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TEXT 5 sri-bhagavan uvaca
SYNONYMS  sri-bhagavan
uvaca--the Personality of Godhead said; bahuni--many; me--of
Mine; vyatitani--have passed; janmani--births; tava--of
yours; ca--and also; arjuna--O Arjuna; tani--all those;
aham--I;
veda--do know; sarvani--all; na--not;
tvam--yourself;
vettha--know; parantapa--O subduer of the enemy.
TRANSLATION 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!
PURPORT In the Brahma-samhita
we have information of many, many incarnations of the Lord. It is stated
there:
advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam
"I worship the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Krsna], 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-samhita:
ramadi-murtisu kala-niyamena tisthan
"I worship
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Krsna], who is always situated
in various incarnations such as Rama, Nrsimha and many subincarnations
as well, but who is the original Personality of Godhead known as Krsna,
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 multiforms
are understood by the pure, unalloyed devotees, but not by a simple study
of the Vedas: vedesu durlabham adurlabham atma-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 Krsna
spoke the Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god Vivasvan, 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-samhita
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 Gita cannot be understood by demonic brains.
Krsna remembered acts which were performed by Him millions of years before,
but Arjuna could not, despite the fact that both Krsna 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-ananda 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.
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