Bhagavad-gita reveals Krishna as the intimate friend who accepts His devotees as His own family.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Engagement — September 18, 1971, Nairobi 710918LE-NAIROBI [20:30 Minutes] Lecture_710918LE-NAIROBI Prabhupada: ...sung by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a great ācārya of the Gauḍīya-sampradāya. You know in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, imaṁ vivasvate yoga proktavān aham avyayam vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt [Bg. 4.1] First of all, long, long ago Kṛṣṇa says, "I spoke this yoga system to the sun-god, millions of years ago." If you take..., calculate the age of Manu, it comes forty millions of years. If you believe Bhagavad-gītā, as Kṛṣṇa says, that "First of all I spoke to Vivasvān..." Vivasvān is the name of the sun-god who is now predominating there. In every planet there is a predominating deity, just like in this planet we have got president. Similarly in other planets also there are predominating deities.
And the present predominating deity in the sun globe is known as Vivasvān. The name is there. And Vivasvān has a son, Manu. His name is Vaivasvata Manu.
The present age is going on of the Vaivasvata Manu. In each and every day of Lord Brahmā there are changes of such fourteen Manus. So Kṛṣṇa says, sa kāleneha yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa [Bg. 4.2]. In due course of time that yoga system is now lost. Why?
The paramparā system is lost. Learning the system, the Bhagavad-gītā yoga system, from the master to the disciple, when Kṛṣṇa was present personally, it was lost. He says, yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "The same yoga system, Arjuna, I shall inform you." Why?
"I am not a Vedāntist." Kṛṣṇa was speaking to Arjuna. Arjuna was not a Vedāntist; he was a military man. A military man is not expected to become a Vedāntist. He knows his military art.
Why Kṛṣṇa decided to preach Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna? That is also said in the Bhagavad-gītā why He selected Arjuna. He said, bhakto si, priyo si: "My dear Arjuna, you are My devotee and very dear friend. You can understand Bhagavad-gītā." Rāsam yogaṁ taṁ, "You can understand the rasa." Therefore to understand Bhagavad-gītā, one requires to be very intimately connected with Kṛṣṇa as His devotee. Otherwise, Bhagavad-gītā cannot be understood. Unfortunately… The Bhagavad-gītā is going on all over the world.
There are about seven hundred editions in all languages of this Bhagavad-gītā, and it is going on for the last more than one thousand years. That means we can understand from the historical records that in Western countries Bhagavad-gītā is known for the last two hundred and fifty years, and there are German edition, English edition, so many editions. In spite of Bhagavad-gītā being popular in the Western countries, in spite of our so many svāmīs from India went to preach Indian culture or the Hindu culture, before this movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, not a single person became a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. That is a fact. It was simply armchair discussion of Bhagavad-gītā. But why at the present moment these youngsters, Europeans and Americans, Australians, Canadians, Japanese, why they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness?