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Bhagavad-gītā 4.1

श्रीभगवानुवाच इमं विवस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवानहमव्ययम् । विवस्वान्मनवे प्राह मनुरिक्ष्वाकवेऽब्रवीत् ॥ १ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
[shree-bhagavaan uvaacha]
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
[imam vivasvate yogam]
proktavān aham avyayam
[proktavaan aham avyayam]
vivasvān manave prāha
[vivasvaan manave praaha]
manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt
[manur ikshvaakave ’braveet]
Word-for-word
śrī - bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said imam — this vivasvate — unto the sun-god yogam — the science of one’s relationship to the Supreme proktavān — instructed aham — I avyayam — imperishable vivasvān — Vivasvān (the sun-god’s name) manave — unto the father of mankind (of the name Vaivasvata) prāha — told manuḥ — the father of mankind ikṣvākave — unto King Ikṣvāku abravīt — said .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
śrī - bhagavān uvāca
the Supreme Personality of Godhead said
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
imam
this
vivasvate
unto the sun-god
yogam
the science of one’s relationship to the Supreme
proktavān aham avyayam
proktavān
instructed
aham
I
avyayam
imperishable
vivasvān manave prāha
vivasvān
Vivasvān (the sun-god’s name)
manave
unto the father of mankind (of the name Vaivasvata)
prāha
told
manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt
manuḥ
the father of mankind
ikṣvākave
unto King Ikṣvāku
abravīt
said .
Important Words
  • imam — this
    A demonstrative — 'this very one,' not 'some yoga.' Kṛṣṇa is identifying the specific science He is about to re-deliver to Arjuna with the science He first gave Vivasvān. The chain's link is the *identity* of the content, not merely the family of teachers.
  • yogam — the science of one's relationship to the Supreme
    Yoga here is not a posture-method but the disciplinic science of the soul's link to Kṛṣṇa. The accusative form names the thing transmitted. Whatever has been broken in modern usage, the verse fixes the original referent.
  • proktavān — instructed
    Past active participle: 'He who has spoken (it).' The form locates the act in completed time and on Kṛṣṇa's side. The originating utterance belongs to Him; everyone else is a re-utterer.
  • avyayam — imperishable
    A-vyaya — 'without decay.' The knowledge is not historically contingent. Civilizations rise and fall around it; the science itself does not erode. This is why a broken chain is recoverable: the content is intact, only the carriers were lost.
  • manave — unto the father of mankind
    Dative. The knowledge moves from a celestial recipient (Vivasvān) down into the human stream through Manu — the prototype of legitimate human rule. Sacred knowledge is meant to govern human life, not float above it.
The Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, 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.
Classical Sanskrit analysis शास्त्रीय विश्लेषण
How Sanskrit scholars read this verse — split, rearranged, grammar-tagged. For the plain English distilled meaning, jump to Plain meaning below.
Auto-generated study layers — original analysis of the public-domain śloka. Review against a published edition for academic work.
Plain meaning (तात्पर्य · Tātparya)
Kṛṣṇa reveals an unbroken disciplic chain reaching back to the dawn of humanity: He Himself first imparted this yoga to the sun-god, who passed it to Manu and then to the kṣatriya line through Ikṣvāku. The teaching is not new — it is primordial.
Further notes (विवरण · Vivaraṇa)
Opens the chapter's paramparā argument. The verbs प्रोक्तवान् — प्राह — अब्रवीत् stage three successive transmissions: divine source, cosmic intermediary, and human royal lineage. The epithet अव्ययम् signals that the science itself never decays even when its custodians die. Cross-ref BG 4.2 where the chain is then said to have lapsed.
Prose order (अन्वय · Anvaya)
अहम् इमम् अव्ययम् योगम् विवस्वते प्रोक्तवान्; विवस्वान् मनवे प्राह; मनुः इक्ष्वाकवे अब्रवीत्।
aham imam avyayam yogam vivasvate proktavān; vivasvān manave prāha; manuḥ ikṣvākave abravīt|
I instructed this imperishable yoga to Vivasvān; Vivasvān spoke it to Manu; Manu in turn taught it to Ikṣvāku.
Word split (पदच्छेद · Padaccheda)
श्रीभगवान् उवाच
śrībhagavān uvāca
इमम् विवस्वते योगम् प्रोक्तवान् अहम् अव्ययम् । विवस्वान् मनवे प्राह मनुः इक्ष्वाकवे अब्रवीत् ॥
imam vivasvate yogam proktavān aham avyayam | vivasvān manave prāha manuḥ ikṣvākave abravīt ||
Grammar (व्याकरण · Vyākaraṇa)
SanskritIASTGrammarMeaning
इमम् imam इदम् (dem. (demonstrative) pron. (pronoun)) acc.sg. (accusative singular)m. this
विवस्वते vivasvate विवस्वत् (m.) dat.sg. (dative singular) to Vivasvān (the sun-god)
योगम् yogam योग (m.) acc.sg. (accusative singular) yoga, the science
प्रोक्तवान् proktavān प्र+√वच् p.p. active part. nom.sg. (nominative singular)m. did declare
अहम् aham अस्मद् (pron. (pronoun)) nom.sg. (nominative singular) I
अव्ययम् avyayam अव्यय (adj.) acc.sg. (accusative singular)m. imperishable
विवस्वान् vivasvān विवस्वत् (m.) nom.sg. (nominative singular) Vivasvān
मनवे manave मनु (m.) dat.sg. (dative singular) to Manu
प्राह prāha प्र+√अह् perf. (perfect) 3sg.par. (parasmaipada / active voice) told
मनुः manuḥ मनु (m.) nom.sg. (nominative singular) Manu
इक्ष्वाकवे ikṣvākave इक्ष्वाकु (m.) dat.sg. (dative singular) to Ikṣvāku
अब्रवीत् abravīt √ब्रू impf. (imperfect) 3sg.par. (parasmaipada / active voice) spoke
Purport

