Cluster 0144
BG-4.3
Ovi 4.27
Original (Marathi): तोचि हा आजि आतां । तुजप्रती कुंतीसुता । सांगितला आम्हीं तत्त्वतां । भ्रांति न करीं ॥२७॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: The vocative कुंतीसुता (son-of-Kuntī) is a direct Arjuna-address by his maternal-name — one of the Gītā's standard Arjuna-vocatives, the strongest possible anchor for krishna-to-arjuna. The first-person-plural सांगितला आम्हीं (we have-declared) is Kṛṣṇa speaking as the revealer. The second-person तुजप्रती (to-you) closes the speaker-recipient axis.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तोचि हा | that-very-this (the same yoga just named in cluster 0143 as the लोपला-yoga) |
| आजि आतां | today, now |
| तुजप्रती | to you / unto you (dative-accusative) |
| कुंतीसुता | O son-of-Kuntī (Arjuna-vocative) |
| सांगितला आम्हीं | we have declared / I have declared (royal-plural) |
| तत्त्वतां | truly, in-its-essence, as-it-really-is |
| भ्रांति न करीं | do-not be-confused / do-not make-error (about-this) |
Literal translation
English: That very same (yoga) — today, now — to you, O son-of-Kuntī, I have declared in-its-essence; do not be confused (about this).
मराठी (आधुनिक): तोच हा (योग) आज, आत्ता, तुला हे कुंतीपुत्रा (अर्जुना), मी खऱ्या अर्थाने सांगितला आहे; तू भ्रांत होऊ नकोस.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The तोचि हा here is the karma-yoga of the Gītā (the chapter-4 announced topic), not a Nāth-tantric kuṇḍalinī-rahasya.
Cross-references
- Internal: developed-further from 4.26 (cluster 0143). The
तोचि हा आजि आतां(that-very-this, today, now) explicitly reaches back across the cluster-boundary to 0143'sयोगु हा लोपला — लोकीं इये(this yoga became hidden — among-people-here). The demonstrative-this is the same demonstrative-this — the lost yoga is now-declared. Also developed-further from 4.16 (cluster 0142), where the paramparā-chain was named; the chain that was-broken in 0143 is now-rejoined here. - Tukaram parallel: None directly. The structural-claim (a teaching can be re-disclosed to the fit-recipient at the right moment) is bhakti-foundational and pervasive in Tukaram, but no single abhang sits as a clean ovi-level parallel to this specific declaration-pivot. Better empty than wrong.
- Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.3 — direct-paraphrase.
स एवायं मया तेऽद्य योगः प्रोक्तः पुरातनः⇒ this ovi's full content. The Marathiभ्रांति न करींis an interpretive addition pre-empting BG-4.4'sकथमेतद्विजानीयाम्question; not present in the Sanskrit verse itself but a narrative-bridge into the next śloka.
Modern application
- When an elder in your family finally judges you ready to hear a piece of inherited knowledge that has been waiting for the right moment — a story about a great-grandparent's choice, a family-craft's actual-method, a hard-truth about a long-past event — and you realize that the disclosure is not new-information but a re-disclosure: what was known has been transmitted to you, today, now. The ovi gives the structural-grammar of that moment without sentimentality.
- When a longtime teacher in your field — someone you have studied under for years — finally tells you the load-bearing principle behind their craft, and you realize they have been waiting for you to be ready. The teaching was never withheld out of secrecy; it was withheld out of fit-recipient-discipline. The disclosure-warrant was your readiness, not their willingness.
- When you yourself have been carrying a load-bearing insight that you have not been able to disclose to anyone because the right-recipient has not yet arrived. The ovi gives the principle: when the right-recipient arrives, the disclosure happens today, now — not earlier, not later. The waiting is not delay; it is the precondition of the disclosure landing.
Sādhanā
Identify one specific piece of knowledge — a craft-technique, a hard-won principle, a story-from-your-life — that you are currently holding because no one in your circle is yet the fit-recipient. In one sentence, write down what the recipient-organ-of-reception would look like in someone who could receive it. The point is not to disclose; it is to know precisely what readiness you are waiting for.
