Yog of Knowledge and Action
Chapter 4, Verse 1
śrī bhagavān uvāca
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur-ikṣvākave’bravīt
The Lord says: This imperishable yoga I gave to Vivasvan (the Sun-god); Vivasvan gave it to Manu (the father of men); Manu gave it to Ikshvaku (the
founder of the Solar dynasty.)
“This imperishable yoga.” Here Bhagavan Krishna says that this yoga, which He is giving to Arjuna, don’t have a beginning or an end: it is eternal.
“This imperishable yoga I gave to Vivasvan (the Sun-god); Vivasvan gave it to Manu (the father of men)” the keeper of dharma; “Manu gave it to Ikshvaku, the founder of the Solar dynasty.” Later on, the Lord Himself incarnates as Rama in the Solar dynasty.
Lord Krishna has prepared Arjuna to understand this knowledge which He is giving here, by controlling the mind, the senses, the intellect, and by eradicating all desires. In the last chapter, Lord Krishna says that desires are the worst enemy! It is through desires that one gets trapped in this world. It’s important to note that the desire for God, is not a common desire: it is a longing for God who is Supreme! Krishna says that when all worldly desires have been removed from the mind, one is ready for yoga, for unification with the Divine. Arjuna has been asked to kill all the worldly desires inside him, the inner enemies, in order to let the inner Sun shine
through him.
Krishna says, “I gave this knowledge to the Sun-god, Vivasvan, Vivasvan gave it to Manu (the father of men), Manu gave it to Ikshvaku.” These were karma yogis, and householders. They were doing their duties as the heads of their families. Manu gave the law and showed humanity how to live in the world doing the dharma. In Christianity, Manu is represented by Adam, the first man.
When the Lord says, “I gave this knowledge to the Sun-god,” this meant that He is greater than the Sun, which represents the creation. Bhagavan Krishna is reminding Arjuna that He is the Lord of Lords; without beginning or end, the beginning of everything; the origin of this universe and the origin of this supreme knowledge. So this knowledge is not new, it’s very old. Many great scholars have tried to calculate its age, but nobody knows exactly how old it is. This knowledge is imperishable, eternal. Once Enlightenment arises in you, you will realise that you always had all this knowledge inside of you. Once this Reality is revealed within, you will start to radiate the inner Light. You will see that this knowledge, which you are listening to here, has existed since the beginning itself, when the world was created; when God manifested Himself through you to act in this world. That’s how old this knowledge is which is inside of you. But due to the effect of desires in the mind, one starts to run after the ephemeral beauty of the outside world and forgets about this knowledge of the Self.
Bhagavad Gita