Herein we find the history of the Bhagavad-gītā traced from a remote time when it was delivered to the royal order of all planets, beginning from the sun planet. The kings of all planets are especially meant for the protection of the inhabitants, and therefore the royal order should understand the science of Bhagavad-gītā in order to be able to rule the citizens and protect them from 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 (5.52) it is stated: yac-cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro 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 avasthitaḥ “In the beginning of the millennium known as Tretā-yuga 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 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 Ikṣvāku, 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 Gītā, 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.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
1. I spoke this indestructible knowledge to Vivasvān. He spoke it to Manu, and Manu spoke it to Ikṣvāku.
Commentary

In the fourth chapter, the Lord speaks about the reasons for His appearance, the eternal nature of His appearance and activities, and also speaks of the excellence of jñāna in such things as the brahma-yajña. In this verse, the Lord praises jñāna-yoga (imaṁ yogam), the goal of niṣkāma-karma, which He had already mentioned in the two previous chapters.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
1. The Lord said: I spoke this indestructible knowledge to Vivasvān. He spoke it to Manu. Manu spoke it to Ikṣvāku.
Commentary

In the fourth chapter the Lord, the son of Devakī, loudly proclaims the cause of His appearance, the eternal nature of his līḷā amidst his eternal activities, jñāna yoga, and the glories of jñāna above all.

Having explained in the previous two chapters that jñāna and karma yoga are one because of having the same goal, he praises them by glorifying the lineage of this knowledge. This yoga which I have taught to you (imam) I previously (purā) spoke to the sun god Vivasvān, a devotee, and origin of the kṣatriya lineage. This yoga is avyaya, eternal, because of being the essence of the Vedas (which have no creation or destruction), and thus ever fresh, and because its results are eternal in the senses of being permanent. Then my student Vivasvān spoke this yoga to his son Vaivasvata Manu, and Manu spoke it to his son Ikṣvāku.

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

COMMON THEME: Ancient origins of Bhagavad-gita and qualifications to receive

The Lord explains that science of work, explained in Chapters 2 and 3, is very old and authorized; and He gave this knowledge to Vivasvan and then the Supreme science was received through ‘disciplic succession’ (Answer to how it was received) but in the course of time the succession was broken.
Who is qualified to receive the transcendental mystery of this science?
Devotee
Friend (Devotee can be in one of the five primary rasas,e.g. Arjuna is a friend)
Other references on Qualifications Ref. 4.34, 4.39, 9.1, 18.67-68
Focus of Learning

(a) Importance of Bhagavad-gita for Royal order. Why? (4.1)

To rule the citizens and protect them from material bondage to lust
To impart “Krishna consciousness” and “value of human life” to citizens by education, culture and devotion
Thus helps them pursue a successful path of human life

(b) Importance of Bhagavad-gita being given to the sun-god as the first disciple (4.1)

This indicates that Bhagavad-gita is not a speculative treatise for insignificant mundane scholars but a standard book of knowledge from time immemorial
Krishna did not give this knowledge to any ordinary person
He selected sun god because the sun is the king of all planets and controls all planets and is rotating under Krishna’s order (Ref. Brahma Samhita 5.52)

(c) History of Bhagavad-Gita (4.1)

Exists in human society since Maharaj Iksvaku (2,005,000 years)
Given to Vivasvan at least 120,400,000 years ago
Again spoken to Arjuna 5000 years ago. Why? – Because original purpose was scattered by motives of unscrupulous commentators (4.2 purport)

