Bhagavad Gita 4.1
श्रीभगवानुवाच । इमं विवस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवानहमव्ययम् । विवस्वान्मनवे प्राह मनुरिक्ष्वाकवेऽब्रवीत् ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca | imaṃ vivasvate yogaṃ proktavān aham avyayam | vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt ||
Translation
The deity said: This imperishable yoga I taught to Vivasvan; Vivasvan communicated it to Manu; and Manu told it to Ikshvaku.
Reflection
What lineage of yours have you been about to claim as your own invention?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four
Krishna opens the chapter by handing over a genealogy. Vivasvān manave prāha, manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt. The teaching was given to the sun, the sun gave it to the first man, the first man gave it to the first king. The chain has three links and reaches back to the beginning of humans. The verb proktavān aham, I taught, is a perfect tense that quietly contains the question that will land in 4.4. The teacher is naming where the teaching came from before he says anything else, the way someone who knows the room would. Shankara reads the verse as the teacher establishing standing: this is not new, and it is not mine alone.