The four classes were created, brought forth, by Me, the Lord; so the scripture, 'the brāhmaṇa was His mouth' and the rest. They were created by the division of qualities and of action. The qualities are sattva, rajas and tamas. For the brāhmaṇa, in whom sattva is dominant, the actions are calm, self-restraint, austerity and the like; for the kṣatriya, in whom rajas is dominant with sattva subordinate, the actions are valour, brilliance and the rest; for the vaiśya, in whom rajas is dominant with tamas subordinate, the actions are agriculture and the like; for the śūdra, in whom tamas is dominant with rajas subordinate, the action is mere service. So the four classes were created by Me, divided by quality and action. This fourfold ordering is not found in other worlds; hence the qualification 'in the world of men'. Now, if You are the doer of the action that is the creation of the four classes and the rest, then You are bound up with its fruit, and so You are not eternally free and not the eternal Lord. To this He says: although by the dealings of māyā I am the doer of that action, still, in the highest truth, know Me to be a non-doer; and therefore know Me to be imperishable and not in transmigration. As for the actions of which you think Me, in the highest truth, the doer, of those I am the very non-doer; for.

The whole world, from the four classes foremost down to a clump of grass, divided by the division of the qualities, sattva and the rest, and by the division of action, tranquillity and so on, that conforms to them, was created by Me. The mention of creation is meant to point also to the rest; by Me alone it is protected, and by Me alone it is withdrawn. Though I am the doer of that varied creation and the rest, know Me as the non-doer. How so? To this the Lord speaks.

It is I alone who am the doer, Krishna says, with 'the fourfold ordering of classes' (chaturvarnya), which is the set of the four classes. The division by guna is this: the brahmana is sattvic, the kshatriya sattvic-and-rajasic, the vaishya rajasic-and-tamasic, the shudra tamasic; the division by action will be stated with 'tranquillity, self-restraint' (18.42) and the rest. Because His activity is unlike ours, though the doer He is yet a non-doer, as the scripture says, 'the all-maker, free of mental strain' (Rigveda 8.3.17), and 'learning is His body, action His form' (Bhagavata 6.4.46). This was established before.