CH 4 Verses 4 & 5

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Chapter 4

Verse 4

 

Arjuna uvaacha:

 

AparaM bhavato janma para.n janma vivasvataH /

katham etad vijaaneeyaa.n tvam aadau proktavaan iti //

 

 

Arjuna said:

 

O Lord, your birth has been later and that of Vivaswat

earlier; how then can I understand you imparted this

yoga in the beginning?

 

Verse 5

 

shreebhagavaanuvaacha .

 

Bahuuni me vyateetaani janmaani tava ch'aarjuna /

taanyahaM veda sarvaaNi na tvaM vettha para.ntapa //

 

The Blesses Lord said:

 

O Arjuna, many are the births that you and I have

passed. I know them all, but, O scorcher of foes, you

do not know.

 

LESSONS FROM BHAGAVAD GITA – 29

As taught by Parama Pujya Sri Swamiji

Compiled by: Swami Dattananda

Bhakti Mala, April 1995

 

Arjuna had a doubt. How could Sri Krishna, who was

standing before him and talking to him in person,

teach this yoga to the Sun God in the beginning of

creation? Not even a hundred years were over since

Sri Krishna was born. How then could he impart this

knowledge to the Sun God thousands and thousands of

years ago? Did He have the same body as He was having

now? Was He the son of Devaki and Vasudeva, or a

different personality altogether? So Arjuna says, “O

Lord, your birth has been later and that of Vivaswat

earlier. How then can I understand you imparted this

yoga in the beginning?” (Chapter 4, Verse 4).

 

Arjuna is a Jiva, a conditioned soul. As such, he

considers Sri Krishna only as the son of Devaki and

Vasudeva. Sri Krishna is the all-pervading Supreme

Divine Spirit incarnated as the son of Devaki and

Vasudeva. When an ordinary man sees any object in

this world, he sees only the form of it. When an

intelligent man sees it, he sees the character and the

qualities of it. But a man of wisdom sees everything,

including the Universe, as expression of the Supreme

Divine Spirit. Arjuna has not reached the stature of

a man of wisdom. He remains in the second category of

the people who can see only the character and

qualities of a thing or person; and not the essence or

core of it. So Arjuna was confused when he was told

that Sri Krishna had imparted this yoga first to

Sun-God in the beginning of creation.

 

The Lord said, “O Arjuna, many are the births that you

and I have passed. I know them all, but, O scorcher

of foes, you do not know” (Chapter 4, Verse 5)

 

Sri Krishna, as an incarnation of God, could remember

all his previous incarnations. But Arjuna, being a

Jiva, could not. So the Lord says, “Arjuna, both you

and I had several births in the past. I know them

all. But you do not know.” Sri Krishna knew that in

one of his previous incarnations he taught this

knowledge to the Sun-God. Here, the Lord describes

the theories of reincarnation and rebirth.

 

Ordinary man, who is given to attachment, lust, greed

and jealousy, cannot discover the highest Truth. Such

a man’s mind is most restless, fickle and impure. As

such, it cannot understand the ultimate goal of life,

the realization of the eternal Truth. Ordinary man

sees everything through the senses like eyes, ears,

etc. But the highest Truth, or the Self, is beyond

the senses and the mind.

 

As Sri Krishna was an incarnation of God, his mind was

most steady and perfect. As such, his memory was very

sharp and clear, and it could recall to his mind all

his past incarnations within no time.

 

Ordinary man is born being bound by the law of Karma,

(the law of action and reaction.) A man’s thoughts

and actions of his present life decide his future

birth. But God incarnates in human form out of

compassion and love for humanity and is not bound by

the law of Karma.

 

Of course, Arjuna was not an ordinary man. He had

practiced severe austerities. He had also mastered

sleep. Moreover, he was greatly devoted to Sri

Krishna. But he had yet to attain the highest wisdom,

that is, self-realization. As his mind was yet

tainted, his understanding was not as clear as to

remember his past lives.

 

 

 

 

 

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