Q4. What is the history of the Bhagavad-Gita?

Unlike the non-Vedic scriptures (scriptures from outside India), the Bhagavad-Gita, is not a one-off scripture, it’s eternal. It was last spoken 5000 years ago by Lord Krishna to Arjuna, and 120.533 million years ago to the person who maintains the sun planet, Vivasvan. It was first spoken in this universe, 155.522 trillion years ago. “I gave this science of self-realization knowledge to Vivasvan, and he gave it to Manu, and Manu gave the knowledge to his son, Iksvaku.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 4.1) Vivasvan is a demigod who maintains the sun planet. Demigods are very powerful human beings, they are NOT the Supreme (Not God). “Although I am unborn, imperishable, eternal, and the Lord of all living beings, using My internal energy, I still appear in My original spiritual form.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 4.6) Lord Krishna appears once on this planet in His original form, once in every daytime of Brahma, which is every 8.64 billion years, and each time the Bhagavad-Gita is spoken by Him. So far in the current cosmic cycle, Lord Krishna has appeared and spoken the Bhagavad-Gita more than 18,000 times on this planet (age of universe/timing of appearance=155.522 trillion/8.64 billion). This is how great Lord Krishna (God), His teachings, and the Bhagavad-Gita are. “Once in a day of Brahma, He descends to this world to manifest His transcendental pastimes.” (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-Lila 3.6) The Bhagavad-Gita has been spoken by Lord Krishna in millions of other universes. It is continuously being spoken at every second. This means that it’s being spoken right now in some universe. “The consecutive pastimes of Krsna are being manifested in one of the innumerable universes moment after moment. There is no possibility of counting the universes, but in any case, some pastime of the Lord is being manifested at every moment in one universe or another.” (Sri Caitanyacaritamrta Madhya-Lila 20.382) “Since all Krsna’s pastimes are taking place continuously, at every moment some pastime is existing in one universe or another. Consequently, these pastimes are called eternal by the Vedas and Puranas.” (Sri Caitanyacaritamrta Madhya-Lila 20.395)

The speaking of the Bhagavad-Gita is the greatest pastime of Lord Krishna which is for our benefit.