Bhagavad Gita 4.6
अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन् । प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय सम्भवाम्यात्ममायया ॥
ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro 'pi san | prakṛtiṃ svām adhiṣṭhāya sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā ||
Translation
Though I am unborn, of imperishable essence, and the lord of all beings, yet, taking up my own nature, I come into being by my own will.
Reflection
What in you stays the same across every version of yourself you have showed up as?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four
Three concessives, then the verb. Ajo 'pi, though unborn. Avyayātmā, of imperishable self. Bhūtānām īśvaraḥ api, though lord of beings. Sambhavāmi, I come into being. The verse holds the paradox without resolving it: the unchanging takes form. Ātma-māyayā, by my own power. Māyā here is not illusion in the dismissive sense. It is the creative capacity by which the formless takes a form on purpose. Shankara: the verse names what the avatar is, not by explanation but by the precision of its grammar.