Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 4: Knowledge and the Renouncing of Action

Bhagavad Gita 4.5

bahūni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna | tānyahaṃ veda sarvāṇi na tvaṃ vettha parantapa ||

Many births of mine have passed, Arjuna, and many of yours as well. I know them all; you do not.

Modern context

Krishna's answer widens the frame: both of us have lived many times, and the difference is that I remember and you do not. Whatever one believes about rebirth, the picture carries a practical point. Our view of ourselves is short. We judge by the small stretch we can recall, and take it for the whole. A person who remembers more, of their own life or of history, is less shaken by the present moment.