Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 2
एवं परम्पराप्राप्तमिमं राजर्षयो विदुः।
स कालेनेह महता योगो नष्टः परन्तप।।
स कालेनेह महता योगो नष्टः परन्तप।।
evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
sa kāleneha mahatā yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa
also searched as "Evam paramparapraptam imam rajarshayo viduh"
Translation
Thus handed down in succession, the royal sages knew this (Karma Yoga). But with a long lapse of time, O Arjuna, that Yoga was lost to the world.
Vāṇi's rendering
Handed down king to sage-king, it was known — until, through the long weight of time, it was lost.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एवम्evaṁ | thus, in this way |
| परम्परा-प्राप्तम्paramparā-prāptam | received through an unbroken chain, handed on from one to the next |
| इमम्imaṁ | this (teaching) |
| राजर्षयःrājarṣayo | the royal sages — kings who were also seers (sandhi form of rājarṣayaḥ) |
| विदुःviduḥ | knew, held as known |
| सःsa | that, this same |
| कालेनkālena | by time, through the passing of time |
| इहiha | here, in this world (joined to kālena by sandhi as kāleneha) |
| महताmahatā | great, long, vast |
| योगःyogo | the yoga, this practice of union (sandhi form of yogaḥ) |
| नष्टःnaṣṭaḥ | lost, fallen away |
| परन्तपparantapa | O burner of foes — Krishna's name for Arjuna |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 2 mean?
It means the teaching Krishna is giving Arjuna once travelled hand to hand through a line of royal sages — and then stopped. No enemy destroyed it. Time simply wore the transmission thin until it broke. Krishna states the loss plainly, because he is speaking on the field precisely to restore what was dropped.
Evam paramparapraptam imam rajarshayo viduh — what is the meaning of this line?
Handed down in succession, the royal sages knew this. Paramparā is the chain: one who knows gives to one who will know, and nothing is written that can survive without a living holder. The kings named here were not scholars. They ruled and they knew, and the knowing passed with them.
How can spiritual knowledge be lost if it is eternal?
The knowing is eternal; its carrying is not. Krishna distinguishes the two without hesitation. What decays is the human chain — the attention, the practice, the one willing to receive. A truth can stand unchanged for an age while every mouth that spoke it falls silent. That is what naṣṭaḥ names.
Why does Krishna call Arjuna parantapa in this verse?
Parantapa means burner of foes. Krishna uses it as he speaks of something lost to time, addressing Arjuna as the one whose strength is to consume what opposes him. The loss is being reversed in his hearing. You are being handed something; notice that receiving it is now your work.
Themes in this verse
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Commentary
Krishna has just named a lineage — Vivasvan, Manu, Ikṣvāku — and now he admits it broke. Not by conquest, not by argument. By time. Kings who were also sages held this knowledge, and then the holding loosened, generation by generation, until nobody was left who knew what they had been given. This is the Gītā's most honest sentence about tradition: it can be lost. Nothing preserves itself. What your grandmother knew about stillness, what you knew at nine and have mislaid — the same weight of time is at work. Krishna is not mourning it. He is about to speak it again.