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Rāja-vidyā: The King of Knowledge
no learned sages at the time Śrī Kṛṣṇa was speaking to Arjuna? No, there were many sages present at the time. By “lost” it is meant that the purport of  Bhagavad-gītā  was lost. Scholars may give their own interpretation of  Bhagavad-gītā , analyzing it according to their own whims, but that is not  Bhagavad-gītā . This is the point that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is stressing, and a student of  Bhagavad-gītā  should note it. A person may be a very good scholar from the material point of view, but that does not qualify him to comment on  Bhagavad-gītā . In order to understand  Bhagavad-gītā , we have to accept the principle of discipline succession ( paramparā ). We must enter into the spirit of  Bhagavad-gītā  and not approach it simply from the viewpoint of erudition.
Of all people, why did Śrī Kṛṣṇa select Arjuna as a recipient of this knowledge? Arjuna was not a great scholar at all, nor was he a  yogī , meditator or a holy man. He was a warrior about to engage in battle. There were many great sages living at the time, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa could have given  Bhagavad-gītā  to them. The answer is that despite being an ordinary man, Arjuna had one great qualification:  bhakto 'si me sakhā ceti : “You are My devotee and My friend.” This was Arjuna’s exceptional qualification, a qualification which the sages did not have. Arjuna knew that Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he surrendered himself unto Him, accepting Him as his spiritual master. Unless one is a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s, he cannot possibly understand  Bhagavad-gītā . If one wants to understand  Bhagavad-gītā , he cannot take help from other