Bhagavad Gita 10.3

yo mām ajam anādiḿ ca
vetti loka-maheśvaram
asammūḍhaḥ sa martyeṣu
sarva-pāpaiḥ pramucyate

Translation of Bhagavad Gita 10.3

He who knows Me as the unborn, as the beginningless, as the Supreme Lord of all the worlds—he only, undeluded among men, is freed from all sins.

Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

As stated in the Seventh Chapter (7.3), manushyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye: those who are trying to elevate themselves to the platform of spiritual realization are not ordinary men; they are superior to millions and millions of ordinary men who have no knowledge of spiritual realization. But out of those actually trying to understand their spiritual situation, one who can come to the understanding that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the proprietor of everything, the unborn, is the most successful spiritually realized person. In that stage only, when one has fully understood Krishna’s supreme position, can one be free completely from all sinful reactions.

Here the Lord is described by the word aja, meaning “unborn,” but He is distinct from the living entities who are described in the Second Chapter as aja. The Lord is different from the living entities who are taking birth and dying due to material attachment. The conditioned souls are changing their bodies, but His body is not changeable. Even when He comes to this material world, He comes as the same unborn; therefore in the Fourth Chapter it is said that the Lord, by His internal potency, is not under the inferior, material energy, but is always in the superior energy.

In this verse the words vetti loka-maheshvaram indicate that one should know that Lord Krishna is the supreme proprietor of the planetary systems of the universe. He was existing before the creation, and He is different from His creation. All the demigods were created within this material world, but as far as Krishna is concerned, it is said that He is not created; therefore Krishna is different even from the great demigods like Brahma and Shiva. And because He is the creator of Brahma, Shiva and all the other demigods, He is the Supreme Person of all planets.

Sri Krishna is therefore different from everything that is created, and anyone who knows Him as such immediately becomes liberated from all sinful reactions. One must be liberated from all sinful activities to be in the knowledge of the Supreme Lord. Only by devotional service can He be known and not by any other means, as stated in Bhagavad-gita.

One should not try to understand Krishna as a human being. As stated previously, only a foolish person thinks Him to be a human being. This is again expressed here in a different way. A man who is not foolish, who is intelligent enough to understand the constitutional position of the Godhead, is always free from all sinful reactions.

If Krishna is known as the son of Devaki, then how can He be unborn? That is also explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam: When He appeared before Devaki and Vasudeva, He was not born as an ordinary child; He appeared in His original form, and then He transformed Himself into an ordinary child.

Anything done under the direction of Krishna is transcendental. It cannot be contaminated by material reactions, which may be auspicious or inauspicious. The conception that there are things auspicious and inauspicious in the material world is more or less a mental concoction because there is nothing auspicious in the material world. Everything is inauspicious because the very material nature is inauspicious. We simply imagine it to be auspicious. Real auspiciousness depends on activities in Krishna consciousness in full devotion and service. Therefore if we at all want our activities to be auspicious, then we should work under the directions of the Supreme Lord. Such directions are given in authoritative scriptures such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, or from a bona fide spiritual master. Because the spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Lord, his direction is directly the direction of the Supreme Lord. The spiritual master, saintly persons and scriptures direct in the same way. There is no contradiction in these three sources. All actions done under such direction are free from the reactions of pious or impious activities of this material world. The transcendental attitude of the devotee in the performance of activities is actually that of renunciation, and this is called sannyasa. As stated in the first verse of the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, one who acts as a matter of duty because he has been ordered to do so by the Supreme Lord, and who does not seek shelter in the fruits of his activities (anasritah karma-phalam), is a true renouncer. Anyone acting under the direction of the Supreme Lord is actually a sannyasi and a yogi, and not the man who has simply taken the dress of the sannyasi, or a pseudo yogi.

Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:

“But surely the devatas and rsis know about birth of you, the supreme brahman, whose body is unlimited by all time and space.”

Placing his index finger on his chest the Lord speaks this verse. “He who knows that I am without birth and am beginningless is free from sin.”

“But does not everyone know that Brahma has a beginning, but that you, paramatma, are without birth because of having no beginning?”

