Mūla — the verse
Gita Press numberingTranslation
Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣyaThe Blessed Lord said, "O Arjuna, many lives of Mine have passed, and so have yours. I know them all, but you do not know, O scorcher of enemies!"
हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda
श्रीभगवान् ने कहा -- हे अर्जुन ! मेरे और तुम्हारे बहुत से जन्म हो चुके हैं, (परन्तु) हे परन्तप ! उन सबको मैं जानता हूँ और तुम नहीं जानते।।
Pronunciation — Vaamshii
from VaamshiiWord by word
padārthaThemes
from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad GītāMeaning — Questions & Solutions
from Q&A with KnA“Many births of Mine have passed, and of yours too, Arjuna; I know them all, you do not.” Here the two speakers are contrasted, not equated. Arjuna, the ordinary embodied soul, is swept from birth to birth by karma and forgets each one; the veil of Māyā falls afresh on him each time. Kṛṣṇa takes birth not by compulsion of karma but by his own will (ātma-māyayā, 4.6), and so his awareness is never broken across those births. It is not that a realised being accumulates lives as we do; it is that he is never bound by them. The “previous lives” of Kṛṣṇa are the descents (avatāra) of the one changeless Reality into time — memory intact, because the ego that forgets was never there.