The whole world's activity is going on under this impression that "We shall be able to conquer over the material nature." The modern scientific advancement of knowledge is aiming in that way. But it is not possible—because we are not actually the master of the material nature. That is an ignorance. That is an ignorance. We are trying to enjoy the material resources to our best, but that is not possible. That is called illusion.
So this has been explained by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna that, "This is your . . . this sense of mastering over or lording over the material nature, kāma"—kāma means to enjoy; kāma means enjoy—"that is your formidable enemy, and that formidable enemy is sitting in three places—on your mind, on your intelligence, on your senses." Now, you have to deal with them very tactfully. How? That you have to replace the enemy with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to replace. Simply you have to replace.
Just like if you have got a glass of water, now, if you want to fill up this glass with milk, then you have to throw the water and take milk. Similarly, if your mind is occupied by the lust of enjoying the material world, if you replace Kṛṣṇa on your mind, then you'll find that the enemy which is occupying your strategic position of mind, it will be defeated. So far we have discussed in the, up to Third Chapter.
Now, today we shall begin in the Fourth Chapter, what Lord says to Kṛṣṇa, er, Arjuna. Now, "śrī-bhagavān uvāca," the Lord says:
- idam vivasvate yogaṁ
- proktavān aham avyayam
- vivasvān manave prāha
- manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt
- (BG 4.1)
This is very important. The Fourth Chapter, the Lord says that "In the long ago, first of all I described this karma-yoga to Vivasvān." Vivasvān means Sūrya, the sun-god, sun-god.
Now, according to our calculation, the sun is a planet which is too hot, and nobody can go there. And actually, so far our this present body is concerned, it is not possible to, I mean to tolerate even the sunshine from a distance of ninety-three hundred millions or ninety's . . . I could not exactly . . . it is far distant place. But actually, from the description of Vedic literature, we can understand that sun planet is just like a planet like this, but it is made of fire. It is made of fire.
Just like this planet is predominant by earth only, similarly, there are varieties of planet in the universe. Some planet is predominant by air; some planet is predominant by water; some planet is predominant by fire. So similarly, the sun planet is predominant by fire. There are living entities also, and there is one principal living entity who is called the sun-god, Sūrya Nārāyaṇa. Or, in the language of the Bhagavad-gītā, he is called Vivasvān. In the language of Bhagavad-gītā.
Just like in every planet there is a chief man—just like in your country, the chief man is President Johnson—similarly, in every planet there is a chief man. Formerly, in this planet also there was one king. We can get from Mahābhārata history that five thousand years before, there was only one king of this planet, one flag and one regiment. We get this information from Mahābhārata. Gradually, the world has divided into many states, and we can see hundreds of flags in the United States, nations. But similarly, the example is that similarly, that in the sun planet there is a chief person who is called Vivasvān. Who is called Vivasvān.
So Lord Kṛṣṇa says that, "This science of karma-yoga, what I am just trying to explain to you, it is not a new thing, but first I spoke this karma-yoga to Vivasvān." Vivasvān means the sun-god. And then He says that vivasvān manave prāha: "Vivasvān"—means the sun-god—"again repeated the same thing to his son, who is called Manu." Vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave bravīt: "And again Manu, he told to his disciple, whose name is Ikṣvāku." Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, he was a great king. He was the forefather of Rāmacandra. You have heard the name of Lord Rāmacandra, and so he was the fore . . . I mean to say, forefather. Ikṣvāku.
The idea is that this process of Bhagavad-gītā is not an ordinary thing. If you have to learn Bhagavad-gītā, and if you have to take profit out of it, then there is a process. There is a process to understand Bhagavad-gītā. And that process is described here. We have to take it very seriously. Just like the first Bhagavad-gītā was spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa to sun-god. It is not that Kṛṣṇa was speaking Bhagavad-gītā for the first time to Arjuna only. No. It was spoken long, long ago. Long, long ago.