Verse 8

In plain words

To what end? —

To protect and safeguard those established in what is good, and to destroy those who do wrong, and, further, to set dharma properly back on its feet — for that purpose I come into being, age after age, in every age.

Close to the Sanskrit

For what purpose? —

For the protection — the safeguarding — of the virtuous, of those established in the good path, and for the destruction of evildoers, of sinners, and moreover, for the sake of establishing dharma — the proper re-establishment of dharma — for that purpose I come into being, age after age, in every age.

In plain words

When the practice of Dharma grows, Adharma perishes of itself; no special effort is needed for that. So now, to establish the practice of Dharma is to establish Dharma. To say ‘Dharma has perished’ means just as much as to say ‘the sun has set’. For the sun there is no such thing as setting; only because it cannot be seen do people think it has set. Dharma is just the same. Only because it cannot be seen do people think it has perished; but it is not something that perishes. How can what perishes be Satya? Dharma is joined with Satya, and so it does not perish. This Dharma, which is Satya, has fallen out of sight; to bring back into view what, unseen, has become invisible: that is the establishment of Dharma. And that is exactly the work Kṛṣṇa Paramātma is doing now! Keeping Arjuna as a mere instrument, He is bringing the beginningless dharmic karmas, which had vanished, back into practice! This is what is called “the raising up of Dharma”. He is not raising up something that does not exist; He is raising up only what exists. This is no work that ordinary people can do. So the Lord of all, the support of all, has Himself tied on the kaṅkaṇa; keeping in His hand Arjuna, who is full of every power, He is teaching the world through him. Had Arjuna been an ordinary man, he could not so easily have handed on this sacred Dharma to the country. So understand that Arjuna is no ordinary man. He had conquered even the inner and the outer enemies. Only one who has such divine power can make this powerful Dharma real in practice; to teach it to those without power would serve no purpose. Kṛṣṇa Paramātma thought it over and settled on a shining star: He elected Arjuna as the representative of the people. When so great a stream of grace flowed from God upon Arjuna, one cannot help but see that he is no ordinary man.

In plain words

“Protecting the sādhus, punishing the wicked, and uplifting Dharma. By sādhus I do not mean the sādhus and sannyāsīs as ordinary men see them. The sādhu quality exists in every living being, even in worms and insects. To put it subtly: ‘Nourishing sattvaguṇa is itself protecting the sādhu.’ In the supreme beings this sacred quality plays the chief part. So, as soon as they hear ‘protection of the sādhus’, people commonly take it to mean protecting sannyāsīs. But all who strive for the growth of sattvaguṇa, who are devoted to right conduct, possessed of good character, keepers of truthful speech, lovers of the presence of the Lord of all, devoted to true Dharma, and who hold Prema equally for all people: all such belong to the lineage of the sādhus.”

In plain words

“Next, the punishing of the wicked: whom does it mean? It means punishing those who cross the limits laid down for every species of living being and roam about out of all order, in lawless behaviour, in games of injustice and misconduct, in the torments of Ahaṅkāra. That is, punishing those in whom rajoguṇa and tamoguṇa are strong, those who have no compassion, no dharma and no dama. Then, the protection of Dharma.” That these three kinds of action are the mark of His Avatāra: this is the dharma of His Avatāra that Śrī Kṛṣṇa Paramātma told Arjuna.

There is one more subtlety in the uplifting of Dharma. It is this: never to give up one's own dharma of duty, even when one's life is in danger, is “sādhu”, in a further meaning of the word. Those who torment such sādhus and good men, and keep doing, with the trikaraṇas, acts contrary to the śāstras, are the wicked. To practise oneself the dharmas the śāstras enjoin, to make known to the world the excellence and power of Dharma, and not only to proclaim it but to change people so that they come to have śraddhā and Bhakti in the Vedas and śāstras, in God, in the Avatāras, in the world beyond and in the supreme beings, and so that they become firmly established in right conduct: this is called “Dharma saṃsthāpana”. It is called the protection of Dharma. It is called the uplifting of Dharma. Kṛṣṇa Paramātma, holding that all the karmas I do are for the establishment of Dharma alone, made known that they are not for any selfish use; that for those who know this secret there is no birth again; and that they attain Me alone.