yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya glaanirbhavati bhaarata |
abhyutthaanamadharmasya tadaatmaanam srijaamyaham || 7 ||
Whenever there is a decline in righteousness, and a rise in unrighteousness prevails, then do I manifest myself, O Bhaarata.
yadaa yadaa hi: whenever
dharmasya : righteousness
glaanih : decline
bhavati : prevails
bhaarata: O Bhaarata
abhyutthaanam : rise
adharmasya : unrighteousness
tadaa : then
aatmaanam : myself
srijaami : manifest
aham : I
Shri Krishna described the process of Ishvara's descent or avataara in the previous shloka. Here he speaks about the reason for manifesting as an avataara. He says that whenever there is a decay in dharma, and a rise in adharma, during that time he manifests himself in a particular form in this world. Now dharma means righteousness, but it also means universal harmony. Adharma then becomes disharmony.
Again, let us take the example of our body. Every cell and organ is working for the totality of the human being. It is the spirit of "one for all and all for one", which is nothing but the spirit of yajna that we saw earlier. Our heart keeps beating and doesn't ask for any reward or recognition. It just works for the sake of totality.
But sometimes, a part of the body, or the whole body, undergoes a situation when something goes wrong. Then, the intelligence of the body manifests itself to take care of the situation. If the problem is in one part of the body then special enzymes are secreted to remedy the situation, and white blood cells fight off the invaders. If the problem is in the whole body then it becomes warm under fever in order to get rid of intruders.
Similarly Ishvara comes either for short time like the Narasimha avataara, or for a long time like Shri Krishna avataar. Sometimes we find that the entire population thinks the same thought - e.g. an independence struggle or a social movement. That is also an avataara. If we go on polluting the environment with chemicals and so on, there could be a natural disaster in response. That is also an avataara .
1 comment:
I disagree with your explanation of the above sloka.. Here and almost everywhere in the internet, the above sloka is explained something like below.
"Whenever there is decay
of righteousness O! Bharatha
And a rise of unrighteousness
then I manifest Myself!"
Or
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.
Or
Whenever there is a decline of righteousness, and the rise of unrighteousness, then I re-incarnate myself to teach dharma.
Or
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in Dharma, I will descend on the back of a Horse.
Most of the explanations tells about the re-incarnation of lord himself whenever there is a decline of Dharma and gives the notion to wait for that moment of reincarnation.so we keep on waiting for him to manifest as fish,tortoise or in any other avatars or on the back of a horse.
Last day I was fortunate enough to listen the explanation of the above sloka by Swami Sandeep Chaitanya in his Bhagavad Gita Jnana Yajnam.He had a different version of explanation for the above sloka and I believe it to be the right one.The explanation is almost like below.
Adharma is not something that happens in some particular geographical region or place on some particular time, But it happens right in human mind and it happens at the moment when an unright or sinful thought originates in our mind.Maybe like a thought of stealing somebody else money or planning to harm somebody for the sake of our gain (abhyutthanam--predominance).Or like not doing what we are meant to do,ie not helping somebody who asks for our help.And whenever that sinful thought originates in our thought, at the very same moment,without any delay a thought of caution comes into our mind which warns us not to do that action that is not right or is sin,and that is how lord incarnates.And it is the mind that does know what is adharma and what we need to do, and that itself is the almighty.You need not wait all your life waiting for the lord to manifest and appear on the back of a Horse or anything..This is really a big revelation about our own self and understanding this core idea will definitily help us all to lead a blissful life.
Whether we step aback from doing that sin on hearing the warning from our inner self or neglect it and continue on the path of sin is another thing.But he says, each and every time,whenever a sinful thought originates in our mind, our inner self will warn us about that and tells us not do do the same.You can test it by just thinking of doing some harm to somebody or planning to steal ur friends mobile ..for a moment you can hear that inner voice that tells you not to do the sinful action, and he says, that is how the lord manifest to stop adharma by incarnating/manifesting in human mind and not on the Horse.This happens all the time,no exception.I believe this have some sense compared to the above other explanations that is found everywhere.The God is within You....and all the answers .
yada--whenever; yada--wherever/whenever; hi--certainly; dharmasya--righteousness or something Morally upright; glanih--discrepancies; bhavati--manifested, becomes,originates.
abhyutthanam adharmasya--predominance of unrighteousness or sin
tada--at the same time; atmanam--self,mind; srjami--manifest; aham--I/myself/within me Never waste your time waiting for an Avatar!
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