Whenever the world's balance tips, the Lord answers, on no fixed schedule but its own.
It is tempting to hear this as a promise pinned to some future cosmic hour. It names something closer and less predictable: the actual moment dharma wears thin and its opposite lifts its head.
Whenever righteousness wears thin and wrongdoing rises up, that is when I send myself forth into the world.
The reading read whole, as one unhurried piece
Where it stands
You have just heard that the Lord, though unborn and imperishable, takes birth by his own power across many lives while remembering all of them, unlike you. The natural next question is when, and why. This verse answers it directly, and the verse after this one will finish the answer by naming the purpose.
The teaching
The trigger named here has two sides, and they arrive together. Dharma wears thin: it weakens, decays, loses its footing. At the same moment adharma rises: it grows, gathers strength, lifts its head. The two move like the pans of a balance, one sinking as the other lifts, and dharma itself is understood here as what the Veda enjoins, the right conduct of one's station and stage of life, aimed at the good of all beings; adharma is its forbidden opposite. Notice that the verse doubles its own words, whenever, whenever, and that doubling is read as the whole point: there is no fixed calendar here, no cosmic age arriving on schedule. The Lord answers wherever and whenever the world's actual balance tips, not on any external timetable. And notice, too, what this answering is not. It is not an ordinary birth, and it is not the making of a new body from nothing. The Lord and his form are already complete; he displays himself, manifests himself, as though born, by his own power, governed by no outside force and no ruling clock. On two acaryas whose names are usually gathered alongside these readings, honesty requires a pause rather than an easy paragraph. The source available for Madhva contains no comment at all on this verse; nothing is invented in his name to fill that gap. And the source available for Abhinavagupta treats this verse only as part of one continuous passage running from verse five through verse nine, without addressing 4.7 on its own; what is offered from his side here is drawn from that surrounding passage and flagged plainly as an extension, not a report of words he wrote at this verse specifically.
The doubt that rises
If the Lord's form is already complete and untouched by time, then what exactly is it that appears when the world tips out of balance, and what would it even mean to call that appearing real?
Where the paths divide
Read as a brief, exact statement rather than a full unfolding.
What survives here from Shankara is precise but short: dharma and adharma defined in their proper terms, and the sending-forth named as an act of maya, the Lord's own power of appearing. The changeless self is not literally born; it displays itself as though it were. The fuller argument for why a changeless self can be said to act at all is carried more fully in the verses around this one than repeated again here, so this reading stays close to what the source actually gives rather than reconstructing more than it states.
Read as the Lord's own deliberate, willed act.
Ramanuja is careful from the outset to rule out any fixed time governing the Lord's coming. Duty is what the Veda declares, upheld by the ordering of the classes and stages of life, and it is the weakening of that duty together with the rising of its opposite that is the actual occasion. He locates the cause entirely within the Lord's own will, by nothing outside him and by no independent power of time, and treats this verse as turning directly into the next, where the purpose of the coming will be stated outright.
Offered as a labeled extension, not a report of comment on this verse.
Abhinavagupta's surviving commentary handles verses five through nine as one passage and does not comment on this verse by itself. At verse five he describes the Lord as already full in the six perfections, sending forth out of compassion a self-portioned part of himself to hold the world in place, a divine birth arising through his own maya and yogic freedom rather than through the compulsion of past action. On a Kashmir Shaiva reading, one would extend this into the present verse by reading the trigger named here, dharma's decline and adharma's rise, as the occasion that compassion answers, consciousness's own freedom moving to restore balance because nothing outside it compels it. This extension is clearly marked as such and should not be mistaken for his own words on 4.7.
Read as a lens for the devotee more than a settled metaphysics.
Sridhara lets a short gloss carry real weight. He reads dharma's decline not as a quiet fading but as a sickness in dharma's own limb, and adharma's rise not as a mere presence but as its head actively lifted in challenge. Where the two meet, he says, the trigger fires, and it fires again, age after age. He hands the devotee a lens for this: the whole long history of the Lord's descents can be read as the history of exactly such tippings being noticed and set right, an appearing that answers the world's need and no need of the Lord's own.
Read for the precision it adds to the verse's mechanics.
Madhusudana asks the sharpest form of the question: when does the mass of being, consciousness, and bliss act as though it had a body at all? His answer keeps the definitions exact, dharma and adharma each glossed by what the Veda enjoins and forbids, and the sending-forth described as the display of an already-perfect body by maya, as though freshly made. He adds a smaller but telling observation: calling Arjuna by the name Bharata here is a deliberate hint, since Arjuna himself cannot bear to see dharma decline, preparing him for what this incarnation is about to ask of him.
Read as the occasion completing itself in the verse that follows.
Taken together rather than as a sixth distinct voice, the two fullest surviving comments here, Shankara's and Ramanuja's, both treat this verse as stating an occasion that the next verse will complete by naming its purpose. Read this way, 4.7 and its sequel are less two separate teachings than one continuous statement: first the trigger, dharma's decline and adharma's rise, then, immediately after, what the Lord's coming is actually for.
Every reading here agrees on the trigger and on what the sending-forth is not, an ordinary birth, a new body built from nothing. They do not agree on how literally to take what does appear. Is it appearance alone, maya covering a self that never truly changes? Is it the Lord's own will made real and entire? And on two of the six names usually gathered here, the honest position is not a resolved answer at all but an acknowledged gap: Madhva's surviving word is silence, and Abhinavagupta's is addressed to a wider passage, not to this verse alone. This page leaves both the metaphysical fork and the acknowledged gaps standing rather than closing either.
A question to carry
When you notice something you value wearing thin, and something opposed to it gaining ground, do you read that moment as decline with no answer coming, or as exactly the kind of tipping this verse says is met?
Where this teaching travels
Verses that sit near this one, each going its own way; follow whichever calls you.
So when you watch what matters to you weaken and what opposes it grow bold, remember that no such tipping, in this reading, has ever been the end of the account.
Each school is voiced from the commentators named above. Their full words, every translation, and where the schools agree and differ wait in the reading desk just below. Open the commentary desk.
Krishna has just told Arjuna that though unborn and imperishable, he takes birth by his own power; here he answers the next natural question, when and why, before turning in the verse after this one to state the purpose outright.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
The occasion is a twofold tipping, dharma declining as adharma rises, not a fixed cosmic schedule.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 2 others’ words
This verse answers the question the previous verses leave open: if the Lord is unborn, bodiless, and always present, then when and why does he ever appear to take birth? The doubled word 'whenever' is read as the answer's opening move, naming an occasion rather than a schedule.
The doubled wording of the verse itself, whenever, whenever, is read as ruling out any timetable at all.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 2 others’ words
The trigger is a twofold condition arising together: dharma declines while adharma rises, the two moving inversely like the pans of a balance. Dharma is glossed as what the Veda enjoins, marked by the proper conduct of the four classes and stages of life and aimed at the welfare of all beings; adharma is its forbidden opposite.
Sending himself forth is not an ordinary birth; the Lord displays an already-complete form as though newly made.
Across Viśiṣṭādvaita, Bhakti, AdvaitaRāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Rāmānuja, Śrīdhara, and 1 others’ words
There is no fixed calendar for the descent. The repetition in the verse is read as a denial of any timetable: the Lord answers wherever and whenever the world's balance actually tips, not on the schedule of some cosmic age.
Where the sources are silent or only cover this verse as part of a larger block, that limit is reported honestly rather than smoothed over.
Across Advaita, ViśiṣṭādvaitaŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 1 others’ words
Sending Himself forth is not an ordinary birth and not the making of a new body. The Lord and His form are already complete; He displays or manifests Himself as though born, by His own free power, with no outside agency and no governing time.
The why steadies more than the metaphysics: the coming answers the world's real need, never any need of the Lord's own.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, BhaktiŚaṅkara · Rāmānuja · Śrīdhara · MadhusūdanaIn Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and 2 others’ words
Where the source material is thin or silent, that silence is preserved rather than filled in. Madhva's surviving commentary says nothing at this verse, and Abhinavagupta's treats 4.5 through 4.9 as one block rather than commenting on 4.7 on its own; both are reported honestly as such rather than smoothed over.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Viśiṣṭādvaita, in their fuller words
Ramanuja reads the sending-forth as the Lord's own real and deliberate act, caused by nothing outside His will and by no independent power of time. Having stated the occasion this way, he treats the verse as a hinge that turns directly into the next verse's statement of purpose.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
Sridhara lets a short gloss carry a large doctrine. Glani is a sickness in the very limb of dharma, not a quiet fading; abhyutthana is adharma's head actively lifted in challenge. Where the two meet, the trigger fires, again and again across ages, giving the devotee a lens for reading the whole history of the descents as one history of such tippings restored.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
Read for what it makes precise, Madhusudana's gloss functions as a technical account: the Lord displays an already-perfect body by maya as though freshly made, and the address Bharata is a deliberate hint to Arjuna, who cannot bear dharma's decline, preparing him for the very incarnation's work now being explained to him.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Carry this verse as a lens rather than a doctrine to settle. When you notice righteousness wearing thin somewhere, in the world or in your own conduct, and something opposed to it gaining ground, you are looking at exactly the kind of moment this verse names. Let that recognition steady you rather than alarm you: the promise here is that such tippings are met, not ignored, and the meeting has never depended on your merit bringing it about.
