“One gradually attains tranquillity of mind by keeping the mind fully absorbed in the Self by means of a well-trained intellect, and thinking of nothing else.”
I was always fascinated by two of the Indian Gods Shiva and Krishna . In the pantheon of 33 million known gods and Goddesses these two stand out for their take on life.
I have read a lot to know more about this Mysterious Dark limbed God to know him not as a deity but as a guru ( teacher).
I found this video very interesting. Krishna is not a myth, He existed and there are proofs.
Krishna the 8th incarnation of Lord Vishnu is not just a divine entity but a whole consciousness.” Krishna is the only person in the history of human consciousness who is tremendously in love with life, with the poetry of life, with the music of life, with dance of life. He is not at all life-negative, he is very affirmative. And he accepts life as it is; he does not put god and the world as opposites.” When I read Bhagvad Gita or The song Divine it transformed my way of life. We , who do not see Krishna just as a God , see his as a yogi, a philosopher and a teacher. He is the greatest scientist and engineer .
Sri Krishna says: “The whole cosmic order is under Me. By My will it is manifested again and again, and by My will it is annihilated at the end.” [Bg. 9.8]
The supreme being, the omnipresent creator .
Krishna says: “The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me. And the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire are also from Me.” [Bg. 15.12]
As children we celebrate the birth of Krishna as janamashtami in out neighborhood. It was a creative community event where everyone got involved from small children to elders. The idea behind it was to encourage creativity and pass on the philosophy of krishna in the most simple way. Love, Brotherhood, compassion and unity and harmony. Krishna is not a person he is an existence, a thought.
In Bhagavad-gita Krishna says, gam avisya ca bhutani dharayamy aham ojasa: “I enter into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit.” [Bg. 15.13]
Krishna is adored in three different ways: vatsalya bhava, madhura bhava and sakhya bhava.
There is significance of the flute and the peacock feather that Krishna wears.
According to Sufi Inayat Khan, “Krishna is pictured in Hindu Symbology with a crown of peacock feathers, playing the flute. Krishna is the idea of divine love, the god of love. And the divine love expresses itself by entering in man and filling his whole being. Therefore, the flute is the human heart, a heart which is made hollow, which becomes a flute for the god of love to play. When the heart is not empty, in other words when there is no scope in the heart, there is no place for love. Rumi, the great poet of Persia, explains the idea more clearly.
He says the pains and sorrows the soul experiences through life are holes made in a reed flute, and it is by making these holes that the player makes out of a reed a flute. Which means, the heart of man is first a reed, and the suffering and pain it goes through make it a flute, which can then be used by God as the instrument to produce the music that he constantly wishes to produce. But every reed is not a flute, and so every heart is not His instrument. As the reeds need to be made into flutes, so the human heart can be turned into an instrument and can be offered to the God of love. It is the human heart which becomes the harp of the angels, it is the human heart which is the lute of Orpheus.
Peacock’s feathers have in all ages been considered as a sign of beauty, as a sign of knowledge because they are in the form of an eye. It is by keen observation that man acquires knowledge. Knowledge without love is lifeless. The knowledge of the head and the love of the heart expresses the divine message fully so with the flute the crown of peacock’s feathers makes the symbol complete.” [ LINK]
Osho’s book on Krishna gives us a completely different angle to Lord Krishna’s philosophy and life.
Excerpt from “Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy” by Osho:
Krishna is so unique. He is not at all serious or sad. By and large, the chief characteristic of a religious person has been that he is somber, serious and sad-looking . In the long line of such sages it is Krishna alone who comes dancing, singing and laughing.
Every religion, up to now, has divided life into two parts, and while they accept one part they deny the other. Krishna alone accepts the whole of life. And he accepts it not in any selected dimension but in all its dimensions.
Krishna is against repression. He alone does not choose he accepts life unconditionally. He does not shun love; being a man he does not run away from women. As one who has known and experienced God, he alone does not turn his face from war. He is full of love and compassion, and yet he has the courage to accepts and fight a war. His heart is utterly non-violent, yet he plunges into the fire and fury of violence when it becomes unavoidable. He accepts the nectar, and yet he is not afraid of the poison.
We describe the life of Krishna as his leela, his play-acting, because Krishna is not serious at all. Krishna’s life accepts no limitations and this freedom, this vastness of Krishna stems from his experience of self-knowledge. It is the ultimate fruit of his enlightenment.
There is no such point in the cosmos where nature ends and God begins. It is nature itself that, through a subtle process of dissolution, turns into God, and it is God Himself Who, through a subtle process of manifestation, turns into nature. Nature is manifest God, and God is unmanifest nature and that is what adwait means, what the principle of One without the other means. We can understand Krishna only if we clearly understand this concept of adwait, that only One is – One without the other.
I liked what Sri Sri Ravishankar ‘s talk on the symbolism of Krishna .
Krishna’s entire being, his clothes, 108 names, his clothing, ornaments and all his lilas from the time of his birth till the end are filled with symbolism and each aspect of his life and teaching has a great significance.
The two texts that I love reading and which in one way or other left a deep impact on my life are ShrimadBhagvat Gita or The Song Divine and Jaidev’sGeetGovinda .
You can listen to the entire Song Divine online HERE or Here
It is a science of self realization and deep inner knowledge.
Krishna makes an extraordinary statement on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, one no other man of enlightenment has ever made. He tells Arjuna, “I will continue to come whenever the world is in trouble. I will continue to come whenever religion declines and disintegrates.”
Osho explains this :
Krishna has no problem in coming each time He is needed. He will remain himself in every situation – in love and attachment, in anger and hostility. Nothing will disturb his emptiness, his calm. He will find no difficulty whatsoever is coming and going. His emptiness is positive and complete, alive and dynamic.
Know more about Geet Govinda HERE
‘Geet Govinda’ written in the 12th century is a symbolic representation of the love of Krishna – Radha revived through the ‘Bhakti’ cults of devotion to the God of happiness. This is song of love and devotion. A musical offering to Lord Jagannath ( Krishna). This epic poem had a major influence on Patta paintings of Rajasthan and became a prop for Odissi dance and found a unique place for itself in world literature and music.
Gitagovindam is a lyrical poetry in twelve chapters, sub-divided into twenty four divisions called Prabandh.Geet Govinda is written in Shringar Rasa (erotica)
I wrote Love Song For my Krishna inspired by the Geet Govinda.
For me Krishna is not just a supreme consciousness, he is a way of life. One thing that I gathered from whatever little I have read of Krishna is complete acceptance , to be one with the universe and the supreme being. I am not a religious person but I believe in what Krishna preached . Celebrating life and death with all its facets. Throughout Geeta Krishna reminds Arjuna Who He is and every time I read it this is what I ask myself. Who am I ? What is my purpose of life ? It helps me introspect. It is not a religious book for me but a life long spiritual learning experience.
One can go on writing about the man and his philosophy, his teachings and way of life but all I can say is, to surrender unconditionally to Him as a disciple is the ultimate joy.
I am not his devotee I am his student.
(All images are courtesy Google images and copyrights credited to rightful owners )