The Way of Chanting and Knowing Kṛṣṇa 17
fire of material existence for all living entities by setting forth the  dharma .
yadā yadā hi dharmasya 
    glānir bhavati bhārata 
    abhyutthānam adharmasya 
    tadātmānam sṛjāmyaham
paritrāṇāya sādhūnām 
    vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām 
    dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya 
    sambhavāmi yuge yuge
“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself. In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.” (Bg. 4.7-8)
In this verse the word  dharma  is used. This word has been translated into English in various ways. Sometimes it is translated as “faith,” but according to Vedic literature,  dharma  is not a kind of faith. Faith may change, but  dharma  cannot be changed. The liquidity of water cannot be changed. If it is changed—if, for instance, water becomes solid—it is actually no longer in its constitutional position. It is existing under a certain qualifying condition. Our  dharma  or constitutional position is that we are part and parcel of the Supreme, and this being the case, we have to dovetail or subjugate our consciousness to the Supreme.