Sri Krishna

[Guest guest]

Sri Krishna.

 

The essence of Hindu spirituality has been elaborated in three

scriptures. The Upanishads present the absolute wisdom revealed to

seers. Reasoned wisdom has been elaborated in the Brahma-sutras. The

Bhagavad-Gita elaborates on how to live in a way that is conducive to

attaining salvation through wisdom.

 

Krishna's advice to Arjuna at Kurukshetra – on the battlefield

– encapsulates the essence of wise living that will enable one to

remain balanced and peaceful while executing one's responsibilities

in this world and eventually help one to attain great spiritual heights.

The miraculous life of Sri Krishna, the incarnation of the Absolute,

embodies the joyful manifestation of the omnipotence and omniscience in

human form. This significant dualism of the divine drama with human

undertones creates a multilevel appeal and a grand spiritual metaphor of

Krishna Leela, conveying spiritual truth with poetic beauty.

 

In the life of Krishna we find the consummation of our ideal for worldly

life. He neither followed nor advocated life-negating renunciation. At

the same time he did not show any attachment to mundane life. The

dialectics of worldly life with happiness and sorrow was on his

fingertips; so clinging to anything worldly was absolutely alien to his

nature. He played perfectly the role of a naughty child, a playful

youth, statesman par excellence, a benevolent king, an intimate friend,

a beloved husband and above all an embodiment of wisdom with utmost

objectivity – despite being anchored in his true being as an

incarnation of the Absolute. That is why his prescription for the malady

called life is to maintain non-attachment to anything and everything

under all circumstances. He exemplified the practice of the same through

his own life.

 

The birth and childhood stories of Krishna are prodigious. Knowing that

the eighth son of his sister Devaki will vanquish him, King Kansa

imprisons Krishna's parents. Yet his sister (Krishna's mother)

Devaki conceives and when she delivers the child Kansa is unable to kill

Baby Krishna. Through divine intervention, the baby is taken away and

another is sent in its place, the Goddess Maya. The Rive Yamuna parts

its waters and makes way for Vasudeva to carry Baby Krishna out to

safety.

 

The dance of the interplay of spirit and nature manifested in

annihilation of Putana, Vatsasura or Bakasura by child Krishna heralds

the victory of good over evil. In the same way mother Yashoda was shown

the entire cosmos in the small mouth of the child. Yet the naughty

playfulness of the child added an eternal human element to the

manifestation of divine incarnation. This dualism has made Krishna so

human and lovable and yet so divine and mysterious.

 

The irresistible attraction of the melody of his enchanting flute and

the divine magnetism of cosmic vibration like centripetal power had

maddening impact on all. Consciousness at the root of creation is

all-pervading and it attracts the diffused states of mind for ultimate

peace and solace from the pangs of delusion.

 

That is precisely why in the Gita, Krishna advises Arjuna to do his duty

– knowing full well that the result will be in the hands of the

Almighty.