“Whenever goodness fades and wrongdoing rises, I bring myself forth into the world.”

Whenever goodness fades, I come

Yadā yadā hi dharmasya… Many children know this verse from songs and TV, even before they know what it means.

Lord Krishna is revealing something about himself: whenever dharma, meaning goodness, righteousness, the right order of things, declines (glāniḥ), and adharma rises, the divine takes form in the world. The next verse (4.8) completes it: “to protect the good, to transform the wicked, and to re-establish dharma, I come, age after age.”

This is the heart of the idea of avatāra, “descent”: the divine coming into the world as Lord Rama, as Lord Krishna, and in other forms across the ages.

But there’s a quieter way to read it too. The divine doesn’t only act through great avatars. It also works through ordinary people who choose kindness when it’s hard, honesty when it costs something, and courage when it’s easier to look away. When goodness fades around you, you can be the one who brings it back.

For kids: “Whenever the world needs help, God shows up, and sometimes God shows up through us when we help.”