Bhagavad Gita 4.2
एवं परम्पराप्राप्तमिमं राजर्षयो विदुः । स कालेनेह महता योगो नष्टः परन्तप ॥
evaṃ paramparā-prāptam imaṃ rājarṣayo viduḥ | sa kāleneha mahatā yogo naṣṭaḥ paran-tapa ||
Translation
Thus handed down in regular succession, the royal sages knew it. But, O harasser of foes, by long lapse of time this yoga has been lost.
Reflection
What handed-down practice in your life has gone thin without you noticing the break?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four
Naṣṭaḥ. Lost. The chain held for the royal sages, the kings who were also teachers. Then time did what time does: the line went thin. Krishna names the loss without nostalgia, sa kālena iha mahatā, by great time, here. Aurobindo reads this not as a literal cultural decline but as a description of every receiver's situation: each generation inherits a frayed line and has to find the strong place again. The verse is a quiet preamble to the next: if the teaching was lost, where does the version Krishna is about to give come from?