Arc
Having identified this very yoga as what is now declared, the next ovi names the disclosure-warrant: this is the heart-secret, and the receiver is dear to the giver.
Ovi 4.28
Original (Marathi): हें जीवींचें निज गुज । परी केवीं राखों तुज । जे पढियेसी तूं मज । म्हणौनियां ॥२८॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: The pronoun-chain तुज ... मज ... तुज ... मज is a tight second-person-to-first-person intimacy-vocabulary, characteristic of Kṛṣṇa-to-Arjuna direct-address. The affective-verb पढियेसी (you-are-dear) carries the relational-charge of both bhakta and sakhā from the Sanskrit verse.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| हें | this |
| जीवींचें | of-the-jīva / of-the-heart (locative-genitive) |
| निज गुज | one's-own secret / inmost secret (the निज intensifies the privacy) |
| परी | but |
| केवीं | how (could-I) |
| राखों तुज | keep-it-back from-you / withhold from-you |
| जे | because |
| पढियेसी | you-are-dear / you-are-beloved |
| तूं मज | you (to) me |
| म्हणौनियां | therefore / for-that-reason |
Literal translation
English: This is the secret-of-the-heart, one's-very-own inmost secret; but how could I keep it back from you? — because you are dear to me; therefore (I disclose it).
मराठी (आधुनिक): हे अंतःकरणाचे निजगूज (अगदी स्वतःचे रहस्य) आहे; पण ते तुझ्यापासून मी कसा बरे लपवू? कारण तू मला प्रिय आहेस — म्हणून (मी ते सांगितले).
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The triplet जीवींचें निज गुज is a synonym-string (three near-synonyms for secret) rather than an extended metaphor.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The गुज here is the doctrinal-secret of the Gītā-yoga, not Nāth-tantric rahasya-vidyā.
Cross-references
- Internal: None directly.
- Tukaram parallel: None directly. The affective-disclosure-warrant is bhakti-foundational and pervasive across Tukaram, but no single abhang sits as a clean ovi-level structural-parallel to this specific I-disclose-because-you-are-dear formulation. Worth flagging in observations: the structural-resonance with Tukaram's
तुं चि माझा देवandतुं माझी माउलीcorpus-poles is real but operates at a different level (the bhakta-addressing-Deva direction, whereas BG-4.3 is the Deva-addressing-bhakta direction). - Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.3 — direct-paraphrase.
रहस्यं ह्येतदुत्तमम्⇒हें जीवींचें निज गुज;भक्तोऽसि मे सखा चेति⇒परी केवीं राखों तुज — जे पढियेसी तूं मज — म्हणौनियां. The Marathi expansion of रहस्य into a three-word synonym-string and of the bhakta-sakhā-warrant into a rhetorical-question-plus-because-clause is one of Jñāneśvar's signature amplifications. - Bhagavad Gītā 18.64 — echo.
सर्वगुह्यतमं भूयः शृणु मे परमं वचः ... इष्टोऽसि मे दृढमितिis the chapter-18 symmetric-restatement of the same disclosure-because-of-affection structure. The two ślokas bracket the Gītā's doctrinal arc with the same affective-disclosure-warrant.
Modern application
- When a longtime mentor sits down with you and says, let me tell you what I have actually been doing all these years — and the disclosure happens not because you asked the right question but because the relationship has become close enough that withholding has become harder than disclosing. The ovi names this exact relational-pivot: the warrant for disclosure is affection, not entitlement.
- When a parent finally tells a grown child a hard-truth about the family — a story they had been holding for decades — and the disclosure happens because the parent realizes that the child has become dear-enough that keeping-it-back has become a kind of failure-of-love. The relational-asymmetry has resolved; the secret can land.
- When you are in a long-friendship that has become close enough that you find yourself disclosing things you have never disclosed to anyone — and you notice that you are not doing this because they have proven trustworthy in some test, but because the affective-bond has reached the threshold where withholding has become harder than telling. The ovi names this threshold cleanly:
पढियेसी तूं मज — म्हणौनियां(you are dear to me; therefore).
