Surya-vamsa

Expressions researched:
"Surya-vamsa"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 4.1, Purport:

At the present moment we have just passed through five thousand years of the Kali-yuga, which lasts 432,000 years. Before this there was Dvāpara-yuga (800,000 years), and before that there was Tretā-yuga (1,200,000 years). Thus, some 2,005,000 years ago, Manu spoke the Bhagavad-gītā to his disciple and son Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, the king of this planet earth. The age of the current Manu is calculated to last some 305,300,000 years, of which 120,400,000 have passed. Accepting that before the birth of Manu the Gītā was spoken by the Lord to His disciple the sun-god Vivasvān, a rough estimate is that the Gītā was spoken at least 120,400,000 years ago; and in human society it has been extant for two million years. It was respoken by the Lord again to Arjuna about five thousand years ago. That is the rough estimate of the history of the Gītā, according to the Gītā itself and according to the version of the speaker, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. It was spoken to the sun-god Vivasvān because he is also a kṣatriya and is the father of all kṣatriyas who are descendants of the sun-god, or the sūrya-vaṁśa kṣatriyas. Because Bhagavad-gītā is as good as the Vedas, being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this knowledge is apauruṣeya, superhuman. Since the Vedic instructions are accepted as they are, without human interpretation, the Gītā must therefore be accepted without mundane interpretation.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.22.54, Purport:

On this planet earth there are two kṣatriya dynasties, and one comes from the predominating deity of the sun and the other from the predominating deity of the moon. These dynasties are known as Sūrya-vaṁśa and Candra-vaṁśa respectively. When monarchy existed on this planet, the chief member was one of the members of the Sūrya dynasty, or Sūrya-vaṁśa, and the subordinate kings belonged to the Candra-vaṁśa.

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.1.1, Purport:

Although the planetary systems are so arranged that the sun comes first, before the moon, Parīkṣit Mahārāja gave more respect to the dynasty of the moon-god, the soma-vaṁśa, because in the Yādava dynasty, descending from the moon, Kṛṣṇa had appeared. There are two different kṣatriya families of the royal order, one descending from the king of the moon planet and the other descending from the king of the sun. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, He generally appears in a kṣatriya family because He comes to establish religious principles and the life of righteousness. According to the Vedic system, the kṣatriya family is the protector of the human race. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as Lord Rāmacandra, He appeared in the sūrya-vaṁśa, the family descending from the sun-god, and when He appeared as Lord Kṛṣṇa, He did so in the Yadu dynasty, or yadu-vaṁśa, whose descent was from the moon-god. In the Ninth Canto, Twenty-fourth Chapter, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is a long list of the kings of the yadu-vaṁśa. All the kings in both the soma-vaṁśa and sūrya-vaṁśa were great and powerful, and Mahārāja Parīkṣit praised them very highly (rājñāṁ cobhaya-vaṁśyānāṁ caritaṁ paramādbhutam). Nonetheless, he wanted to hear more about the soma-vaṁśa because that was the dynasty in which Kṛṣṇa had appeared.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.32 -- London, September 2, 1973:

In the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Fourth Chapter, you'll find that Kṛṣṇa was teaching, first-off, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). He taught this philosophy to the sun-god. There are two kṣatriya families—sūrya-vaṁśa and candra-vaṁśa. One family's coming from the sun-god, another family's coming from the moon-god. So Kṛṣṇa said, because sun was the principal man in the kṣatriya family of sūrya-vaṁśa. So he was taught first.

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ

proktavān aham avyayam

vivasvān manave prāha

manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt

(BG 4.1)

So Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, the first king of the dynasty in which Lord Rāmacandra took birth, very pious family. So Ikṣvāku Mahārāja... The worship of Lord Rāmacandra began from Mahārāja Ikṣvāku. Mahārāja Ikṣvāku used to worship the Deity of Rāmacandra, Rāma-Sītā. Therefore in their family Lord Rāmacandra appeared.