Prophesy
The Bhagavad Gita has two verses that explicitly outline the return of Lord Krishna. Taken literally, this means for many people that God would take human form again and again as the need arise.
In its philosophical context, God presence is re-energized and re-awakened when we are ready to renounce the negatives that could cause the ‘return’. In other words, instead of awaiting the physical appearance or re-appearance of the Divine, one can have that internal realization that leads to the experience of Godliness. Here are the two verses from the Bhagavad Gita.
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
Yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya
glaanir bhavati bhaarata
Abhyutthaanam adharmasya
tadaatmaanaṁ sṛijaam-yaham
Bhagavad Gita 4.7
Yadaa yadaa hi Whenever, wherever dharmasya righteousness glaanir bhavati has been destroyed and abhyutthaanaam there is the rise of adharma evil and unrighteousness, tat aatman yaham know I, the supreme atman shall smrijaam pour forth in new creativity.
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥
Paritraaṇaaya saadhoonaaṁ
vinaashaaya cha duṣhkṛitaam
dharma-sansthaapan-aarthaaya
sambhavaami yuge yuge
Bhagavad Gita 4.8
Sambhaavaami yuge yuge I will always be there in whatever era so as to paritraanaaya give refuge and protect sadhoonaam those who are the practitioners of righteousness and to vinaasha remove and destroy dushkrit the evil and wicked; and aarthaaya thus will dharma samsthapan re-establish righteousness
Note: There has been scholarly debate on the meaning of सम्भवामि sambhaavami. While many translate it to mean, I will incarnate, or I will be born, scholars argue that the word means appear. It is believed that Lord Krishna was not born from a mother’s womb but “appeared” as a child when his parents prayed “Lord please take the form of an ordinary child….”. The debate also notes that like the sunrise, in which the sun “appears” each day, so the Lord “appears” or is “realised” in the heart of the chosen.
