Bg. 4.5

श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि जन्मानि तव चार्जुन ।
तान्यहं वेद सर्वाणि न त्वं वेत्थ परन्तप ॥५॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
bahūni me vyatītāni
janmāni tava cārjuna
tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi
na tvaṁ vettha parantapa

śrīplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsri

and opulence; beautiful; beauty; fortune; Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune; named śrī; opulence or beauty; opulences; the affluent; the goddess of fortune; the goddess of fortune, or a beautiful calf; the treasury houses; transcendental; with opulence. bhagavānplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbhagavan

my dear Lord; my lord; O exalted sage; O godly personality; O great brāhmaṇa; O great sage (Śukadeva Gosvāmī); O great sage; O great saint; O great soul; O Lord; O Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead; O most powerful; O most powerful devotee; O most powerful sage; O my Lord; O my lord, O great one; O Personality of Godhead; O possessor of all opulences; O powerful one; O Supreme; O Supreme Lord; O Supreme Lord, O Personality of Godhead; O Supreme Personality of Godhead; O supremely powerful one; O worshipful sage; O Your Lordship; the Personality of Godhead. uvācaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biguvāca

answered; described; explained; he recited; he said; inquired; prayed; replied; said; she said; she spoke; spoke; talked with them.—the Personality of Godhead said; bahūniplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbahūni

many; various.—many; meplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigme

about me; by me; executed by me; for me; from Me; Me; mind; mine; my; my duty; myself; of me (Hiraṇyakaśipu); of me; of Mine; of Myself; on me; to Me; unto me; upon me; with me.—of Mine; vyatītāniplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvyatītāni

have passed.—have passed; janmāniplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigjanmani

after birth; at the time of birth; birth; duration of life; in birth; on the appearance.—births; tavaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtava

as your share; at Your Lordship's; by You; for you; for Your good self; from you; His; in your possession; of you; of your; of your deliverance from this danger; of Your good self; of Your Lordship; of Your Majesty; of yours; to you; unto You; with you; you; your; your activities; yours.—of yours; caplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigca

ca; all these; also; also other bodily forms; also that I have not been able to ask; and (the five gross material elements and the ten acting and knowledge-gathering senses); and; and also; and Devahūti; and for all; and the paraphernalia; as also; as much as; as well; as well as; but; certainly; either; however; indeed; only; or; over and above; respectively; the word ca; this word ca; thus; totally; unlimitedly; verily.—and also; arjunaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigarjuna

Arjuna; O Arjuna.—O Arjuna; tāniplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtani

activities; all of our lost things; all of them (in the form of songs); all of them; all of those (activities); all the bows of Kārtavīryārjuna; all those; all those places; such words; the sense organs; them (the weapons); them; these three; those; those elements; those senses.—all those; ahamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigaham

as far as I am concerned; as I am; egotism; false ego; false identification (in the bodily concept of life); false identity; I ("I am this body"); I (am); I (Kṛṣṇa); I (Lord Brahmā); I (Lord Śiva); I (Prahlāda Mahārāja); I (the person desiring release from material life); I (Śukadeva Gosvāmī); I; I am; I am everything; I am independent; I am the material body; I myself; I, Lord Kṛṣṇa; I, the Personality of Godhead; I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; I, Yamarāja; me; my existence ("I am something"); my humble self; myself (Brahmājī); Myself; the word aham; the wrong mental conception.—I; vedaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigveda

(one who) knows; all knowledge; and of the revealed scripture; by the four Vedas (Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg and Atharva); can know; can understand; did know; do know; feels; he knew; He knows; he realizes; in knowledge; is fully aware; it knows; just try to know; know; know it; know very well; knows; like the Vedas; Lord Śiva could understand; of knowledge; of the Vedas; of the four Vedas; the Vedas; the four Vedas (Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg and Atharva), the original knowledge given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Vedic knowledge; the Vedic literature; transcendental knowledge; understand; understands; understood; Vedic injunctions; Vedic literature; Vedic literatures (books of knowledge); Vedic principles; Vedic scriptures; Vedic study; who knows; you know.—do know; sarvāṇiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsarvāṇi

all; all of them; all sorts of; everything.—all; naplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigna

never; not; are not; but not; cannot; certainly not; could not; did not; do not; does it not; does not; is not; it is not; it is not so; may not; neither; never; never does; never to be; no; no one; none; nor; not; not like that; not preceded by oṁ; not suitable; nothing; or not; shall not; should never; there is none; there is not; there should not be; was not; whether; without.—not; tvamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtvam

establishment of the statement tat tvam asi.—yourself; vetthaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvettha

just know from Me; know; you are well conversant; you know.—know; parantapaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigparantapa

O Arjuna, subduer of the enemies; O chastiser of the enemies; O chastiser of the enemy; O conquerer of enemies; O conquerer of the enemies; O great one; O killer of the enemies; O King; O King, who can subdue your enemies; O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, chastiser of enemies; O mighty-armed one; O subduer of the enemies; O subduer of the enemy.—O subduer of the enemy. ¶

The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy! ¶

In the Brahma-saṁhitā we have information of many, many incarnations of the Lord. It is stated there: ¶

advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam
ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
vedeṣu durllabham adurllabham ātma-bhaktau
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.
(Bs. 5.33)

“I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Kṛṣṇa], who is the original person—absolute, infallible, without beginning, although expanded into unlimited forms, still the same original, the oldest, and the person always appearing as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful, all-knowing forms of the Lord are usually understood by the best Vedic scholars, but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees.” It is also stated in Brahma-saṁhitā: ¶

rāmādi mūrttiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan
nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu
kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat paramaḥ pumān yo
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Bs. 5.39)

“I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Kṛṣṇa], who is always situated in various incarnations such as Rāma, Nṛsiṁha and many sub-incarnations as well, but who is the original Personality of Godhead known as Kṛṣṇa, and who incarnates personally also.” ¶

In the Vedas also it is said that the Lord, although one without a second, nevertheless manifests Himself in innumerable forms. He is like the vaidurya stone, which changes color yet still remains one. All those multi-forms are understood by the pure, unalloyed devotees, but not by a simple study of the Vedas: vedeṣu durllabham adurllabham ātma-bhaktau. Devotees like Arjuna are constant companions of the Lord, and whenever the Lord incarnates, the associate devotees also incarnate in order to serve the Lord in different capacities. Arjuna is one of these devotees, and in this verse it is understood that some millions of years ago when Lord Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god Vivasvān, Arjuna, in a different capacity, was also present. But the difference between the Lord and Arjuna is that the Lord remembered the incidence, whereas Arjuna could not remember. That is the difference between the part and parcel living entity and the Supreme Lord. Although Arjuna is addressed herein as the mighty hero who could subdue the enemies, he is unable to recall what had happened in his various past births. Therefore, a living entity, however great he may be in the material estimation, can never equal the Supreme Lord. Anyone who is a constant companion of the Lord is certainly a liberated person, but he cannot be equal to the Lord. The Lord is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as infallible (acyuta), which means that He never forgets Himself, even though He is in material contact. Therefore, the Lord and the living entity can never be equal in all respects, even if the living entity is as liberated as Arjuna. Although Arjuna is a devotee of the Lord, he sometimes forgets the nature of the Lord, but by the divine grace a devotee can at once understand the infallible condition of the Lord, whereas a nondevotee or a demon cannot understand this transcendental nature. Consequently these descriptions in the Gītā cannot be understood by demonic brains. Kṛṣṇa remembered acts which were performed by Him millions of years before, but Arjuna could not, despite the fact that both Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are eternal in nature. We may also note herein that a living entity forgets everything due to his change of body, but the Lord remembers because He does not change His sac-cid-ānanda body. He is advaita, which means there is no distinction between His body and Himself. Everything in relation to Him is spirit—whereas the conditioned soul is different from his material body. And, because the Lord’s body and self are identical, His position is always different from the ordinary living entity, even when He descends to the material platform. The demons cannot adjust themselves to this transcendental nature of the Lord, as the Lord explains in the following verse. ¶