bahuni me vyatitani janmani tava carjuna
tany aham veda sarvani na tvam vettha parantapa
ajo ’pi sann avyayatma bhutanam isvaro ’pi san
prakritim svam adhisthaya sambhavamy atma-mayaya
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham
janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so ’rjuna
Says the ONE
Lifetimes have you and I lived
flashing by in fractions of this eternal moment
Clear as yesterday in my mind's eye,
though perhaps not yet to thee...
Beyond birth, beyond transience,
Am the Immutable Being
that powers the creativity
of this spectacular creation,
Am the Immutable Being
that powers the creativity
of this spectacular creation,
the light of radiant light,
the power of the unsurmountable power,
without a need to indulge
in the transient game of my own design,
without a need to indulge
in the transient game of my own design,
Yet, by invoking
the nature of my own nature,
the nature of my own nature,
my own power I manifest
a body to participate
in my own transient play of the universe!
Oh heir of the great Bharat
Whenever Naturalness, Freedom, Virtue
waxes on this earth,
And vicious ignorance, seems
to be on the rise,
Spontaneously by my own power,
In bodily form(s) I reappear!
Knowing one's birth
as an opportunity to serve,
the knowledge,
the knowledge,
and knowing one's life
as a spontaneous phenomenon divine,
one who thus
establishes in the element
of the truth
governing the universe,
governing the universe,
who is able to observe,
the transitory play of mind-body,
and let go and transcend...
and let go and transcend...
delinking the sensations
from delusions of the past,
that One transcends the conditioning,
not impelled anymore
by the mundane monotony
marring the myriad-mannered mind
The Supreme Lord said: Both you and I have taken many births. I remember them all, O Arjuna, but you do not remember. (4.05)
Though I am eternal, imperishable, and the Lord of all beings; yet I (voluntarily) manifest by controlling My own material nature using My Yoga-Maya. (See also 10.14) (4.06)
Whenever there is a decline of Dharma and the rise of Adharma, O Arjuna, then I manifest (or incarnate) Myself. I incarnate from time to time for protecting the good, for transforming the wicked, and for establishing Dharma, the world order. (4.07-08)The one who truly understands My transcendental birth and activities (of creation, maintenance, and dissolution), is not born again after leaving this body and attains My abode, O Arjuna. (4.09)