So when you see what you love wearing thin and what opposes it gaining ground, remember that no such tipping has ever gone unanswered.
Read deeper
Everything a full study holds, folded below.
Word by word
All the commentary, woven together
The commentary, woven together
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
his verse answers the question the previous verses leave open: if the Lord is unborn, bodiless, and always present, then when and why does he ever appear to take birth? The doubled word 'whenever' is read as the answer's opening move, naming an occasion rather than a schedule.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
The trigger is a twofold condition arising together: dharma declines while adharma rises, the two moving inversely like the pans of a balance. Dharma is glossed as what the Veda enjoins, marked by the proper conduct of the four classes and stages of life and aimed at the welfare of all beings; adharma is its forbidden opposite.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
There is no fixed calendar for the descent. The repetition in the verse is read as a denial of any timetable: the Lord answers wherever and whenever the world's balance actually tips, not on the schedule of some cosmic age.
Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Sending Himself forth is not an ordinary birth and not the making of a new body. The Lord and His form are already complete; He displays or manifests Himself as though born, by His own free power, with no outside agency and no governing time.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Where the source material is thin or silent, that silence is preserved rather than filled in. Madhva's surviving commentary says nothing at this verse, and Abhinavagupta's treats 4.5 through 4.9 as one block rather than commenting on 4.7 on its own; both are reported honestly as such rather than smoothed over.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
The descent is an appearance worked by maya, the Lord's own power of seeming, not a real birth of the changeless self. What the surviving comment gives is exact but brief: dharma and adharma defined, and the sending-forth named as an act of maya, the fuller metaphysical working-out carried more in the surrounding verses than repeated here.
Śaṅkarācārya
Viśiṣṭādvaita
Ramanuja reads the sending-forth as the Lord's own real and deliberate act, caused by nothing outside His will and by no independent power of time. Having stated the occasion this way, he treats the verse as a hinge that turns directly into the next verse's statement of purpose.
Rāmānujācārya
Kashmir Śaiva
Abhinavagupta's extant comment sits at 4.5, treating 4.5 through 4.9 as one passage: the ever-full Lord sends forth a self-portioned, compassionate part of Himself, a divine birth arising through His own maya and yogic freedom rather than past action. Reading 4.7 specifically through this lens is offered here only as a labeled extension, not as his own comment on this verse.
Ācārya Abhinavagupta
Bhakti
Sridhara lets a short gloss carry a large doctrine. Glani is a sickness in the very limb of dharma, not a quiet fading; abhyutthana is adharma's head actively lifted in challenge. Where the two meet, the trigger fires, again and again across ages, giving the devotee a lens for reading the whole history of the descents as one history of such tippings restored.
Śrīdhara Svāmī
Modern
Read for what it makes precise, Madhusudana's gloss functions as a technical account: the Lord displays an already-perfect body by maya as though freshly made, and the address Bharata is a deliberate hint to Arjuna, who cannot bear dharma's decline, preparing him for the very incarnation's work now being explained to him.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Bhedābheda
Taken together, the two fullest surviving comments here converge on reading this verse forward into its sequel: the occasion is stated now, dharma's decline and adharma's rise, so that the very next verse can state the descent's purpose, protecting the good and re-establishing what has weakened, without either comment needing to repeat itself.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya
A Seeker Asks
If the Lord is unborn and has no body of his own, in what sense does he actually come into the world here, rather than only appear to?
What the readings agree on is what this coming is not: not an ordinary birth, not the making of a new body. The Lord and his form are already complete; he displays himself as though born, by his own power, governed by no outside agency and no fixed time.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
On exactly how real that display is, the readings part, and the honest answer holds the fork open rather than closing it. One reading treats it as an appearance by maya, the changeless self only seeming embodied; another treats it as the Lord's real, deliberate self-projection, caused by his will alone.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya
What steadies a seeker more than the metaphysics is the why, and every surviving reading shares it: the coming answers the world's actual need, dharma's decline and adharma's rise, never any need on the Lord's own side. Where a source is thin or silent on this verse, as with Madhva and, on its own terms, Abhinavagupta, that gap is left standing rather than papered over.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Contemplation
Carry this verse as a lens rather than a doctrine to settle. When you notice righteousness wearing thin somewhere, in the world or in your own conduct, and something opposed to it gaining ground, you are looking at exactly the kind of moment this verse names. Let that recognition steady you rather than alarm you: the promise here is that such tippings are met, not ignored, and the meeting has never depended on your merit bringing it about.
Sit with this · sonnet-5-authored
All the translations and commentary
Pull up a chair.
You have come to sit with this verse. When you are ready to hear the translators and the commentators in full, open a tradition in the doorways below, or add a voice by name above.
Also hear this verse, tradition by tradition.