Krishna The Man ....... contd

According to Bhagwandas, “If you recognise the distinction between Krishna and Rama, you will appreciate Krishna's nature better. Krishna always smiled at the outset and carried out his task later. For Rama, the deed came first and then the smile. Krishna made women cry. Rama wept for the sake of women. Rama went into the battle only after having a strong cause for it. Krishna first provoked the conflict and then determined its outcome”. Although Krishna was not an idealist like Rama, yet in whichever role or relationship Krishna found himself, he fulfilled it with utmost care and love and compassion. He was a naughty, mischievous, lovable boy to his foster parents in Vrindavan, a fun-loving, full of laughter and life playmate to the cowherds and dairy maidens of Vrindavan – a dutiful, loving son to his real parents, a loving, caring brother to his elder brother Balarama and younger sister Subhadra, an ideal - obedient student to his teachers, an inspiration and hero to his kinsmen, a compassionate, understanding friend to his friends, an ideal, affectionate lover – and a strong opponent worth fighting against for his enemies! Even though he sang and danced with the maidens in Vrindavan (and some may call him flirtatious for that reason) – it just shows that he was a young boy who had great zest for living life in harmony with one and all! Later in his youth, he showed great maturity in his love life and after marriage he acted with great responsibility – even though he married many women – it was in accordance

with the custom in those days - and he was very loving and loyal to each of his wives!

Krishna was full of compassion for one and all. It had been prophesized that he would kill his cousin Shishupal. But Krishna had promised his aunt (Shishupal’s mother) that he would forgive and ignore one hundred mistakes/insults of Shishupal. So Krishna was compassionate even towards those who thought ill of him or wanted/wished him killed – yet – he never flinched or hesitated if it was necessary to kill an opponent! In fact, if an enemy had to be defeated for the larger good, he not only used stratagem – but was ready to even bend the rules to achieve his goals!!! This can be seen in the way Krishna guided the Pandava brothers in the

slaying of the despotic tyrant Emperor Jarasandha or Guru Dronacharya or Duryodhana and his younger brother Duhshashan at the time of the Mahabharata war!!!!

Krishna treated everyone as equals – he was a friend to all. He never lead people – he always guided them. If he had been a leader, he would never have agreed to be the charioteer for Arjuna in the battle of the Mahabharata! When doubts rise in Arjuna’s mind about the wisdom of that great war – where people were fighting against their own kith and kin – and Arjuna wants to lay down his arms – Krishna goes to great lengths to explain to Arjuna as to why he should take up arms and fight. Anyone who has read the Geeta realizes that Arjuna keeps asking the same doubts again and again in different ways! However, Krishna patiently explains again and again, so as to dispel the clouds of doubt that have arisen in Arjuna’s mind. He gives the explanation in various different ways, using different examples and from different standpoints – never getting exasperated or irritated with Arjuna! Only a friend will go to such lengths to satisfy another friend!!! If Krishna had been a teacher he would probably have lost his patience after sometime and ordered Arjuna to just obey him and fight. But Krishna willingly and patiently, repeatedly goes on explaining everything to Arjuna till all doubts are removed from his mind. The entire teachings of the Geeta can be told in a few lines or at most a few pages – but the sheer length of the Geeta is proof of how patiently Krishna clears Arjuna’s doubts – it shows that Krishna was ready to go to any lengths to guide a friend!!!!!!

Krishna has advocated in the Geeta that each person should follow and perform actions in accordance to his/her own innate self nature – rather than following the beaten track or imitating someone. Krishna categorically states in the Geeta that it

is better to die while performing action according to one’s own nature rather than going on living performing actions according to any other nature (thinking that is superior or better than one’s own). He advises living life retaining one’s own individuality! Of course in the Geeta, Krishna also mentions about the four varnas or castes – but what he means to tell is that human beings can largely be categorized into four broad divisions on the basis of their innate natures or individualities or bent of mind. The Brahmin derives his joy from pursuing knowledge, the Kshatriya likes to take risks – adventure, challenge, fighting is in his blood. For the Vaishya – creating money gives his soul happiness and the Shudra gets happiness in serving others. It does not mean that anyone is lesser or superior than the other – each is unique and each gets his/her satisfaction in a different way – each is important for society to run smoothly. The people who originally conceived this categorization had this ideology in mind – but through the passage of time, ignorant people made wrong interpretations and imposed these water-tight compartments on society. During Krishna’s time, society had deteriorated to this water-tight, rigid caste system. The rigidity of the caste system troubled and pained Krishna. He wanted to remove this evil caste system from society and so Krishna talks about it in the Geeta to remove these wrong ideas from the minds of the people.

In a society that preached that sacrifice or suppression of one’s emotions and desires without questioning the authority of the day as the greatest virtue, Krishna had the courage to live life on his own terms and what he considered right (of course – not recklessly – but keeping an eye on the larger and long term welfare of society)! As he stated in the Geeta Krishna was a staunch believer in performing action in accordance to one’s inherent nature …. One’s individuality! Thus, as he has no stake in the great war, he himself refused to take up arms during the Mahabharata war. Yet he agreed to be the charioteer to Arjuna while his army was fighting on behalf of the opposing side – the Kauravas. As if this is not enough – he coaxes Arjuna to take up arms (when Arjuna wants to lay down arms) – because Krishna knows that Arjuna is basically a Kshatriya by nature! Due to a sudden rush of love and attachment towards his kith and kin (against whom he is preparing to wage a war) Arjuna wants to give up his arms; but Krishna knows that later on Arjuna will regret his decision and repent not fighting the war for his rights and feel miserable! This was the uniqueness of Krishna and his character! He just performed his actions according to what he felt was the right thing to do under the existing circumstances. He was not concerned whether what he did conformed to the general opinion or the existing norms of society (socially or politically)