Sādhanā
Today, notice one piece of information you are currently withholding from someone close to you. Ask yourself: am I withholding this because the recipient is not ready, or because I am not ready? The ovi's claim is that when the right-recipient is dear, the disclosure becomes hard-not-to-do. If you discover that the dearness-threshold has already been crossed and you are still withholding, write down what would need to happen for the disclosure to land well. Do not necessarily act; just see clearly.
Arc
Having named the disclosure-warrant in general terms (you-are-dear-therefore), the next ovi specifies what kind of dearness: Arjuna is the icon-of-prema, life-blood-of-bhakti, conscious-spark-of-friendship.
Ovi 4.29
Original (Marathi): तूं प्रेमाचा पुतळा । भक्तीचा जिव्हाळा । मैत्रियेचि चित्कळा । धनुर्धरा ॥२९॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: The vocative धनुर्धरा (wielder-of-the-bow) is a direct Arjuna-address by his characteristic weapon-epithet. The chain of three second-person-affective-epithets (तूं प्रेमाचा पुतळा / भक्तीचा जिव्हाळा / मैत्रियेचि चित्कळा) is unmistakably Kṛṣṇa-speaking-to-Arjuna.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तूं | you |
| प्रेमाचा पुतळा | the icon / statue / image of prema (love) — you are prema embodied |
| भक्तीचा जिव्हाळा | the vital-essence / life-blood / heart-warmth of bhakti |
| मैत्रियेचि चित्कळा | the chit-kalā (conscious-spark / luminous-faculty) of friendship |
| धनुर्धरा | O wielder-of-the-bow (Arjuna-vocative) |
Literal translation
English: You are the icon-of-prema, the vital-essence-of-bhakti, the conscious-spark-of-friendship — O wielder-of-the-bow.
मराठी (आधुनिक): तू प्रेमाची मूर्ती आहेस, भक्तीचा जिव्हाळा आहेस, मैत्रीची चित्कला आहेस — हे धनुर्धरा (अर्जुना)!
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi — the three-fold epithet-string is an affective-intensification by near-synonym-layering, not an extended image. The पुतळा (icon, statue, embodied-image) and चित्कळा (luminous-spark) carry imagistic force but they function as predicates of Arjuna, not as unfoldable images. Marked metaphor_family: prema-incarnate + bhakti-vital-essence to record the epithet-pattern for corpus-tracking.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The term चित्कळा (conscious-spark) is general Vedānta-vocabulary for the spark-of-consciousness and is not Nāth-tantric-specific here; the Nāth-tantric usage of चित्कला appears in adhyāya 6 and 13 contexts where it pairs with specific kuṇḍalinī-cakra-vocabulary.
Cross-references
- Internal: developed-further from 4.16 (cluster 0142). The paramparā-chain at 4.16 listed Arjuna as the next-link implicitly by virtue of being-addressed; 4.29 now qualifies him explicitly by affective-criterion. The qualification-criterion has democratized between BG-4.1 (rāja-rṣi-status) and BG-4.3 (bhakta-and-friend-status by affection).
- Tukaram parallel: None directly. The icon-of-prema epithet-structure has resonance with Tukaram's
तुम्ही माझे माय-बाप(you are my mother-father) andतुं चि माझा देव-जीव-भाव(you alone are my Deva-jīva-bhāva) idiom-family — but the direction is reversed there (the bhakta names the Deva by epithet-string), whereas here the Deva names the bhakta. The structural-mirror is worth noting in observations but no direct ovi-level parallel justifies a confident citation. - Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.3 — paraphrase. Sanskrit's two-word
भक्तः ... सखाis unfolded into a three-fold epithet-string. Each Sanskrit term is expanded: bhakta → prema-puttala + bhakti-jivalḷā (two angles); sakhā → maitri-chitkalā. The structural-asymmetry (two epithets for bhakta, one for sakhā) is itself meaningful — bhakti is seen as a two-dimensional condition (form + life-blood), friendship as a single luminous-spark.
Modern application
- When you are working with someone — a colleague, a student, a friend — and you realize that they are the kind of person around whom this craft / this practice / this way of being comes alive. They are not merely-skilled; they are the icon-of-the-thing. The ovi gives this recognition without mystification: it is the affective-resonance that makes them a fit-recipient for the deeper-disclosure.
