Bg. 4.1

श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
इमं विवस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवानहमव्ययम् ।
विवस्वान्मनवे प्राह मनुरिक्ष्वाकवेऽब्रवीत् ॥१॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur ikṣvākave ‘bravīt

śrīplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsri

and opulence; beautiful; beauty; fortune; Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune; named śrī; opulence or beauty; opulences; the affluent; the goddess of fortune; the goddess of fortune, or a beautiful calf; the treasury houses; transcendental; with opulence. bhagavānplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbhagavan

my dear Lord; my lord; O exalted sage; O godly personality; O great brāhmaṇa; O great sage (Śukadeva Gosvāmī); O great sage; O great saint; O great soul; O Lord; O Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead; O most powerful; O most powerful devotee; O most powerful sage; O my Lord; O my lord, O great one; O Personality of Godhead; O possessor of all opulences; O powerful one; O Supreme; O Supreme Lord; O Supreme Lord, O Personality of Godhead; O Supreme Personality of Godhead; O supremely powerful one; O worshipful sage; O Your Lordship; the Personality of Godhead. uvācaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biguvāca

answered; described; explained; he recited; he said; inquired; prayed; replied; said; she said; she spoke; spoke; talked with them.—the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; imamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigimam

all these; him; now present before me; this (love of Godhead); this (material world); this; this body; this child; this exalted position; this science; thus; unto the Supreme Lord.—this; vivasvateplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvivasvate

unto the sun-god.—unto the sun-god; yogamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigyogam

yoga; yoga system; absorption, trance; action in devotion; contact; devotional service; in yoga; linking with the Supreme; meditation; mystic yoga; mystic power; mystic powers; mysticism; self-realization; service; spiritual knowledge; the device; the eightfold yoga system; the mystic yoga system; the mystic performances; the mystic process; the process of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the science of one's relationship to the Supreme; Yoga; yoga practice; yogic power.—the science of one’s relationship to the Supreme; proktavānplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigproktavān

instructed.—instructed; ahamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigaham

as far as I am concerned; as I am; egotism; false ego; false identification (in the bodily concept of life); false identity; I ("I am this body"); I (am); I (Kṛṣṇa); I (Lord Brahmā); I (Lord Śiva); I (Prahlāda Mahārāja); I (the person desiring release from material life); I (Śukadeva Gosvāmī); I; I am; I am everything; I am independent; I am the material body; I myself; I, Lord Kṛṣṇa; I, the Personality of Godhead; I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; I, Yamarāja; me; my existence ("I am something"); my humble self; myself (Brahmājī); Myself; the word aham; the wrong mental conception.—I; avyayamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigavyayam

being unchangeable; eternal; everlasting; immutable; imperishable; indestructible; inexhaustible; irreproachable; never ending; spiritual; the inexhaustible; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is inexhaustible; who is the supreme eternal; without diminution; without loss of energy.—imperishable; vivasvānplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvivasvān

Vivasvān (the sun-god's name); Vivasvān.—Vivasvān (the sun-god’s name); manaveplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmanave

unto the father of mankind (of the name Vaivasvata); unto the supreme mind or supreme Manu.—unto the father of mankind (of the name Vaivasvata); prāhaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigprāha

addressed (the Lord); began to speak; explained; he said; instructed; replied; said; spoke; told.—told; manuḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmanuḥ

became the Manu; he became the Manu; Lord Manu; Lord Svāyambhuva Manu; Manu; Manu himself; Manu, King Satyavrata; Svāyambhuva; Svāyambhuva Manu; the eighth Manu; the father of mankind; the Manu; Vaivasvata Manu; will be Manu.—the father of mankind; ikṣvākaveplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigikṣvākave

unto King Ikṣvāku.—unto King Ikṣvāku; abravītplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigabravīt

addressed; began to speak; chanted; has said; he said; he spoke; replied; said; she said; spoke; spoke as follows.—said. ¶

The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku. ¶

Herein we find the history of the Bhagavad-gītā traced from a remote time when it was delivered to the royal order, the kings of all planets. This science is especially meant for the protection of the inhabitants and therefore the royal order should understand it in order to be able to rule the citizens and protect them from the material bondage to lust. Human life is meant for cultivation of spiritual knowledge, in eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the executive heads of all states and all planets are obliged to impart this lesson to the citizens by education, culture and devotion. In other words, the executive heads of all states are intended to spread the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness so that the people may take advantage of this great science and pursue a successful path, utilizing the opportunity of the human form of life. ¶

In this millennium, the sun-god is known as Vivasvān, the king of the sun, which is the origin of all planets within the solar system. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated: ¶

yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ
rājā samasta-sura-mūrttir aśeṣa-tejāḥ
yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kālacakro
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

“Let me worship,” Lord Brahmā said, “the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Kṛṣṇa], who is the original person and under whose order the sun, which is the king of all planets, is assuming immense power and heat. The sun represents the eye of the Lord and traverses its orbit in obedience to His order.” ¶

The sun is the king of the planets, and the sun-god (at present of the name Vivasvān) rules the sun planet, which is controlling all other planets by supplying heat and light. He is rotating under the order of Kṛṣṇa, and Lord Kṛṣṇa originally made Vivasvān His first disciple to understand the science of Bhagavad-gītā. The Gītā is not, therefore, a speculative treatise for the insignificant mundane scholar but is a standard book of knowledge coming down from time immemorial. In the Mahābhārata (Śānti-parva 348.51-52) we can trace out the history of the Gītā as follows: ¶

tretā-yugādau ca tato vivasvān manave dadau
manuś ca loka-bhṛty-arthaṁ sutāyekṣvākave dadau
ikṣvākuṇā ca kathito vyāpya lokān avasthitāḥ

“In the beginning of the Tretā-yuga [millennium] this science of the relationship with the Supreme was delivered by Vivasvān to Manu. Manu, being the father of mankind, gave it to his son Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, the King of this earth planet and forefather of the Raghu dynasty in which Lord Rāmacandra appeared. Therefore, Bhagavad-gītā existed in the human society from the time of Mahārāja Ikṣvāku.” ¶

At the present moment we have just passed through five thousand years of the Kali-yuga, which lasts 432,000 years. Before this there was Dvāpara-yuga (800,000 years), and before that there was Tretā-yuga (1,200,000 years). Thus, some 2,005,000 years ago, Manu spoke the Bhagavad-gītā to his disciple and son Mahārāja lkṣvāku, the King of this planet earth. The age of the current Manu is calculated to last some 305,300,000 years, of which 120,400,000 have passed. Accepting that before the birth of Manu, the Gītā was spoken by the Lord to His disciple, the sun-god Vivasvān, a rough estimate is that the Gītā was spoken at least 120,400,000 years ago; and in human society it has been extant for two million years. It was respoken by the Lord again to Arjuna about five thousand years ago. That is the rough estimate of the history of the Gīta, according to the Gītā itself and according to the version of the speaker, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. It was spoken to the sun-god Vivasvān because he is also a kṣatriya and is the father of all kṣatriyas who are descendants of the sun-god, or the sūrya-vaṁśa kṣatriyas. Because Bhagavad-gītā is as good as the Vedas, being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this knowledge is apauruṣeya, superhuman. Since the Vedic instructions are accepted as they are, without human interpretation, the Gītā must therefore be accepted without mundane interpretation. The mundane wranglers may speculate on the Gītā in their own ways, but that is not Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Therefore, Bhagavad-gītā has to be accepted as it is, from the disciplic succession, and it is described herein that the Lord spoke to the sun-god, the sun-god spoke to his son Manu, and Manu spoke to his son Ikṣvāku. ¶