Sacred Text · The Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita 4.7
Chapter 4 · Edwin Arnold’s Song Celestial (cited by classical reference)
Translation: Sir Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial; or, Bhagavad-Gîtâ (1885), public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 2388). Arnold’s Song Celestial is continuous English verse in 18 chapters, without numbered slokas; each passage is an exact excerpt, located by content and cited by the classical chapter.verse reference it renders. The key passages 2.20, 4.7-8, 9.26 and 18.66 were validated against the source before publishing. Poetic line breaks are shown with a slash.
How this connects to Jesus
This is the Gita’s great promise of descent: age after age, when righteousness declines, the Divine takes visible shape and moves as a man among men to succour the good. Christians hear an astonishing echo here, for the Gospel proclaims that God did exactly this, once, decisively: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Compare the many descents of the Gita with the one Incarnation of Jesus, who came not age after age but once for all, to save.
Explore: God takes visible shape (the avatar)Why Jesus?Read the Gospel