The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ chapter four
has chosen to take on human birth many times for the welfare
of the world. Whenever dharma, the law of life’s unity,
declines, he wraps himself in his maya and takes on a finite
form. Thus he returns age after age.
Vishnu, the preserving or sustaining person of the Hindu
Trinity, is not mentioned here, but Krishna is usually looked
upon as an incarnation of this aspect of God. As the Lord,
Krishna explains, he dwells in every being, but he is manifested
with special power in his incarnations or avatars . Avatara
literally means descent: Vishnu is believed to descend
and incarnate himself on earth from age to age to reestablish
divine law (dharma). Without such intervention the entire
created universe would go into decline. The natural course of
creation is to go through cycles of regeneration and decay, but
Vishnu – Krishna – has compassion for all the suffering of
the world, and comes himself to protect the good and destroy
evil. Thus Vishnu has a special relationship with all beings:
he personifies the aspect of God who so loves the world that
he comes into it to reestablish the purity and happiness of the
Golden Age.
Krishna here reveals a little of his hidden, divine nature. He
tells Arjuna that mystical union with him is possible through
devotion, by which one can enter the state of divine love in
which one sees God in every creature. Krishna also takes on
the role of creator. It is he who has patterned the world along
the lines of guna and karma.
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