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF TEXTS 4.1 – 4.3

The presentation of Bhagavad-gita’s history is a precursor to Krishna’s revelation of His

transcendental nature

Learning the tradition of this knowledge will give Arjuna faith in what he is hearing
Additionally, Krishna’s claim to be the original proponent of knowledge that is more than 2 million years old sparks a conversation that allows Krishna to reveal His supreme transcendental position

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SECTION I

Krishna is Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who comes

to the world to protect eternal dharma. One who knows this is factually liberated

Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
4.1 In the beginning of creation, with a veiw to infusing vigour into the Ksatriyas who are the protectors of the world, aham, I; proktavan, imparted; imam, this; avyayam, imperishable; yogam, Yoga, presented in the (preceding) two chapters; vivasvate, to Vivasvan, the Sun. Being endowed with this power of Yoga, they would be able to protect the Brahmana caste. The protection of the world becomes ensured when the Brahmanas and the Ksatriyas are protected. It (this Yoga) is avyayam, imperishable, because its result is undecaying. For, the result-called Liberation-of this (Yoga), which is characterized by steadfastness in perfect Illumination, does not decay. And he, Vivasvan, praha, taught (this); manave, to Manu. Manu abravit, transmitted (this); iksvakave, to Iksvaku, his own son who was the first king. [First king of the Iksvaku dynasty, otherwise known as the Solar dynasty.]
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
4.1 - 4.2 The Lord said This Karma Yoga declared to you should not be considered as having been taught now merely, for creating encouragement in you for war. I Myself had taught this Yoga to Vivasvan at the commencement of Manu's age as a means for all beings to attain release, which is man's supreme end. Vivasvan taught it to Manu, and Manu to Iksvaku. The royal sages of old knew this Yoga transmitted by tradition. Because of long lapse of time and because of the dullness of the intellect of those who heard it, it has been almost lost.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
4.1 See Comment under 4.3
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
4.1 The Blessed Lord said I taught this imperishable Yoga to Vivasvan; he told it to Manu; Manu proclaimed it to Ikshvaku.
Commentary

4.1 इमम् this? विवस्वते to Vivasvan? योगम् Yoga? प्रोक्तवान् taught? अहम् I? अव्ययम् imperishable? विवस्वान् Vivasvan? मनवे to Manu? प्राह taught? मनुः Manu? इक्ष्वाकवे to Ikshvaku? अब्रवीत् taught.Commentary Vivasvan means the sun. Ikshvaku was the son of Manu. Ikshvaku was the reputed ancestor of the solar dynasty of Kshatriyas.This Yoga is said to be imperishable because the result or fruit? i.e.? Moksha? that can be attained through it is imperishable.If the rulers of dominions possess a knowledge of the Yoga taught by Me in the preceding two discourses? they can protect the Brahmanas and rule their kingdom with justice. So I taught this Yoga to the Sungod in the beginning of evolution.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
4.1 The Blessed Lord said I imparted this imperishable Yoga to Vivasvan, Vivasvan taught this to Manu, and Manu transmitted this to Iksavaku.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
4.1 "Lord Shri Krishna said: This imperishable philosophy I taught to Viwaswana, the founder of the Sun dynasty, Viwaswana gave it to Manu the lawgiver, and Manu to King Ikshwaku!
Related values & verses
Related values
Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Bhakti (Devotion)Discriminative WisdomVairagya (Detachment / Dispassion)Seva (Service / Selfless Action)
Related verses
BG 4.2 BG 4.3 BG 10.8 SB 1.1.1 SB 2.9.32 SB 11.29.7 CC Ādi 1.35 CC Ādi 7.48 CC Madhya 19.151 Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23
Study Q&A referencing this verse
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Knowledge descends through paramparā — Kṛṣṇa first taught the Sun-god, who passed it down; legitimate knowledge always arrives by lineage, not invention.
Practical Applications
  • Verify the source of any spiritual teaching you receive — does it descend through a recognized line?
  • Identify your own paramparā connection and honor it.
  • Be wary of teachings that begin with 'I personally believe' rather than 'as it has been taught.'
Reflection Questions
  • What teaching am I honoring whose lineage I haven't actually traced?
  • Whose discipleship line am I quietly part of?
Analogy

Knowledge here is a torch passed hand to hand down a long corridor. Kṛṣṇa lights it; Vivasvān carries it; Manu carries it; Ikṣvāku carries it. No one improves the flame — they only keep it from going out. Anyone who claims to have struck a new fire of their own is, at best, lighting a different lamp.

Stories
Uddhava receiving the science again

Before His departure, Kṛṣṇa took Uddhava aside and spoke at length the teachings later compiled as the Eleventh Canto. He did not present it as a new revelation. He presented it as the same paramparā-knowledge now entrusted to a fresh carrier so the chain would not fail at His exit.

The Gītā's opening verse describes the same mechanism in the long view: from Vivasvān to Manu to Ikṣvāku. Kṛṣṇa never delivers truth in a vacuum; He always installs a carrier.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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