“To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium”

Context of the Verse:

            This verse is a part of Krishna’s explanation to Arjuna of the divine reason why He incarnates. Having said in verse 7 that He comes when dharma perishes, Krishna now explains why He does so – namely, in order to:

• Protect the good (Sadhus)
• Destroy the evil (Duskrtas)
• Restore dharma (Virtue)

It is a potent assurance to Arjuna as he is reluctant to wage a war against people whom he loves.

Key Teachings in This Verse:

• Divine Purpose: God manifests with a clear objective – to regulate the Cosmos.
• Moral Order: Goodness is not a roll of the dice, divine justice guarantees victory, eventually.
• Helpers of the righteous: Individuals who abide by the dharma are never on their own, protection from higher powers is always there.
• Cyclic Creation: Dharma needs periodic restoration and God comes “Yuge Yuge” (age after age) to serve that.
• Just Judgment: But preservation and destruction are divine activities and indicate a balance of mercy and justice.

Relevance to Arjuna:

• Arjuna is reluctant to fight, facing family and friends on the other side.
• This verse states that the battle of righteousness (Dharma-Yuddha) is God-ordained and that it is the noblest path a Kshatriya can undertake and Arjuna should uphold it as divine will.
• Krishna suggests that the killing Arjuna will carry out in this battle is part of God’s divine will to reestablish justice.

Explanation:

            Krishna explains, “I manifest myself as and when there is a decline in the religious practice of Dharma. That is why people want to know everything from the Bhagavad Gita. They are trying to learn how to get more done. They want to learn management and leadership, as some people are able to understand complex concepts such as chemistry from the Bhagavad Gita. However, they do not want to know from the Bhagavad Gita why Krishna said what he said in the Gita. So, Dharma was explained to us in this Gita, and that is all that Krishna said.

            What is this, Dharma? It is the scientific code offered by them so that we can return to our spiritual position, replenish our spiritual status. That is called Dharma. And now I am hallucinating that I am the body, and then we are being acted upon by the desires of the body, which are not my desires. Otherwise, I get frustrated. If I succeed, I still get frustrated, because I am not that body. So, if a person has not realized that I am not this body, they will laugh, cry and aspire to do good in this dream. So, out of this most significant knowledge, a man in a dream is convinced that he is the body of the dream. We are also convinced that we are this body, but Krishna explains that you are not this body. Now, you are being born, and you will die. Know this and practice this Dharma in your life. So, whenever this degradation is there, Krishna consciousness comes here.

            Unfortunately, many people in India take advantage of the simplicity and piety of the people. People in India have a natural tendency to listen about God and believe in God. So, now every other person has started claiming that I am also an avatar, I am an avatar, I am that God, I am Krishna. I have come again. So, India is the factory that produces gods. They mass-produce Gods in factories. What is undifferentiated in bulk in India? So, India is going to be late to electronics and other toys. But it will lag behind in the most important produce, and that is God. In India, God is produced directly. So, this is a great deception. And everyone is saying, “I am God,” so we will have to know the scriptures, which is very unfortunate, because without scripture knowledge, people accept it like that.

            Thus, if we want to know who God is, we should turn to the scriptures. The scriptures tell us who God is, when God appears, the Lord of gods has appointed a timing to appear. I have come again. God can also manifest out of the blue at any time He likes, yet He still adheres to the Vedic directive. He can come, but yet, there is a time set for Him to come. “And what is there to say then about when Krishna would be appearing in this world, for which I have explained all such details? The Krishnavatara happens in the Dwapar Yuga of the 27th Mahayuga of the 7th Manu. There are 14 Manus, while a Kalpa is one day of Brahma. I have come again. And this is the accurate date provided at this point. Krishna is going to appear. Similarly, Lord Buddha is an incarnation, but if you actually read, the Srimad Bhagavatam was written 5,000 years ago. It is also an indication of Srimad Bhagavatam that a personality by the name of Buddha will take birth in this Gaya province. His mother’s name will be Anjana, and the description is very beautiful. He will mislead the atheistic population away from the Vedic path. They would kill animals very gorgeously, and they would give evidence also, that they are being quoted from the Vedas. Even the Vedas do not say that one should kill animals. But people misunderstood it. So that’s why they needed to be atheists. So, that’s why they needed to be unbelievers of Vedas so that this butchery may be stopped! Krishna had to come first! He came to affirm the Vedas once; He comes to have the Vedic authority removed.

            Thus, all these are different pastimes of Krishna, wonderful pastimes. And again, there is the Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction. This day of the month, on this season, on an exact date, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will manifest. He will come to a place that will be Mayapur in Navdeep, on the bank of the River Ganges. He will be named Shachi’s son, Shruti’s husband, and Purandar Mishra’s son. Everything is so beautifully said. With great ministration to humanity, He will popularize Bhakti Yoga. He will go into Sanyas, and after His Sanyas, His name would be Krishna Chaitanya. How wonderfully it is described in the Vedas in great detail. This is Vedic knowledge. The perfect explanation of the past and the perfect prediction of the future. So, the God’s appearance, the name of God, God’s father’s name, God’s mother’s name, the place of appearance, His pastimes, everything is described very nicely and distinctly in the Vedas. Then, if anybody says, “I am God,” we should test them with Vedic reference. Otherwise, we cannot even rely on anyone.

            And in addition to this, may be mentioned some peculiar marks on the soles of their feet. There are very special signs - like fish, or flags, or conch. There are these many symbols on the feet of Krishna or the incarnations. And that’s not all, so many symbols are there on the feet of Krishna or the incarnations. So, if anyone says I am the incarnation, you tell him to look at the souls. Are there some special signs? All these lovely put-downs are there, and then they must do something extraordinary. Krishna upraised the Govardhan hill. Krishna jumped on the monstrous snake, it had lots and lots of hoods. So, can you dance on the hood of a python? Then you are declaring yourself to be God, you can pick up even a little stone weighing 50 kg? And he lifted such a big mountain, like this, so many energies, such fantastic activities Krishna did, Lord Rama did, what have you done? So, we should not be swept away by such incarnations. We should learn from the Vedas. What are the incarnations? What is their father’s name and Mother’s name? Then there will be no questions and no cheating.” Unfortunately, these so-called incarnations give teachings that are not in line with the Bhagavad Gita. They take liberties because no one reads the Gita. Now, let me speak anything. So, Krishna does not say, “It is called a revised, edited, and enlarged edition, you are reading here – I spoke some knowledge to Vivasvan, now it is revised, edited, and enlarged edition.” No, knowledge is never perfect. The same knowledge, Krishna explains later in another quote.

            Interpretations were there even in the time of Arjuna. The Bhagavan Gita was there, but interpretations were off. Krishna sought to rehabilitate. That is why, to you, that is why, Krishna is explaining the real meaning. So, we should not get cheated. We must read the Gita, the Vedas. So, we can realize who is God and who is an incarnation.