- When you reflect on your own life and ask: for which practice am I the prema-puttala, the bhakti-jivalḷā, the maitri-chitkalā? The ovi names a kind of qualification that is not credential-based — it is the affective-resonance between you and a particular practice. The thing you are made-of, in the Marathi sense, is what you are qualified to receive at the deeper-level. Not all things; not most things; one or two things.
- When you are a teacher and you notice that one student in the room is the icon-of-this-art. The recognition is not flattery and not preference; it is a structural-observation. The ovi gives the teacher the warrant to disclose the rahasya to that one student — because withholding from the icon would itself be a failure-of-craft.
Sādhanā
Today, write one sentence: of what art / practice / relationship am I the प्रेमाचा पुतळा (icon-of-prema)? Do not be modest; do not be grand. The ovi's claim is that such a thing exists for each person — the practice for which one is the right-fit-recipient by affective-resonance. Naming it correctly is the precondition for being-given-its-rahasya. Be honest. One sentence.
Arc
Having qualified Arjuna by triple-affective-criterion, the next ovi extends the claim: Arjuna is the very resting-place of intimate-attachment — what could possibly be withheld?
Ovi 4.30
Original (Marathi): तूं अनुसंगाचा ठावो । आतां तुज काय वंचूं जावों ? । जऱ्ही संग्रामारूढ आहों । जाहलों आम्ही ॥३०॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: Continuation of the second-person-affective-address (तूं ... तुज). The first-person-plural आम्ही ... आहों ... जाहलों (we ... we are ... we have become) is Kṛṣṇa speaking, with the royal-plural carrying both Kṛṣṇa-as-charioteer-and-Arjuna-as-warrior (the we of the chariot) and Kṛṣṇa-as-revealer-of-the-yoga.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तूं | you |
| अनुसंगाचा ठावो | the resting-place / abode of anusanga (close-following, intimate-attachment) |
| आतां | now |
| तुज काय वंचूं जावों? | (from) you what would we keep-back / withhold? (rhetorical question) |
| जऱ्ही | even-though |
| संग्रामारूढ आहों | we are mounted-on / arrived-at the battle (samgrāma-ārūḍha) |
| जाहलों आम्ही | we have become so |
Literal translation
English: You are the resting-place of intimate-attachment; now — what could we withhold from you? Even though we have become mounted-in-the-battle —
मराठी (आधुनिक): तू अनुसंगाचे — जवळिकीच्या स्नेहाचे — ठिकाण आहेस; आता तुझ्यापासून आम्ही काय बरे लपवू? जरी आम्ही युद्धात उतरलो आहोत, तरी —
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: foreshadows 4.31. 4.30 raises the battlefield-tension (
जऱ्ही संग्रामारूढ आहों — जाहलों आम्ही); 4.31 resolves it by saying the battle can wait one-moment so that aj̃ñāna can first be removed. The two ovis are a tight setup-and-resolution couplet — a signature Jñāneśvar device for marking transitions. - Tukaram parallel: None directly.
- Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.3 — paraphrase. Continuation of the expansion of
भक्तोऽसि मे सखा चेति. Theअनुसंगाचा ठावो(resting-place of intimate-attachment) is a fourth epithet-layer beyond the three at 4.29; the rhetorical-questionकाय वंचूं जावों?is the rhetorical-form-of the BG-4.3 disclosure-warrant.
Modern application
- When you are in a long-friendship and notice that the friendship has become the place where intimate-attachment rests — not a place you visit, a place that holds the resting-of-the-thing-itself. The ovi gives this without sentimentality: such relationships are structural-facts. When the relationship has become the resting-place, withholding from it becomes structurally-implausible.
- When you find that a particular work-collaboration has become the place where your craft rests — the colleague is not merely-collaborative, the collaboration itself is the resting-place. The ovi gives the warrant: in such a collaboration, you do not withhold; the asymmetry of withholding-vs-disclosing has tilted.
