Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 4: Knowledge and the Renouncing of Action

Bhagavad Gita 4.7

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānirbhavati bhārata | abhyutthānamadharmasya tadātmānaṃ sṛjāmyaham ||

Whenever dharma declines, Arjuna, and adharma rises, I bring myself into being.

Modern context

This is one of the best-known verses of the Gita. Whenever right order weakens and wrong grows strong, the divine appears. It is a statement of trust that the world is not abandoned and that decline is never the last word. It can also be read as a call. Renewal has always arrived through persons, and in a small way anyone who stands up for what is right when it is losing ground is taking part in that work.