Activities of the Supreme Lord and the misunderstandings associated

[Guest guest]

(As complied by Stephen Knapp) The activities and pastimes of Lord Krishna are full of meaning and purpose, all of which reveal the highest Truth. The level of perception depends on the person’s depth of spiritual understanding. If a person has little depth to his or her spiritual realization and the life of Lord Krishna, then interpretations of such activities of the Lord can result in wrong or even absurd conclusions. This is the danger when those who are spiritually inexperienced wish to comment on something of which they have no real understanding, though they think they do. Some people feel that if Lord Krishna encouraged Arjuna to fight in

the war of Kuruksetra, as was instructed in the Bhagavad-gita, then this means that He was endorsing violence. However, we should point out that Lord Krishna never wanted war and exhibited much tolerance to the atrocities that the Kauravas displayed toward the Pandavas. But too much tolerance may also be seen as a sign of weakness and can make the abusers more egoistic and cruel, allowing them to think they can get away with whatever they want. When such a person is a ruler of a country, he must be removed. That is compassion for the rest of society. If such a ruler is allowed to live, he will create more havoc to the rest of society. Lord Krishna wanted to protect dharma, the ways of truth and Vedic culture, and asked the Kauravas, especially Duryodhana, to give up their evil ways. He even tried to negotiate for peace, but the Kauravas wanted no part of it. The

Pandavas only wanted a small portion of land to live on, which was their rightful heritage. But the Kauravas said they would not give enough land in which to even push in a needle. So they would not change. So finally there was no alternative but war. However, even then Lord Krishna said He would only be Arjuna’s chariot driver and not take up any weapon, even though He could have destroyed to whole world with a glance. So He actually had no personal interest in fighting. The Lord acted in the appropriate manner to protect society and dharma. In this way, war may be utilized to protect dharma and the general welfare of society when necessary. To stand by and watch wickedness spread through the world without taking any action is a worse evil. Even when Krishna killed His own uncle, Kamsa, He did so because Kamsa had completely given up all dharma and moral

standards, and would not accept anyone’s advice. He ruled in a cruel way and made so many plans and attempts to kill Krishna, thus terrorizing the whole society. So finally there was a showdown when Kamsa invited Krishna and Balarama to a wrestling match that had been planned as another attempt to kill them. Therein Krishna finally killed Kamsa. However, by this act of losing his body, Kamsa was delivered from his evil mentality and was transferred to a new situation after having been purified by the touch of the Lord. Thus, Kamsa lost his body, but his soul was lifted up and he achieved liberation. Some people may also say that Lord Krishna consorted with women and the wives of other men, which shows devious standards. Yet, this idea exhibits how ignorant such people are. First of all, He was only six or seven years old at the time He performed His rasa dance with the

cowherd girls of Vrindavana, which holds much deep significance that few can fully understand. He is the Lord of everyone no matter what their position. He wanted to make everyone happy, and to awaken each soul to their relationship with the Supreme. To do this He wanted to break the limitations of pride and shame and whatever bonds keep us from an unbroken focus on God and our service to Him. Such bonds exist only within the mind, but we must become free from these unwanted conceptions. This was but one small purpose in bringing those select souls in the form of the girls of Vrindavana to the unlimited spiritual bliss of divine love with the Supreme Being. This is no common thing, most of which ordinary people cannot fathom or imagine. Therefore, one must look deep into Lord Krishna’s activities. Otherwise, without proper insight, one may arrive at a wrong conclusion as to the purpose and meaning in the Lord’s activities, or even what the real identity is of the

Lord. When Shiva went to see the Lord in His form as Vishnu, Shiva pointed out in his prayers how the Lord is perceived by different people in different ways, according to their level of understanding and consciousness. He said “Those who are known as the impersonalist Vedantists regard you as the Impersonal Brahman. Others, known as the Mimamsaka philosophers, regard You as religion. The Sankhya philosophers regard You as the transcendental person who is beyond prakriti [material nature] and purusha who is the controller of even the demigods. The followers of the codes of devotional service known as the Pancharatras regard You as being endowed with nine different potencies. And the Patanjala philosophers, the followers of Patanjali Muni, regard you as the supreme independent

Personality of Godhead, who has no equal or superior.” (Bhag.8.12.9) In this way, though one’s consciousness and ideas of what the Absolute is prevents one from arriving at a true understanding, the Supreme Being remains unaffected, waiting for us to purify and spiritualize our consciousness to perceive the ultimate reality as He is.

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