- When you are tempted to delay a hard-conversation with someone close because the setting is wrong (you are in the middle of a project, a move, a hard-week). The ovi gives the precise principle: even though we are in the middle of a battle, the disclosure can be paused-into. The setting is not the obstacle; the resting-place-relationship is the warrant.
Sādhanā
Today, name one relationship that has become the resting-place of intimate-attachment in your life. Do not name many; name one. Then ask: am I currently withholding something from this relationship because the setting is wrong? If yes, write one sentence on what would make the setting right. The ovi's claim is that the resting-place-relationship can suspend the battlefield-priority for one-moment to settle one load-bearing thing. Identify that one thing.
Arc
Having established the affective-warrant and raised the battlefield-tension, the cluster closes with the prioritization-statement: the battle can wait while your aj̃ñāna is first removed.
Ovi 4.31
Original (Marathi): तरी नावेक हें सहावें । गाजाबज्यही न धरावें । परी तुझें अज्ञानत्व हरावें । लागे आधीं ॥३१॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna
Voice-anchor: The second-person-aimed therapeutic-statement तुझें अज्ञानत्व हरावें — लागे आधीं (your aj̃ñāna must be removed — first) is unmistakably Kṛṣṇa-addressing-Arjuna with the precise diagnosis from BG-2.7's कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः. The closing-ovi maintains the Kṛṣṇa-voice across the entire cluster.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| तरी | then / even-so |
| नावेक हें | this for-a-moment / for-just-a-bit |
| सहावें | let-be-endured / let-pass / bear-with |
| गाजाबज्यही | the tumult / clamor / battle-drums (गाजाबज्य = noisy commotion) |
| न धरावें | do-not-hold-onto / do-not-attend-to |
| परी | but |
| तुझें | your |
| अज्ञानत्व | aj̃ñāna-state (the condition of unknowing) |
| हरावें | must-be-removed / must-be-taken-away |
| लागे आधीं | (it) must-be-(done)-first |
Literal translation
English: Then, for just-a-moment, let this be endured; do not hold-onto the tumult (of battle) — but your aj̃ñāna-state must be removed first.
मराठी (आधुनिक): तर हे थोडावेळ सहन कर; गाजावाजाकडे (युद्धाच्या ध्वनीकडे) लक्ष देऊ नकोस — पण आधी तुझे अज्ञानपण नाहीसे केले पाहिजे.
Metaphor-unfold
No extended metaphor in this ovi. The गाजाबज्य (tumult) carries imagistic-charge as battle-drum-and-trumpet but functions as a literal-referent to the surrounding battlefield, not as an unfoldable metaphor.
Nāth-yogic layer
No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.
Cross-references
- Internal: parallel-image with the chapter-1 collapse-and-chapter-2-response — the foundational Gītā stance of pausing-the-battle-to-resolve-Arjuna's-state. 4.31's
नावेक हें सहावें — गाजाबज्यही न धरावेंis the chapter-4 re-statement of that same foundational frame, applied to a new transition-moment within the discourse. - Tukaram parallel: None directly.
- Source citation:
- Bhagavad Gītā 4.3 — paraphrase. The prioritization-statement (battle-suspended-while-aj̃ñāna-is-removed) is not in the Sanskrit verse explicitly; Jñāneśvar adds it as a narrative-bridge into BG-4.4 and beyond.
- Bhagavad Gītā 2.7 — echo.
कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः — यच्छ्रेयः स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे — शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम्(my-nature-overpowered-by-the-defect-of-faintness, my mind-confused-about-dharma, I-ask-you — tell-me-with-certainty-what-would-be-best — I-am-your-disciple, I-have-taken-refuge-in-you, instruct-me). 2.7 was Arjuna asking-for-the-teaching; 4.31 is Kṛṣṇa committing-to-give-it before-the-battle-resumes. The two ślokas bracket the entire chapter-2 and chapter-3 doctrinal-arc with the same battlefield-paused-for-bodha frame.
Modern application
- When you are in the middle of a high-stakes situation (a deadline, a deal, a crisis-day) and someone close to you is in confusion that needs to be settled — and you notice that the situation-itself can be paused for one-moment to settle the confusion. The ovi gives the principle: aj̃ñāna-removal has priority over even the tumult of the immediate setting. The tumult will resume; the unsettled aj̃ñāna will spoil whatever comes after.
