Chapter4 Shloka5 - Shrimad Bhagvad Gita

Shrimad Bhagvad Gita

Chapter 4 : Jnana Yoga - The Yoga of knowledge

Ch 04 : Sh 05

श्रीभगवानुवाच
बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि जन्मानि तव चार्जुन ।
तान्यहं वेद सर्वाणि न त्वं वेत्थ परन्तप ॥

Transliteration

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna |
tānyahaṃ veda sarvāṇi na tvaṃ vettha parantapa || 5 ||

Translation

The Blessed Lord said: The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. [Difference is that] All those I know well but you know them not.

Purport

This is a very interesting conversation. In earlier Shloka Bhagvan Shri Krishna told how he taught Yoga first to Vivasana, the deity of light. Arjuna got confused and asked a very innocent question. He told, O Krishna, Vivasana is the ancient deity and existed at the start of the creation and you took birth in our time. You might be having similar age as mine, how then you taught Yoga to Vivasna, the ancient deity.

Bhagvan Shri Krishna gave a very clear answer. Bhagvan explained we have spent many births. Only difference is that He(Bhagvan Krishna) knows them all but Arjuna does not. A normal human cannot remember anything from past lives and he ends up thinking that this life is the only life, which is not true.