Bhagavad Gītā 4.7Open verse
whenever dharma declines, I create myself
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य
ग्लानिर्भवति भारत
Arjuna, whenever righteousness is on the. decline, and unrighteousness is in the ascendant, then I body Myself forth. (7) INY
Concepts
Who is Krishna — and why does he descend age after age?
अवतारः
avatāraḥ
ava 'down' + √tṝ 'to cross' — a crossing-down; the Lord's descent into form. Krishna's own declaration of it stands at 4.7-8: yadā yadā hi dharmasya…
Arjuna’s question
अर्जुन उवाच
अपरं भवतो जन्म परं जन्म विवस्वतः
कथमेतद्विजानीयां त्वमादौ प्रोक्तवानिति
॥ ४.४ ॥
Arjuna said: You are of recent origin, while the birth of Vivasvan dates back to remote y antiquity. How, then, am I to believe that K You taught this Yoga at the beginning of creations? (4) S
Read in contextArjuna hears Krishna say 'I taught this to Vivasvān at the beginning' and objects: your birth is recent — how? Krishna's answer is the Gītā's teaching on avatāra: the birthless One takes birth. What kind of birth that is — through māyā, by nature, out of sport — is where the traditions each speak in their own voice.
Where the Gītā speaks
Bhagavad Gītā 4.8Open verse
to guard the good, end the wicked, establish dharma
परित्राणाय साधूनां
विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्
For the protection of the virtuous, for the extirpation of evil-doers, and for establish- / ing Dharma (righteousness) ona firm footting, e Iborn from age to age
Bhagavad Gītā 4.9Open verse
who knows this birth truly is not born again
जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं
यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः
Arjuna, My birth and activities are divine. he who knows this in reality is not reborn on leaving his body, but comes to Me
The short answer
In the Gītā's own words: God, descending on purpose. Every commentator takes 4.7 at face value — when dharma collapses, the birthless one takes form to protect the good and set things right; none of them reduces Krishna to a wise teacher. How a birthless being gets born is where they differ: through his own māyā, appearance without bondage, says Śaṅkara; a real form taken for the world's need, says Rāmānuja; sheer will and play, needing no reason at all, says Madhva. The promise doesn't depend on settling that — the descent comes when it is needed.
How the traditions read it
Sources under review
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya · Advaita
Śaṅkara guards the paradox with one word: the descent is real as appearance — wrought through the Lord's own māyā, leaving him unborn.
तदा तदा आत्मानं सृजामि अहं मायया — then, each such age, I create myself through my māyā.
Śaṅkara Bhāṣya on 4.7 (Sanskrit, GitaDeep corpus; working rendering under review)
Śrī Rāmānuja · Viśiṣṭādvaita
Rāmānuja hears a standing promise with no schedule attached — the descent answers need, not calendar.
whenever or wherever dharma or righteousness as ordained by the Vedic scriptures under varṇāśrama or the four stages and position in Vedic culture become degraded and unrighteousness increases and becomes dominant at that time Lord Krishna or any of His authorised incarnations descends and becomes manifest.
Gītā-bhāṣya on 4.7 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Śrī Madhvācārya · Dvaita
Madhva removes even the need: nothing compels the complete Lord — the descent is will, and play.
There is no reason for Sri Hari to take descent for the protection of the noble. But by his own Will and (in some cases) out of sport he descends
Madhva Bhāṣya on 4.8 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Śrī Jñāneśvar · Vārkarī
The Jñāneśvarī renders the descent as a farewell the Unmanifest bids to itself, for the world's sake.
It is in accordance with the primeval order of things that the spiritual structure of the world should be protected by me from age to age. Thus my uncreate essence I lay aside and bid farewell to my unmanifest Being, when evil seems to vanquish and imperil the good.
Jñāneśvarī on 4.7, tr. R. K. Bhagwat (GitaDeep corpus)
Swami Ramsukhdas · Sādhak Sañjīvanī
The practice reading defines the decline of dharma in social terms a reader can recognize.
When righteous, innocent, weak, pious and spiritual people, are exploited by unrighteous, cruel, strong, wicked and mundane people, and when moral values are lost and immorality prevails—that state, is the state of a decline of righteousness, and upsurge of unrighteousness.
Sādhak Sañjīvanī on 4.7 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Where the traditions differ, we show the difference.
Follow the thread
कुरुक्षेत्रम्Why is this taught on a battlefield?शरणागतिःWhat does 'abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me alone' really mean?
Ask about this — Who is Krishna in the Gītā?