- When you are mid-project and realize that a foundational misunderstanding about what the project is has been quietly operating in your collaborators' minds — and that no amount of forward-execution will land while the misunderstanding remains. The ovi authorizes the pause: stop the tumult; remove the aj̃ñāna; resume.
- When you yourself are in the middle of an action-sequence (a workout, a meal-prep, a chore) and find your mind in a state of confused-attention. The ovi authorizes: pause the tumult for one-moment; settle the inner aj̃ñāna; then resume. The action without the inner-bodha is not better than the brief-pause-and-then-action.
Sādhanā
Today, when you find yourself mid-tumult (mid-task, mid-conversation, mid-anything) and notice that an aj̃ñāna-state in you or in someone close to you is the actual-bottleneck — try pausing for one-minute (not five, just one) and asking: what is the one piece of confusion that, if cleared, would let the tumult resume well? Identify it. You do not have to act on it; just identify it. The ovi's claim is that this pause-to-identify is the priority-over the tumult itself.
Arc
The cluster's corrective-pivot is now complete: the lost-yoga has been re-identified as this-very-yoga, the disclosure-warrant has been named (affective-qualification, not credential), and the battlefield-pause has been authorized for aj̃ñāna-removal. BG-4.4 opens with Arjuna's natural follow-up question (how-can-you-have-spoken-this-to-Vivasvat-who-was-born-much-earlier?) — already pre-empted by 4.27's भ्रांति न करीं. The chapter-4 avatāra-doctrine that resolves this question begins next.
Cluster summary
Core teaching. That same ancient yoga lost in the diagnosis-cluster is this very yoga now declared by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna today; the disclosure-warrant is not lineage or credential but the receiver's affective-qualification — Arjuna is the icon-of-prema, life-blood-of-bhakti, conscious-spark-of-friendship, the very resting-place of intimate-attachment; therefore the supreme secret is given despite the battlefield-setting, with one-moment's pause held back from the tumult so that aj̃ñāna may first be removed.
Theme tags: BG-4.3; rahasya-uttama; bhakta-and-sakhā-warrant; tochi-ha-aji-atan; paramparā-rejoined; prema-puttala; bhakti-jivalḷā; maitri-chitkalā; anusanga-resting-place; battlefield-paused-for-bodha; ajñāna-removal-priority; fit-recipient-by-affection-not-lineage.
Contains extended metaphor: No. The cluster's discourse-mode is affective-direct-address (epithet-strings and second-person-pronoun-chains), not analogy or extended-image. The prior cluster (0143) carried the four-analogy unfit-recipient catalogue; this cluster's corrective is in direct affective-vocabulary.
Chapter arc position. The corrective-cluster of the BG-4.1-3 opening-block. BG-4.1 (cluster 0142) named the paramparā-chain. BG-4.2 (cluster 0143) diagnosed the chain's break with the eight-ovi unfit-recipient analysis. BG-4.3 (this cluster) PIVOTS to the prescription: the same lost yoga is re-disclosed here, now, to you, because the missing element was never the teaching's content but the receptive-relationship between fit-giver and fit-receiver. The chapter's opening syllogism (chain-named, chain-broken, chain-rejoined) is now complete; from BG-4.4 onward the chapter unfolds the actual doctrinal-content of that re-disclosed yoga.
Connects to next śloka. BG-4.4 opens with Arjuna's natural question — your birth is later, Vivasvat's birth is earlier; how am I to understand that you spoke this to him at the beginning? — already pre-empted by 4.27's भ्रांति न करीं (do not be confused). Arjuna will voice the question; Kṛṣṇa's BG-4.5-9 avatāra-doctrine will then resolve it by introducing the chapter-4 incarnation-cosmology. The cluster's demonstrative तोचि हा आजि आतां (that-very-this, today, now) sets up the avatāra-frame in which the time-gap between Vivasvat and Arjuna is collapsed by Kṛṣṇa's transcendence of birth-death.