परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् । धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṃ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām | dharma-saṃsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge ||
For the protection of the good, destruction of wickedness, establishment of dharma — I come, age after age.
Word by word (3)
- paritrāṇāya sādhūnām
- — for the protection of the good · Paritrāṇa = complete protection, deliverance (pari = complete + trāṇa = protection, from trā = to protect/cross over). Sādhūnām = of the sādhus — the good, the righteous, the sincere practitioners (from sādh = to accomplish, to straighten). Not just 'good people' generically but those genuinely oriented toward dharma and liberation.
- vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
- — and for the destruction of the wicked · Vināśa = destruction, cessation (vi+nāśa = complete destruction). Duṣkṛtām = of the evil-doers (duṣ = bad/evil + kṛta = done — those whose actions are destructive of dharma). Not destroyed as people per se but as forces of adharma — the principle must be defeated.
- dharma-saṃsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge
- — for the re-establishment of dharma — I come into being age after age · Dharma-saṃsthāpana = establishment/firm-founding of dharma (saṃ+sthāpana = firmly establishing). Arthāya = for the purpose of. Sambhavāmi = I come into being (same word as V6). Yuge yuge = age after age (yuga = age/epoch — the four yugas of Hindu cosmology; the repetition emphasizes the universal recurring principle). The most famous repetition in the entire Gita — three words that carry the cosmic promise.
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, for the establishment of dharma — I come into being age after age.
A modern analogy
History shows a pattern: in every age of extreme injustice, figures arise who embody the corrective principle — the abolitionists, the freedom fighters, the healers, the truth-tellers. Not because they planned to, but because something in the situation called them forth. V8: this is the cosmic law stated as divine promise — yuge yuge, age after age.
Take with you
- Three-fold purpose: protect the good, destroy the wicked, establish dharma. All three are necessary — not one alone.
- Yuge yuge — the promise is universal and recurring, not a one-time historical event.
- The Gita being spoken is itself the manifestation described in V7-8: the dharma-teaching appearing in a moment of crisis.
- This verse gives every genuine dharmic action its cosmic context — you participate in the yuge yuge pattern.
V8 is the culmination of the avatāra doctrine (V6-8) and one of the most celebrated verses in the entire Gita. The three purposes — paritrāṇa (protection), vināśa (destruction), dharma-saṃsthāpana (re-establishment) — describe a complete corrective cycle: first protect what is being destroyed, then remove the destroying force, then restore the foundational principle. This is the three-phase logic of dharmic restoration. Yuge yuge — age after age — makes the doctrine universal: not a unique historical event but a cosmic law. Whenever V7's conditions obtain (dharma's decline + adharma's rise), V8's response follows (divine manifestation for protection, destruction, restoration). Shankaracharya: the verse applies not only to the grand historical avatāras but to every moment when the divine principle reasserts itself — in individuals, communities, and civilizations.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya reads the 'destruction of the wicked' not as physical destruction of persons but as the destruction of the adharmic principle through the power of Self-knowledge (jñāna). The 'protection of the sādhus' is the protection and empowerment of those who seek liberation. Dharma-saṃsthāpana is ultimately the re-establishment of the knowledge that Ātman = Brahman — the foundational dharma that was 'lost' in V2.
Bhakti lens
Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṃ (for the protection of the good) is bhakti's foundational promise — the Divine comes for the devotees first. The sādhu is not merely the morally upright but the one devoted to the Divine — the bhakta. V8's paritrāṇa (protection/rescue) is the act of a loving protector who cannot abandon those who love them. For bhaktas across traditions — Prahlāda saved from Hiraṇyakaśipu, Gajendra saved from the crocodile, Draupadi protected in the assembly — V8 is the scriptural ground of their faith: the Divine always comes for the one who is devoted. Yuge yuge sambhavāmi (I am born age after age) means the protection is not a one-time historical event but an eternal promise re-enacted across all of time. The bhakta's faith rests on this: 'I am not alone — the One I love, loves me, and comes.'
Karma-Yoga lens
V8 was the most cited Gita verse in India's independence movement. Tilak, Aurobindo, Gandhi all read it as the divine mandate for righteous resistance to injustice. The karma-yogi doesn't merely work without attachment — they work for paritrāṇa sādhūnāṃ, vināśa duṣkṛtām, dharma-saṃsthāpana. The three purposes of the avatāra become the three purposes of every genuine karma-yogi. Gandhi: every person can be a channel for this divine function in their own sphere.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
For the protection of the virtuous, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age. [1]
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age. [4]
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age. [6]
For the salvation of the good, For the destruction of the evil, For the firm establishment of righteousness — I come in age after age. [7]
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the evil-doers, for the sake of establishing righteousness, I am born from age to age. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
For those who worship Me with undivided thought, always steadfast — I carry what they lack and guard what they have.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
This most secret śāstra spoken — knowing it, one becomes truly wise and kṛta-kṛtya: all duties fulfilled.
The sound of righteous forces pierces the hearts of those who know they are on the wrong side.