Chapter 4 Shloka 8

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्।

धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे।।८।।

Explaining the reason for His birth, Bhagwan says:

I take birth from age to age

for the emancipation of the good (sadhus),

for the destruction of the evil doers

and for the establishment of dharma.

Chapter 4 Shloka 8

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्।

धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे।।८।।

Explaining the reason for His birth, Bhagwan says:

I take birth from age to age for the emancipation of the good (sadhus), for the destruction of the evil doers and for the establishment of dharma.

The Sadhu

1. The sadhu is a person seeking salvation.

2. He wants to merge in the Lord.

3. A sadhu is one who strives to renounce the untrue.

4. He wishes to become an Atmavaan and live in the Truth.

5. The sadhu seeks to abandon doership. Yet he will never forsake his duty.

6. He strives to be free from the intellect that is partial to the body.

7. He desires to renounce attachment.

8. He strives for realisation of the Self.

9. One who endeavours to renounce moha, meum and egoism is called a sadhu.

The enemy of the sadhu

1. What is the obstruction in the path of such a one?

2. Who misguides such a one?

3. Who is that enemy who corrupts the sadhu?

4. Why can he not understand the true essence of wisdom? Where does the mistake lie?

5. Who diverts him from his aspired path?

6. Who waylays the sadhu when he tries to fix his mind and thoughts on the Truth?

Bhagwan takes birth to protect that sadhu from those who obstruct his aspired path. Which is the enemy that hinders the path of the sadhu? Bhagwan Himself has told us that:

1. Anger is that sinful enemy.

2. It is one’s own greed that impels one to sinful activity.

3. The persistent enemy of the sadhu is desire. It annihilates both knowledge and its practice. This enemy is difficult to overcome and has misled many a sadhu away from the path of righteousness.

Many a time the evil influence of this combined enemy:

a) causes the sadhu to fall from his aspired goal, and the world remains bereft of the prasaad or sanctified fruits of such a one’s yagya;

b) robs the sadhu of his virtuous attributes;

c) destroys the wisdom of the sadhu;

d) diverts many a sadhu from the path of Truth and deters him from Yoga or union with his aspired goal.

This causes the downfall of the spiritual aspirant.

1. The Lord takes birth to destroy these enemies and to protect the sadhu from them.

2. He takes birth to lead the sadhu back to the path of humility.

3. He takes birth to cleanse the internal foes – ego and moha.

4. He takes birth in order to bring the sadhu back to his chosen path.

5. He takes birth for the protection of virtue – not for the annihilation of the unvirtuous.

6. The Lord appears on earth to purify the aspirant of the negativity within himself.

A sadhu is ever striving to become an Atmavaan. Those who do not endeavour thus are what are called ordinary people.

1. The enemy of the ordinary man is anyone who tyrannises him. The sadhu has no such enemy. He is opposed to his own ego or ‘I’ thought.

2. The ordinary man feels oft insulted. The sadhu does not, since he does not identify with the body at which the insult is directed!

3. A sadhu is ever practising the inculcation of virtuous attitudes. He is unmindful of external enemies.

4. A sadhu is unafraid of others’ vanity, ego or negative behaviour. He is afraid of his own traits of egoism and meum etc.

5. Those who endeavour to transcend the body idea, need protection from their own moha, egoity and negativity.

6. The sadhu regards those who are inimical towards him as his friends, since they aid his ascent to divinity.

Little one, the Lord takes birth to destroy the internal enemy – this negativity which begets sinful deeds. The Lord now says, “I come to annihilate those who perform tainted deeds and to establish dharma on earth.” He had earlier explained that the ‘doer’ in reality was the guna or attribute of a person. All actions are bound by gunas, and they who consider themselves to be the doers of deeds are foolish. As long as there is attachment, the gunas will be tainted, they will give rise to sin. When attachment disappears and the individual acts in the spirit of yagya, he will be devoid of all sin – his deeds will be pure. Then he will be using all his attributes for the benefit of others and the perpetrator of wickedness in him will be destroyed.

Little one! It seems as though the Lord has made the mystery of His birth explicit in this shloka. It would be a great mistake to believe that He takes birth to kill sinners. If it had been so, there would not have been a single sinner remaining each time He embodied Himself on this earth. There is no such proof. He is born to redeem the sadhus and the sanyasis, to take them towards self realisation and to offer them protection against themselves; for whenever sadhus begin to revel in their knowledge without translating it into life, dharma declines in the world.

How does the Lord re-establish dharma?

1. His life is an explicit elucidation of the Scriptures.

2. He demonstrates how one lives without bodily attachment.

3. One can understand the full connotation of egolessness and non-doership from His life.

If one tries to understand His life and precept, one will clearly perceive:

a) the love of a detached one;

b) the absence of doership in action;

c) the essence and the manifestation of sanyas;

d) the true meaning of a Brahmchari which can be deduced by watching the Lord in His family life;

e) the connotation of duty in the life of One who has transcended all duties;

f) the striving of the One who is ever satiated;

g) that One who is Luminescence Itself, donning the most ordinary external form;

h) that Formless One becoming the charioteer of Arjuna.

In His life He reveals all the qualities of the One established in the Supreme Atma, devoid of body consciousness.

Those sadhus who truly love the Lord keep Him as a witness in all circumstances. They try to act as He would have done, had He been in their situation.

1. Thus their lives too, begin to mirror His qualities and His selfless attitude.

2. They too, become completely detached.

3. They perform selfless deeds as indeed He does.

4. Like Him they become the very embodiment of love, devoid of any thought of ‘me’ and ‘mine’.

5. Like Him they are free of all attachment and dedicated to the performance of duty.

6. Their lives are embellished with divine attributes.

7. They remain unaffected by all qualities and become gunatit like Him.

Thus, seeing Him and knowing His life to be the practical manifestation of the Scriptures, sadhus follow in His path, thereby protecting their own spiritual attributes and bringing about the destruction of those qualities which are harmful to spiritual progress.