4.4
Chapter 4, Verse 4
अर्जुन उवाच अपरं भवतो जन्म परं जन्म विवस्वतः। कथमेतद्विजानीयां त्वमादौ प्रोक्तवानिति৷৷
arjuna uvāca aparaṅ bhavatō janma paraṅ janma vivasvataḥ. kathamētadvijānīyāṅ tvamādau prōktavāniti৷৷
Translation
Arjuna asked: My Lord! Viwaswana was born before Thee; how then canst Thou have revealed it to him?
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
अपरम् later, भवतः Thy, जन्म birth, परम् prior, जन्म birth, विवस्वतः of Vivasvan, कथम् how, एतत् this, विजानीयाम् am I to understand, त्वम् Thou, आदौ in the beginning, प्रोक्तवान् taughtest, इत thus. Commentary: Thy birth took place later in the hourse of Vasudeva Vivasvan or Vivasvat (the Sun) was born earlier in the beginning of evolution. How am I to believe that Thou taughtest this Yoga in the beginning to Vivasvan, and that Thou, the selfsame person, hast now taught it to me I am not able to reconcile this. Be kind enought to enlighten me, O my Lord.
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.