Evam paramparaa-praaptam imam
raajarshayo viduh
Sa kaaleneha mahataa yogo nashtah parantapa
Evam — thus; raajarshayo — saintly kings; praaptam — obtained; imam — this; viduh — knowledge; paramparaa — by disciplic succession Sa — that; yogo — yoga; kaaleneha — in time; mahataa — great; nashtah — destroyed; parantapa — Arjun.
Thus, saintly kings obtained this wisdom
through disciplic succession.
That science was lost in the vastness of time,
O Arjun.
This verse continues from the previous. Knowledge, inaccesible from the lust-covered heart, is given by Krishna to the Sun-god, who passes it one through his sons. Thus wisdom becomes disseminated throughout the world's leaders, who in turn pass it to their followers.
The second half of the verse introduces a problem: over the vast expanse of time, the original knowledge sometimes scatters and is lost as it is passed from one person to the next. Krishna will give the solution to this problem in the next text
Parampara
- this word, literally meaning "one after another" indicates a "disciplic succsession" of teachers and students. Thus Bhagavad Gita presents the opinion that true knowledge descends into this world from a perfect source and is gradually diseminated.Rajarshi
- this word is a comination of Raja (king) and Rishi (Saint). In ancient times, kings were saintly and righteous. It is significant that Bhagavad Gita is meant for societies leaders. Once the leaders have understood this wisdom, they can effecively disseminate it to the masses.