Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 4: Knowledge and the Renouncing of Action

Bhagavad Gita 4.6

ajo'pi sannavyayātmā bhūtānāmīśvaro'pi san | prakṛtiṃ svāmadhiṣṭhāya saṃbhavāmyātmamāyayā ||

Though I am unborn and my self is imperishable, and though I am the Lord of all beings, I come into being through my own power, governing my own nature.

Modern context

This verse makes a careful distinction. Ordinary beings are born because nature and their past actions carry them along. Krishna says his birth is different: he remains unborn and master of all, and appears by his own power, governing nature and not governed by it. The teaching of avatara, the divine taking a form within the world, begins here. For a reader of any belief there is a smaller lesson in the same shape: it is possible to enter fully into a role and a situation without being owned by it.