Bhagwad Gita - Post 53

Verse 7

Yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya

Glaanir bhavati bhaarata;

Abhyutthaanam adharmasya

Tadaatmaanam srijaamyaham.

Whenever there is a decline of righteousness, O Arjuna, and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself.

In the earlier verses, it is explained that lord Krishna has no beginning and is immutable and that He instructed Visvavan the demi-god of the sun millenniums before in a past incarnation but a question may arise in regard to the many births. When did all these manifestations take place?

Lord Krishna clears up this point beginning with the words yada yada meaning whenever and wherever. This signifies that anytime or any place that a decline in righteousness is apparent, at that time the Supreme Lord manifests Himself. 

Here the word dharma which means righteousness does not imply ordinary righteousness as applies to the mundane interactions of varnasrama or the position and stages in life. 

Chinmaya says, 

“Dharma, "The Law of Being" is a sacred truth, and when the majority of the members of a community do not obey this great Truth, there is a conquest of the world by a herd of biped-animals, and not a co-operative happily-living family of men, pursuing life in their full dignity as intelligent social beings. 

In all such dark periods of history, some great Master comes to present himself as the leader of men to revive 'the-standard-of-life' and its moral values. 

This is generally done, not only by giving a fillip to the existing nobler values, but also by a corresponding policy of total elimination of the wicked.”

Swami explains,

“The scriptures declare that the divine descends on earth to teach the mankind the ways of dharma, justice and truth. I incarnate on earth from age to age to establish dharma, this is Krishna’s declaration in the Gita. 

Once people are filled with love, all dharma, all justice and truth will be installed in them. 

Without love, righteousness will be a mechanical ritual. What kind of righteousness can be there without Love? What sort of justice can there be? It will be a lifeless corpse”.

How beautifully Swami has aligned Dharma or righteousness with LOVE in the above lines!!!!

The word srjami is significant herein. Srjami cannot be used in the sense of creation, because, according to the previous verse, there is no creation of the Lord's form or body, since all of the forms are eternally existent. Therefore, srjami means that the Lord manifests Himself as He is. 

He appears by His own will whenever there is a predominance of irreligiosity and a disappearance of true religion. 

Principles of religion are laid down in the Vedas, and any discrepancy in the matter of properly executing the rules of the Vedas makes one irreligious. 

In the Bhagavatam it is stated that such principles are the laws of the Lord. Only the Lord can manufacture a system of religion. 

The Vedas are also accepted as originally spoken by the Lord Himself to Brahma, from within his heart. Therefore, the principles of dharma, or religion, are the direct orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Swami has explained “incarnation” in a beautiful way,

“To elevate man to the level of His consciousness, He (God) has to incarnate as man. He has to speak to them in their own styles and languages. He has to teach them the methods they can adopt and practice. 

Birds and beasts need no divine incarnation to guide them, for, they have no inclination to stray away from Dharma. Man alone forgets / ignores the goal of life.”

Dear All,

Kindly note that while in the case of birds/ beasts, Swami says that they do not stray away from their dharma, when He ends the line with reference to human beings, He does not use the word “ Dharma” but He says, Man alone forgets the goal of life. 

In this one expression, the lord of lords has given the entire essence for mankind to receive, contemplate, contemplate and contemplate. 

Swami has called us and reminded us that “OUR DHARMA, AS HUMAN BEINGS, IS TO ATTAIN THE GOAL OF LIFE, WHICH IS GOD REALIZATION”.

Love.