Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 7
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदाऽऽत्मानं सृजाम्यहम्।।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदाऽऽत्मानं सृजाम्यहम्।।
yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata
abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmyaham
also searched as "yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata"
Translation
Whenever there is a decline of Dharma, O Arjuna, and an uprising of Adharma, then I incarnate myself.
Vāṇi's rendering
Whenever dharma fades and adharma rises — then I send myself into the world.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| यदाyadā | whenever |
| यदाyadā | whenever — the word is doubled, meaning every single time, age after age |
| हिhi | indeed, surely |
| धर्मस्यdharmasya | of dharma, of what upholds and is right |
| ग्लानिःglāniḥ | fading, wasting away, loss of strength (appears as glānir before the next word) |
| भवतिbhavati | comes to be, happens |
| भारतbhārata | O descendant of Bharata — Arjuna |
| अभ्युत्थानम्abhyutthānam | a rising up, a swelling ascendancy |
| अधर्मस्यadharmasya | of adharma, of what tears down and is wrong |
| तदाtadā | then, at that moment (joined to the next word by sandhi in tadātmānaṁ) |
| आत्मानम्ātmānam | myself, my own being |
| सृजामिsṛjāmi | I send forth, I bring into being (joined to the next word in sṛjāmyaham) |
| अहम्aham | I |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 7 mean?
It means Krishna comes by his own decision. Whenever dharma weakens and adharma gains ground, he sends himself into the world — sṛjāmi, I send forth. No force compels him and no ritual summons him. The descent is an act of will, and it repeats whenever the balance tips.
What is the meaning of yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata?
Yadā yadā — whenever, and whenever again. The doubling is the point: this is not one event in history but a pattern without end. Dharma fades, adharma swells, and Krishna answers. He names Arjuna as bhārata while saying it, so the promise is spoken to a particular man, not to the air.
Does this verse mean Krishna takes birth like an ordinary person?
No. He says sṛjāmi — I send forth — not that he is carried into birth by karma. Others are born because they must be. Krishna appears because he chooses to. The body may look like any body; the manner of its arriving is entirely different.
How does this verse apply to me if I am not living in a great age of decline?
Every age looks ordinary from inside it. The measure Krishna gives is not historical scale but direction — what is thinning in you, what is gaining. Watch that honestly for a week. Where dharma is fading in your own hours, that is exactly where he has said he will come.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has just said he is unborn. Now he says he is born. Not compelled — sṛjāmi, I send forth; the verb is his, the choosing is his. Nothing summons him. He watches dharma thin out, watches adharma swell, and steps in as an act of will. Arjuna is being told that the friend holding his reins did not arrive by accident. This is why the Gītā is spoken at all. And the same eye that measures an age measures your hours — notice what fades in you, and what rises. He comes where he is needed, not where he is admired.