Why is Arjuna’s name not mentioned in the guru-shisya parampara at the start of the Gita when Krishna gave him knowledge in parampara?
Transcript
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Question in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that he is restarting a parampara which was lost and so he is giving knowledge to Arjuna then why is Arjuna’s name not mentioned in the Guru-Shishya parampara at the start of the Bhagavad Gita where Prabhupada gives the list of the Guru parampara answer there are many paramparas whose written knowledge is transmitted in Kaliyuga the four paramparas are mentioned in the Padma Purana and these which we see are the paramparas of spiritual preceptors who are primarily Brahminic religious whereas Krishna is talking about Rajarishi parampara in fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Namdeva swate yogam praptavanam avdeyam vasvan manave praham manurkshvanam ave brahme so he is talking about a parampara of saintly kings so normally saintly kings are not official teachers of spiritual knowledge the saintly kings do need to know spiritual knowledge and they do use that spiritual knowledge which they have to administer justice and to maintain law and order and to also keep the citizens in the path of that. And on a few occasions, they may also give spiritual instructions in the inspirational speech, motivational instructional speeches that they give to their citizens. But it is not the duty of the kings to become systematic educators.
That is the duty of the Brahmins. So, the paramparas that are mentioned in the Padma Purana, one of which is the Brahma Madhava Gauri Parampara which is mentioned in the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita as it is Vashila Prabhupada. These are paramparas primarily of people who were spiritual teachers, whose life was dedicated to teaching spiritual knowledge.
Whereas, when Krishna is talking in the 4th chapter, he is talking about the Rajarishi Parampara. So, at that particular time, the knowledge was lost. Krishna gave it to Arjuna and revived that knowledge and that knowledge went on in the Rajarishi Parampara.
After Arjuna, Devduttabhishek, Devduttajani, Jayah, it went on for some time over there. But that is not the parampara that was created for the sake of educating the people in general. If you look at the context of the 4th chapter, what comes before and what comes after these particular verses, 4.123, where Krishna talks about the Arjuna parampara and he says that I am instructing Arjuna.
The focus there is not that Arjuna should become a teacher for the whole world in terms of being educated. Certainly he is a teacher through his actions, as an example the Kshatriya, who is dedicated to protecting the Dharma. But he is not meant to be a teacher of spiritual knowledge, like the way the Brahmanas are.
So that is why that is a parampara meant to protect Dharma by ensuring that the Kshatriyas who are ruling the world have spiritual knowledge. But as far as Kali Yuga is concerned, as far as providing systematic spiritual education is concerned, the parampara that is needed, the parampara that is talked about in the scriptures, the parampara of those who are dedicated to teaching spiritual knowledge primarily, or even entirely, those are talked about in the Andhra Purana, the 4 paramparas. So if you look at the 4th chapter, the context is before that Krishna is talking about how lust is to be conquered, and how this conquering of lust is not just an individual effort, it has to be a social effort, where even the kings know the spiritual knowledge and try to provide a culture, devotion, education, etc.
for the states. It is purported in 4.1, so that they create systems by which people can combat lust. And then after that, Krishna talks about how people can perform Krishnam Karma Yoga, after that 4th chapter section.
So in that context, we see that the kings are given knowledge, not so that they can teach this knowledge to everyone else through systematic educational courses, or through establishing gurukuls where they themselves are teaching. They are meant to implement dharma in their systems of political administration, so that they can rule society And that parampara is also required, but that parampara is not a parampara of spiritual education.