📿 Shloka Collection

Paritranaya Sadhunam

Gita 4.8 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4 — Gyana Karma Sannyasa Yoga
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥
Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam
Dharmasamsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge
परित्राणाय
for the protection
साधूनाम्
of the virtuous
विनाशाय
for the destruction
and
दुष्कृताम्
of the evildoers
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय
for reestablishing dharma
सम्भवामि
I manifest
युगे युगे
in every age

Three purposes, stated without ambiguity. Krishna incarnates to protect those who walk the path of righteousness, to bring down those who spread injustice, and to firmly reestablish dharma. Not once. Not twice. Yuge yuge — in every age, as many times as needed.

Think of a farmer who returns to his field season after season. Weeds grow, he uproots them. The fence breaks, he mends it. The crop needs water, he channels the river. The Lord tends to creation in much the same way — not once and done, but with ongoing care.

The closing words — yuge yuge — carry enormous reassurance. No matter how dark a period becomes, the promise stands. The Lord will come again. This is not a distant hope. It is a structural guarantee woven into the nature of the universe.

This shloka is the companion to 4.7 and together they form the complete statement of the avatar doctrine. Tradition has long recalled these two shlokas together as one unified teaching.

The Puranas describe the Dashavatara — the ten incarnations of Vishnu — as expressions of this very principle. Each avatar arose in response to a specific threat to dharma.

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