Mūla — the verse
Gita Press numberingTranslation
Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣyaThe four castes have been created by Me through a classification of the gunas and duties. Even though I am the agent of that (act of classification), still know Me to be non-agentive and changeless.
हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda
गुण और कर्मों के विभाग से चातुर्वण्य मेरे द्वारा रचा गया है। यद्यपि मैं उसका कर्ता हूँ, तथापि तुम मुझे अकर्ता और अविनाशी जानो।।
Pronunciation — Vaamshii
from VaamshiiWord by word
padārthaMeaning — Questions & Solutions
from Q&A with KnA“The four-fold varṇa was created by Me according to guṇa and karma.” The order named here is by quality and function, not by birth. A person in whom sattva and the urge to know predominate is, by nature, a Brāhmaṇa; one in whom rajas with sattva and the urge to rule predominate is a Kṣatriya; and so on (the qualities are spelt out at 18.42–44). It is a psychological and vocational classification — a map of temperaments — before it is anything hereditary. The later hardening of varṇa into rigid birth-caste is a social distortion, not what the verse says. Kṛṣṇa adds at once that though he is its author, he is not bound by it, being the changeless non-doer — which itself warns us not to absolutise the scheme.