CH 4, Verses 7 & 8

[Guest guest]

Chapter 4

Verse 7

 

Yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya glaanir bhavati Bhaarata /

abhyutthaanam adharmasya tad'aatmaanaM sRijaamy aham

//

 

Whenever, O Arjuna, there is decline of righteousness

and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself.

 

 

Verse 8

 

ParitraaNaaya saadhuunaa.n vinaashaaya cha

dushhkRitaam /

dharma-sa.nsthaapan'aarthaaya saMbhavaami yuge yuge //

 

 

For protection of the good, for the destruction of the

wicked and for the establishment of righteousness, I

take birth in every age.

 

 

LESSONS FROM BHAGAVAD GITA – 30

As taught by Parama Pujya Sri Swamiji

Compiled by: Swami Dattananda

Bhakti Mala, May 1995

 

Sri Krishna says that although He is the Supreme

spirit and the Lord of all beings, yet He incarnates

Himself in a human form through His inscrutable power

of Maya. Ordinary people are born being subject to

the laws of nature and are bound by nature. But the

Divine incarnates Himself in a human form by

subjugating nature. He always retains His mastery

over it and shows that through all His actions.

 

An ordinary man, though the practice of yoga, can

attain to the perfection and status of an incarnation

of God. Then he can also remember his previous

births. He then gets freedom from the clutches of

nature and feels his oneness with the Supreme spirit.

But a divine incarnation descends from the Supreme,

and so possesses all perfection from the beginning.

He need not attain anything because he is the

embodiment of all perfection. As such, although he

appears as a human being, he does not have any human

weaknesses and limitations. He is all knowing and

all-powerful.

 

In the next two verses, the purpose of His incarnation

is given. The Lord says, “Whenever, O Arjuna, there

is decline of righteousness and rise of

unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself. “ (Chapter

4, Verse 7) “For protection of the good, for the

destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of

righteousness, I take birth in every age” (Chapter 4,

Verse 8).

 

If one reflects upon these two verses, one will be

able to understand when and for what purpose the Lord

incarnates as a human being. When the pious and

saintly are subjected to persecution, when the wicked

perpetrate evil deeds and righteousness declines, when

vast mass of the people are in sore distress and when

they lose all hope, having been overpowered by the

wicked on all sides, and when, without the destruction

of the wicked, righteousness cannot be established,

then the Lord incarnates.

 

 

 

 

 

Sign up for SBC Dial - First Month Free

http://sbc.