Bhagavad Gita 4.7 · BG 4.7
Chapter 4Verse 7
Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत। अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्॥
yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham
Translation
Whenever righteousness declines and unrighteousness rises, I manifest myself.
Wherever goodness fades, the strength to restore it rises again.
What does this mean?
A promise of renewal: balance that has faded doesn't stay lost. The conditions for its return keep arising, again and again.
In simple words
Krishna says that whenever goodness and right order fade and wrongdoing takes over, he shows up to set things right. It's a promise that balance which has been lost doesn't stay lost. The conditions for its return keep coming back around.
The deeper idea
In its own context this is Krishna describing why he takes form across the ages. Read more broadly, it's a statement about how decline works: things fall out of balance, and something rises to correct them, again and again, as a pattern rather than a one-time rescue. The verse doesn't promise the correction is instant or painless. It promises it's reliable. Whatever has gone wrong isn't the permanent state of things.
How it applies to life
When a workplace turns toxic, or a community loses its decency, or your own habits slide, it can feel like that's just how things are now. This verse pushes back on the permanence. The slide isn't the end of the story, and the turn usually starts small, one person deciding to hold a line. You can be part of what rises to correct it rather than waiting for someone else to.