ajo ’pi sannavyayātmā bhūtānām īśhvaro ’pi san
prakṛitiṁ svām adhiṣhṭhāya sambhavāmyātma-māyayā
ajaḥ — unborn;
api — although;
san — being so;
avyaya ātmā — Imperishable nature;
bhūtānām — of (all) beings;
īśhvaraḥ — the Lord;
api — although;
san — being;
prakṛitim — nature;
svām — of myself;
adhiṣhṭhāya — situated;
sambhavāmi — I manifest;
ātma-māyayā — by my Yogmaya power
In this verse, the Lord is sharing something really special about Himself. He tells us that even though He is timeless—meaning He has no beginning or end—and even though His true form is always perfect and never falls apart like our bodies do, He still shows up in the world when needed. Think of it like plants that bloom at certain times of the year. The Lord, similarly, comes into this world during certain periods in a form that we can see.
This idea of being 'unborn' is key. While we, as human beings, are born and grow up and grow old, the Lord does not experience aging or changing in the same way. He has had countless appearances throughout time, unlike an ordinary person like you or me, who often forgets what they did just a day ago! Imagine trying to remember what you had for dinner last week—it's tough! The Lord, on the other hand, remembers every single appearance He has ever made because He is not limited by time like us.
He goes on to talk about His nature. For us, bodies are temporary; we change from one body to another over many lives. But the Lord is different—He remains the same. Whenever He comes into the world, He does so in His true form, which is always young and blissful. For example, when He appeared as Krishna, He looked like a young man, even when time passed, and there were many people around Him who aged normally. While He was surrounded by grandchildren, He still appeared as a youthful individual.
The Lord’s body is described as 'transcendental,' which means it is beyond the normal physical experiences we know. Just like the sun is always shining, even when we can’t see it during the night, the Lord is always there, unchanged and eternal, even though we might only see Him in the physical world at certain times. When we think the sun has set, it hasn’t really gone anywhere; it’s just our perspective. Similarly, the Lord’s appearances and disappearances might seem like birth and death to us, but they aren’t really like that in the same way they are for us.
Furthermore, the Lord is said to manifest through His 'internal energy.' This means that His presence and actions come from a deep, pure part of Him that is beyond our understanding, not from the physical world we know. While we go through cycles of life and change, He does not. He’s like a master painter—His creations (the world and His forms) are not separate from Him; they are expressions of His perfection.
To wrap it up, this verse shows us how unique the Lord is compared to ordinary beings. He is an eternal source of happiness and knowledge, always unchanged, always alive, and always accessible to us, though not in the way we might normally think about life. This transcendent nature, means that His essence is pure and beyond the material struggles we face in life.