Though unborn and imperishable, though the Lord of all beings, establishing my own nature, I manifest by my own mystic power.

Definition of avatāra — divine descent. Ajaḥ — unborn — indicates transcendence of physical birth.

The apparent birth is sambhava — manifestation, not creation — through ātma-māyā — own mystic power, not māyā as illusion but as creative power. Kṛṣṇa does not become human; the human form is vehicle of divinity that remains īśvara — Lord — immutable.