Sanskrit
एवं परम्पराप्राप्तमिमं राजर्षयो विदुः । स कालेनेह महता योगो नष्टः परन्तप ॥
evaṃ paramparā-prāptam imaṃ rājarṣayo viduḥ sa kāleneha mahatā yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa
Translation
This, handed on down the line, the King-Sages knew. This yoga by great efflux of time decayed in the world, O Parantapa.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Continuing verse 1’s genealogy, Krishna adds that royal sages preserved this yoga through succession, until it decayed over the vast stretches of time — precisely the gap he is about to fill by re-teaching it to Arjuna. The word “decayed” does real work here: it frames what follows not as an innovation but as a restoration of something lost. Paramparā — teacher to student, link by link — is presented as the normal channel for this knowledge, and its failure as the reason a fresh transmission is needed. Chapter 4 both narrates a broken chain and, in BG 4.34, prescribes how to keep one intact.
Study deeper
Word by word
- evaṃएवं
- thus
- paramparā-prāptamपरंपरा-प्राप्तं
- received in unbroken succession (paramparā-prāptam)
- imaṃइमं
- this
- rājarṣayoराजर्षयो
- the royal sages (rāja-ṛṣayaḥ)
- viduḥविदुः
- knew
- sa kāleneha mahatāस कालेनेह महता
- but by the long passage of time here (saḥ + kālena + iha + mahatā)
- yogoयोगो
- the yoga
- naṣṭaḥनष्टः
- was lost
- parantapaपरन्तप
- O scorcher of the foe
Commentary
Site Commentary
Notice the rhetorical choice underneath the history lesson: Krishna is about to do something genuinely new — re-teach a yoga to someone outside the royal-sage line — but he frames it first as recovery of something lost, not as innovation. Positioning change as restoration rather than novelty is a persuasive move in its own right, one that shows up whenever a real departure needs the credibility of continuity to be accepted.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you want to make a real change in how you live, try framing it to yourself as recovering an original intention you drifted from, rather than as a brand-new resolution — restoration often sustains motivation longer than novelty does.
Professional
- When proposing a real departure from how a team currently works, frame it as restoring the process's original purpose rather than as a new initiative — it lowers resistance and is often more accurate anyway, since most drift happens gradually and unnoticed.
Family & Social
- When reviving a family practice that quietly lapsed, present it as bringing back something that mattered rather than introducing a new rule — it invites participation instead of resistance.
Ask yourself
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