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TEXT 7 yada yada hi dharmasya
SYNONYMS  yada--whenever;
yada--wherever; hi--certainly; dharmasya--of religion;
glanih--discrepancies;
bhavati--manifested, becomes; bharata--O descendant of Bharata;
abhyutthanam--predominance; adharmasya--of irreligion; tada--at
that time; atmanam--self; srjami--manifest;
aham--I.
TRANSLATION Whenever
and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of
Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion--at that time I descend Myself.
PURPORT 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. Although the Lord appears
on schedule, namely at the end of the Dvapara-yuga of the twenty-eighth
millennium of the eighth Manu in one day of Brahma, still He has no obligation
to adhere to such rules and regulations because He is completely free to
act in many ways at His will. He therefore 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
(dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam). These principles are clearly
indicated throughout the Bhagavad-gita. The purpose of the Vedas
is to establish such principles under the order of the Supreme Lord, and
the Lord directly orders, at the end of the Gita, that the highest
principle of religion is to surrender unto Him only, and nothing more.
The Vedic principles push one towards complete surrender unto Him; and,
whenever such principles are disturbed by the demoniac, the Lord appears.
From the Bhagavatam we understand that Lord Buddha is the incarnation
of Krsna who appeared when materialism was rampant and materialists were
using the pretext of the authority of the Vedas. Although there
are certain restrictive rules and regulations regarding animal sacrifice
for particular purposes in the Vedas, people of demonic tendency
still took to animal sacrifice without reference to the Vedic principles.
Lord Buddha appeared to stop this nonsense and to establish the Vedic principles
of nonviolence. Therefore each and every
avatara, or incarnation
of the Lord, has a particular mission, and they are all described in the
revealed scriptures. No one should be accepted as an avatara unless
he is referred to by scriptures. It is not a fact that the Lord appears
only on Indian soil. He can advent Himself anywhere and everywhere, and
whenever He desires to appear. In each and every incarnation, He speaks
as much about religion as can be understood by the particular people under
their particular circumstances. But the mission is the same--to lead people
to God consciousness and obedience to the principles of religion. Sometimes
He descends personally, and sometimes He sends His bona fide representative
in the form of His son, or servant, or Himself in some disguised form.
The principles
of the Bhagavad-gita were spoken to Arjuna, and, for that matter,
to other highly elevated persons, because he was highly advanced compared
to ordinary persons in other parts of the world. Two plus two equals four
is a mathematical principle that is true both in the beginner's arithmetic
class and in the advanced class as well. Still, there are higher and lower
mathematics. In all incarnations of the Lord, therefore, the same principles
are taught, but they appear to be higher and lower in varied circumstances.
The higher principles of religion begin with the acceptance of the four
orders and the four statuses of social life, as will be explained later.
The whole purpose of the mission of incarnations is to arouse Krsna consciousness
everywhere. Such consciousness is manifest and nonmanifest only under different
circumstances.
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