Bhagavad Gita 4.13
चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः । तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम् ॥
cātur-varṇyaṃ mayā sṛṣṭaṃ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ | tasya kartāram api māṃ viddhy akartāram avyayam ||
Translation
The four orders were created by me by an apportionment of qualities and actions. Though I am the author of this, know me to be a non-doer, unchanging.
Reflection
Which of the four shapes is the actual gravity of your nature, before you reach for the prettier one?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four
The verse the chapter is most argued about. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ, by division of guna and karma. Aurobindo reads the verse as a description of function and quality, not birth. The four types name four shapes a life can take: the contemplative, the protective, the generative, the supporting. Each requires different gunas predominating and different karmas to express them. The harder claim sits in the second line: kartāram api mām, akartāram. Though I made it, I am no-doer. The making does not bind the maker. The same principle the chapter has been teaching, named at the highest scale.