Why He Appears

Now the reason for this appearance and disappearance is revealed in verse seven: "Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, and a predominant rise of irreligion-at that time I descend Myself." No man can manufacture a system of religion, for only Krsna can breathe new life into the sleeping soul. Therefore, it says that the Lord originally spoke this transcendental message to Brahma from within his heart. Actually, from the eighth verse of the Fourth Chapter, we can understand that the reason the Lord descends Himself is not so much to annihilate the wicked-He can do that without coming Himself. He can do that by the potency of any one of His multi-energies-all of whom He controls by His expansion as Paramatma.

Then why does He come Himself? Just to deliver the pious, just for the pleasure of His devotees. Actually, when Krsna was a small child He killed so many demons, but it was not for the demons' sake that He appeared. It was for Mother Yasoda's sake, just so she could think, "Oh how God has saved my child." God was her child, but by the ecstasy of love, Mother Yasoda could think, "Oh how God has saved my child." That is one of the inconceivable pastimes of the Lord. So just to please His devotees, the Lord appears when there is too much wickedness.

For anyone who can understand this transcendental nature of the Lord, the transcendental nature of His appearance and disappearance, and the nature of His activities and speaking, for him there is assurance of liberation, and Krsna promises such a one a place in His transcendental abode. Why is that? Because such a person is qualified. According to the tenth verse, such a person has no attachment to the material world, and one who has no attachment to this material world becomes completely attached to Krsna. Krsna means all-attractive, and therefore He can attract one completely. Even as a magnet can attract all of the iron to itself, so Krsna can attract every jiva soul to Himself. The question is one of knowledge. The soul in knowledge is attracted to Krsna, because He is the reservoir of all pleasure; but the soul in forgetfulness is being attracted to so many reflections because the conditioned soul has forgotten the source of all rasa or pleasure. So Krsna can attract all the living entities as soon as they remember Him. Furthermore, as one becomes free from attachment, he automatically becomes free from fear and anger, because he is completely absorbed in Krsna. And since he is taking refuge in Krsna, what is there to fear?

Next, Krsna tells Arjuna that as proof of what He says, so many great saints and sages in the past became purified in this way and attained transcendental love for Him. So this process of thinking about the transcendental nature of Krsna, His appearance and activities, is an authorized way to attain love for Krsna.