn opulences se saja hua. Unka asli amar roop unki bina kisi kaaran ki daya hai, jo jeevon ko yeh samajhne mein madad karta hai ki unhe Bhagwan ko waise dekhna chahiye jaise wo hain, na ki unki kalpanaon ya soch se, jo impersonalist galat samajhte hain. Shabd māyā, ya ātma-māyā, Bhagwan ki bina kisi kaaran ki daya ko darshata hai, jaise ki Viśva-kośa dictionary mein diya gaya hai. Bhagwan apne pichle aane jaane ke baare mein sab kuch jaante hain, lekin aam prani apne pichle sharir ke baare mein sab kuch bhool jaata hai jaise hi wo naya sharir prapt karta hai. Wo sabhi praniyon ke Bhagwan hain kyunki wo is dharti par adbhut aur asadharan kaam karte hain. Isliye, Bhagwan hamesha wahi Absolute Truth hain aur unke roop aur aatma, ya unki gun aur sharir mein koi bhed nahi hai. Ab ek sawaal uthta hai ki Bhagwan is duniya mein kyun aate aur jaate hain. Iska jawab agle shlok mein diya gaya hai.
Chinmaya Commentary
परमेश्वर अपनी निर्बाध स्वतन्त्रता और पूर्ण स्वेच्छा से एक विशिष्ट देह को धारण करके जगत् में उस काल की मोहित पीढी का मार्गदर्शन करने आते हैं। अज्ञानी के समान देहादि के बन्धन में रहना उनके लिये वास्तविकता न होकर एक नाटक की भूमिका के समान है। र्मत्य जीव अविद्या का शिकार बनता है जबकि ईश्वर स्वमाया के स्वामी बने रहते हैं। कार का चालक कार से बंधा रहता है और उसका स्वामी स्वतन्त्र। वाहन का स्वामी अपने प्रयोजन के लिये वाहन का उपयोग करता है और गन्तव्य स्थान पर पहुँचने पर उसे छोड़कर अपने कार्य में व्यस्त हो जाता है। परन्तु बेचारा चालक चोर आदि लोगों से उसको सुरक्षित रखने के लिये एक सेवक के समान उस कार से बंधा रहता है। सृष्टि की रक्षा के खेल में भगवान् इन उपाधियों तथा तज्जनित परिच्छिन्नताओं को साधन रूप में स्वीकारते हैं किन्तु स्वयं उनके दास अथवा शिकार नहीं बन जाते।इस प्रकार स्वस्वरूप में अज और अविनाशी तथा प्राणिमात्र के ईश्वर होते हुये भी भगवान् अपनी माया को पूर्णत अपने वश में रखकर स्वेच्छा से जन्म लेते हैं जीव के समान पूर्व कर्मों के अवश्यंभावी फलों को भोगने के लिये नहीं। उन्हें न स्वस्वरूप का विस्मरण है और न माया का बन्धन है।आप अपने सेवक से स्कूटर में पेट्रोल भरवाकर लाने के लिये कहकर फिर उसे काम करते देखिये तो इस श्लोक में कथित अर्थ को आप समझ सकते हैं। स्कूटर के विषय में अनजान उस बेचारे के लिये वह भारी मशीन एक बोझ और दुख का कारण ही बन जाती है। स्कूटर के भार के कारण उसे खींचकर ले जाना कठिन होता है। इसके विपरीत यदि आप स्कूटर पर बैठकर उसे चला रहे हों अथवा उसे धक्का भी देना पड़े तो भी आप उसे सहर्ष और सरलता से ले जा सकते हैं। स्कूटर तो वही है परन्तु आपके हाथों में वह आपका दास है और अनुचर को तो वह स्वयं इधरउधर खींचकर ले जाने वाला भार है।इसी प्रकार अज्ञानी मनुष्य अपनी उपाधियों के कार्यों के विषय में कुछ नहीं जानता और इसलिये उनकी दास बना रहता है। ईश्वर के लिये जगत् कोई समस्या नहीं क्योंकि वे प्रकृति को सर्वथा अपने वश में रखते हैं। ईश्वर के पूर्ण स्वातन्त्र्य को इन दो पंक्तियों में अत्यन्त सुन्दर शैली में व्यक्त किया गया है।ईश्वर का यह जन्म कब और किसलिये होता है इस पर कहते हैं