Bhagavad Gita 4.7
Spoken by Krishna ★ Essential verse · Verse 7 of 42
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत । अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata | abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṃ sṛjāmy aham ||
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
Word by word (3)
- yadā yadā hi dharmasya glāniḥ bhavati
- — whenever and wherever there is a decline of dharma · Yadā yadā = whenever and wherever (emphatic repetition expressing universality across time and place). Hi = verily, certainly. Dharmasya = of dharma (the cosmic order, righteousness, right functioning of existence). Glāniḥ = decline, exhaustion, diminishment (from glai = to be weary/faint). Glāni implies a gradual wearing down — not sudden collapse but progressive depletion of the principle of right order.
- abhyutthānam adharmasya
- — and a rising up of adharma · Abhyutthāna = rising up (abhi+ut+sthāna — rising from below upward, a rising that overcomes). Adharma = the opposite of dharma — disorder, injustice, the fragmentation of right order. The two conditions together: dharma declining + adharma rising. Not one alone but both simultaneously — the tipping point.
- tadā ātmānaṃ sṛjāmi aham
- — then I project/create Myself · Tadā = then (responding to yadā yadā). Ātmānam = Myself (the Self). Sṛjāmi = I project, I create, I emit (from sṛj = to release, to create — the same root as creation). Aham = I. Not 'I am born' passively but 'I create/project Myself' — an active, sovereign self-manifestation. The divine responds to the crisis with creative self-expression.
Whenever and wherever there is a decline of dharma and a rising up of adharma — O Arjuna, then I project Myself forth.
A modern analogy
When a system tips toward failure — when what sustains life is being destroyed and what destroys it is rising — something corrective emerges. In biology: immune response. In ecosystems: succession and recovery. This verse describes this at the cosmic level: the divine principle itself responds to the crisis by manifesting more directly.
Take with you
- Yadā yadā — the principle is universal, not a one-time event. It applies whenever and wherever the conditions arise.
- Both conditions must be present: dharma's decline AND adharma's rise — the tipping point of imbalance.
- Sṛjāmi ātmānam — 'I create Myself' — the divine response is creative, active, sovereign.
- This verse gives cosmic context to the Gita itself: Arjuna's crisis IS the context for the divine teaching.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
Whenever there is decay of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness, O Bharata, then I manifest Myself. [1]
Whenever there is a decline of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness, O Bharata, then I project Myself forth. [4]
Whenever there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world, then do I come forth. [6]
When righteousness Withers away, and lawlessness uprises, O! then I draw Myself forth! [7]
Whenever there is decay of righteousness, and there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I myself come forth. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
For the protection of the good, destruction of wickedness, establishment of dharma — I come, age after age.
Though unborn, imperishable, Lord of all — I come into being through My own Māyā. Divine birth is free, not compelled.
A blind king asks what happened on the battlefield — and the Gita begins.
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
This most secret śāstra spoken — knowing it, one becomes truly wise and kṛta-kṛtya: all duties fulfilled.
Duryodhana lists his greatest champions — and every name carries its own tragic irony.
Verse 7 of 42 · back to Chapter 4