“He who knows that I am unborn, and also born to Vasudeva, and am still without beginning, is freed from all sins.” ca here signifies that he is also born. By using the word mam, Krishna indicates his birth from Vasudeva. This refers back to the Lord’s previous statement in chapter four, “He who knows that my birth and activities are transcendental…”

“I take birth, but because I am paramatma, I am eternally without birth.” Both these conditions are absolute truth, a demonstration of the acintya sakti. The Lord has said, ajo’ pi son avyayatma… sambhavami, “Though I am unborn, I appear.” Uddhava also says:

karmany anihasya bhavo ‘bhavasya te
durgasrayo ‘thari-bhayat palayanam
kalatmano yat pramada-yutasramah
svatman-rateh khidyati dhir vidam iha

My Lord, even the learned sages become disturbed in their intelligence when they see that Your Greatness engages in fruitive work although You are free from all desires, that You take birth although You are unborn, that You flee out of fear of the enemy and take shelter in a fort although You are the controller of invincible time, and that You enjoy householder life surrounded by many women although You enjoy in Your Self. SB 3.4.16

The commentary in the Laghu Bhagavatamrta says:

tat tan na vastavam cet syad vidam buddhi-bhramas tada
na syad evety ato ‘cintya saktir lilasu karanam

If all this were not true, then all perceptions would be illusory. But that is not so. Thus the acintya sakti is the cause of his pastimes. Laghu Bhagavatamrta 1.5.119

In my childhood, during the Damodara lila, it is inconceivable that I could be bound by strings of bells, but not by the cords of mother Yasoda. In the same way, my birth and non-birth are also inconceivable.

The Lord then speaks of his powers, which are hard to understand. He who knows that though I am your chariot driver, I am also the great controller of all the planets, he alone is not bewildered among men, and is free of all sins, which are an obstacle to bhakti. But he who, though accepting that the Lord is unborn, without beginning and is the controller of all beings, thinks that his being born is just a semblance of birth, is bewildered, and is not freed from all sins.

Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:

10.3 He who exists ‘without being born’ at any particular time unlike other beings is ‘unborn’ in the sense of being eternal. For, this attribute denotes a unique state distinct in kind both from insentient things which are subject to modifications, and from the self in Its state of involvement in Samsara when It is united with insentient matter. In that state the birth of the self involved in matter is generated by Karma. The temr ‘Anadi’, or without beginning, is used to distinguish the state of the Lord, which is distinct in kind, from that of the liberated state which is birthless but can be said to have a beginning. For, to the liberated self, the state of liberation has a beginning, because, in regard to this, conjunction with matter which deserves to be abandoned, existed previously. Hence the term ‘Anadi’ implies that the Lord is without such conjunction and does not deserve the same description. The Sruti also says: ‘Him who is stainless’ (Sve. U., 4.19). Thus, he who is undeluded among the mortals understands Me as ‘the great Lord of the worlds,’ as the Lord of the lords of the worlds. My nature is incompatible with association with evil which has to be given up. What is called ‘delusion’ is the wrong knowledge of taking Me as one among other entities of the same kind. To be bereft of this delusion is to be ‘undeluded’. Such a person is released from all sins which stand against the rise of Bhakti to Me. The meaning is this: In this world, the king who rules over men is only like all those men. He has become a ruler by some good Karma. Such is not the case with the Lord of the gods (the Supreme Being). Even the lord of the cosmic egg (Brahma) is of the same class as other beings in Samsara, because he too is a created being coming within the threefold classification of beings according to the three innate tendencies for growth — namely Karma-bhavana, Brahma-bhavana and Ubhaya-bhavana. These three are described respectively as fitness to practise work alone, fitness to practise meditation alone and fitness to practise both together. Brahma comes under the third group. The Sruti also says, ‘He who creates Brahma’ (Sve. U., 6.18). The same is the case with all those who have acquired the eight superhuman powers like becoming atomic etc. But I, the Supreme Being, is the great Lord of the worlds. He who is not subject to the delusion of regarding Me as of the same order as others, — such a person knows Me as distinct in kind from non-conscient matter in its states as cause and effect, from the self whether bound or free, and from everything else, on account of all of them being subject to My control. I am antagonistic to all that is evil and I am the sole centre of innumerable auspicious attributes, unsurpassed and incomparable. It is also My inherent nature to be the controller of everything. One who understands Me to be all this is released from every sin. Thus, after showing the annihilation, by meditation on His nature, of all evil impeding the rise of Bhakti, and also of the rise of devotion, through implication, by the destruction of such opposing factors, Sri Krsna now explains the way in which Bhakti develops by meditation on His sovereign power and on the multitude of His auspicious attributes:

Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:

Here Lord Krishna is revealing the result of such realization of Him. One who realizes that the Supreme Lord Krishna is verily the origin of everything and the controller of everyone having no beginning or cause as He alone is the cause of all; is free from delusion and illusion and has absolved all reactions from their actions.

Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:

The word anadim meaning without beginning contains two root words within it. Ana which means that which energises everything and adi which means that which is the origin of everything. Therefore Lord Krishna is the energising cause of all without beginning. Thus the word ajam being unborn and anadim have both been established.

Now begins the summation.

Ana can also denote the original primal breath. Thus the Supreme Lord is even prior to it. It may appear to one not use to discriminating that anadim and ajam have similar meanings but that would be a misconception. While ajam means unborn, anadim denotes He existed before the manifestation of the primal breath of creation. At that time nothing else existed except the resonant sound of OM which was vibrating within the Supreme Lord’s transcendental heart. When the eternal, transcendental sound vibration OM manifested impulse in the primal breath that impulse manifested into the brahman the spiritual substratum pervading all existence and then into the phenomena of myriad effusions of variegated creations and diverse forms corresponding to the various and diverse parts of the anthropomorphic spiritual form of the Supreme Lord.

Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:

The word anadim meaning without beginning contains two root words within it. Ana which means that which energises everything and adi which means that which is the origin of everything. Therefore Lord Krishna is the energising cause of all without beginning. Thus the word ajam being unborn and anadim have both been established.

Now begins the summation.

Ana can also denote the original primal breath. Thus the Supreme Lord is even prior to it. It may appear to one not use to discriminating that anadim and ajam have similar meanings but that would be a misconception. While ajam means unborn, anadim denotes He existed before the manifestation of the primal breath of creation. At that time nothing else existed except the resonant sound of OM which was vibrating within the Supreme Lord’s transcendental heart. When the eternal, transcendental sound vibration OM manifested impulse in the primal breath that impulse manifested into the brahman the spiritual substratum pervading all existence and then into the phenomena of myriad effusions of variegated creations and diverse forms corresponding to the various and diverse parts of the anthropomorphic spiritual form of the Supreme Lord.

Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:

10.3 Yah, he who; vetti, knows; mam, Me; ajam, the birthless; and anadim, the beginningless: Since I am the source of the gods and the great sages, and nothing else exists as My origin, therefore I am birthless and beginningless. Being without an origin is the cause of being birthless. He who knows Me who am thus birthless and beginningless, and loka-maheswaram, the great Lord of the worlds, the transcendental One devoid of ignorance and its effects; sah, he; the asammudhah, undeluded one; martyesu, among mortals, among human beings; pramucyate, becomes freed; sarva-papaih, from all sins-committed knowingly or unknowingly. ‘For the following reason also I am the great Lord of the worlds:’

Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:

10.1-5 The subject-matter that has been indicated in the previous nine chapters – the same in being detailed here in this chapter by citing individual instances. That is why [the Bhagavat] says ‘Yet again etc.’ (10.X, 1). He thus indicates ‘Hear the subject matter, which has already been related to you, but which once again being explained in order to make it clear’. Arjuna too says in the sequel likewise ‘Tell me once again etc.’ (10.X, 18). This is the purport of [this] chapter. Other items are clear by mere reciting. Hence, why to repeat them ? However, whatever is doubtful that shall be decided [then and there]. Bhuyah etc. upto prthagvidhah. Steadiness is that which induces one.

Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:

yo mam ajam anadim ca
vetti loka-mahesvaram
asammudhah sa martyesu
sarva-papaih pramucyate

Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:

yaḥ — anyone who; mām — Me; ajam — unborn; anādim — without beginning; ca — also; vetti — knows; loka — of the planets; mahā-īśvaram — the supreme master; asammūḍhaḥ — undeluded; saḥ — he; martyeṣu — among those subject to death; sarva-pāpaiḥ — from all sinful reactions; pramucyate — is delivered.