66 Raja-vidya: The King of Knowledge

miseries. Because we are part and parcel of the
Supreme Lord, we are not meant for these miseries,
but somehow or other we have voluntarily accepted
them. There are miseries arising from the body and
mind, from other living entities and from natural
catastrophes. We are either suffering from all three
of these miseries, or at least from one. We are
always trying to make a solution to these miseries,
and this attempt constitutes our struggle for exis-
tence. That solution cannot be made by our tiny
brain. It can be made only when we take to the
shelter of the Supreme Lord.

We can become happy when we are reinstated
in our constitutional position, and Bhagavad-gita is
meant to reinstate us in that position. God and His
representative also come to help. As stated previous-
ly, they descend upon the material world from the
superior nature and are not subject to the laws of
birth, old age, disease and death. Krsna gives Arjuna
the following reasons for His descent upon the world:

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam

dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the
miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles
of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millen-
nium.” (Bg. 4.8)

Here Krsna says that He comes when there is a
decline in dharma. The Sanskrit word dharma has
been translated into English as “‘faith,”’ but faith has