existing at that time. If his actions were in accordance to accepted norms in society – it was not out of fear of punishment or expectance of reward! He did not go out of his way to impress or charm or influence others around him. However his actions were always so appropriate that people would get impressed by him and his ways – they (men and women) were charmed by his behaviour and thus they rather changed to conform to his way of thinking and his advice. They listened to him attentively and sought his advice because he gave it with such pure love …. They knew he had no ulterior or self motives to fulfill when he advised them – his advice was for the larger good of one and all and the betterment of society at large! He did not go out of his way to make either friends or foes …. He approached everyone with a smile and love and peace in his heart … so that his staunchest enemies also had respect for him in their hearts! And his friends of course had only devotion for him!

Krishna was known to be 64 kala sampoorna – meaning he had unparalled knowledge and mastery over all the sixty-four Sciences and Arts of living! Also it is difficult for normal human beings to understand the contradictions in Krishna’s nature. He was an enigma! He played the flute and danced with the gopis with abandon, and with the same ease he fought and slayed the demons and monsters that his uncle Kamsa sent to Gokul and Vrindavan to slay him! He responded with great love in his heart to the overtures of the fair maidens of his time and yet the softness of his heart did not deter him from fighting on the battlefield and killing many an enemy with his Sudarshan Chakra. The same Krishna plays pranks with his playmates in Vrindavan and then rises to the occasion to declare the grave, profound truths of the Geeta to Arjuna. The butter-thief of Vrindavan is also a great yogi! It is incomprehensible to ordinary mortals as to how one human being could be a master in all the sixty-four fields of knowledge. He was physically beautiful, mentally and emotionally he had the perfect balance of the masculine and feminine qualities within him – he just was perfect in every way! So, when people cannot understand someone – either they berate that person and crush him to dust – or – they deify that person ……. And in the case of Krishna he was deified by the majority of the people! So he was treated as God incarnate – the Sampoorna Purusha!

According to me Krishna’s life was intended to give a perennial message to the world. He sought nothing for himself. He kept nothing for himself. He gave away everything to the people. He slayed his maternal uncle, Kamsa. He installed Kamsa's father, Ugrasena, on the throne. He did not covet the kingdom. He

befriended the Pandavas, defeated the Kauravas, and crowned Dharmaja as the emperor. He did not make himself king. He was a king without a crown. He was the king of kings. He had no kingdom of his own. But he ruled over the hearts of the millions. Yet at the Rajsuya Yagna performed by Yudhistra he volunteered to pick up the dirty plates of the guests after they had taken their meals!!!!! It is this profound truth that made people deify Krishna!!!!!!!!

.

Above all these, He is God who, in his own transcendental nature, is the Lord of lords, the father and mother of all creation, the very Soul of all that exists. He is the substratum of all existence. He is the Reality, immortal, eternal, infinite and absolute. He is not only immortal but He is Immortality Itself.

If we are true to ourselves, we have will have to acknowledge that all the contradictions in Krishna’ personality is in each one of us! We are constantly in a state of tussle with ourselves …. One part of our personality telling us to conform to society and its rules and regulations and the other part telling us to act according to our intrinsic nature …. We can be naughty and mischievous at times and at times we behave with great responsibility …… at times we love with such softness …. We are so emotional and sentimental and yet at times we behave with such hardheartedness if such an occasion arises it that surprises even our own self!!!! Every moment we face the same dilemmas that Krishna faced …… but he had the courage to act appropriately at each occasion without thought of reward or fear of reprimand. There was a great harmony … a beautiful synthesis in his contradictions …… because whatever he did ……. He was at Peace …… because he performed actions not guided by his ego … rather he acted out of complete egolessness – without any self motive! Thus at every step one can identify with Krishna and his actions! Krishna means one who attracts!!!!!!!! It is said that "Karshathi-ithi Krishna -- Because he attracts, he is Krishna." Krishna has the supreme power of attraction. By his words, his sport, his music, and all his actions he attracts all people. This power of attraction is present in everyone. Hence, everyone has the potential to be Krishna!!!!!!!!! But for that first we have to develop the strength of character that Krishna possessed and to become completely bereft of EGO ……. For that we have to start by first understanding our “I” and then surrendering our “I” in front to our “I”. But there is hope ……for each one of us ……. Because the example of Krishna is in front of us!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Poonam Mehra

Krishna The Man ..... contd

Apart from being a shrewd statesman and general, he was a great warrior and he took pains and spent a lot of time to keep upgrading his favourite (and chief) weapon – the Sudarshan chakra and his expertise in its usage. His mastery over the other weapons like the bow and arrow, the mace and the sword was also outstanding at times surpassed those of even Arjuna and Bhima! His mastery over these weapons was not due to some superphysical qualities – rather he practiced regularly to attain those levels of mastery. He was an intelligent student, who was very respectful to his teachers.

He was a loving friend and never cared about the social strata to which his friends belonged. He was just one among them – a friend! When Krishna’s friend Sudama (who was a poor Brahmin) from his student days comes to visit him in Dwarka, he brings Krishna a present of simple puffed rice. On seeing the opulence of Krishna’s home and kingdom, Sudama feels embarrassed to offer him his measely gift. But Krishna takes it very lovingly from him and eats it with great relish - and even before Sudama reaches back to his own home – Krishna sends his emissaries and gets a beautiful house for his friend – complete with all comforts and money. This shows Krishna’s humility! Krishna had this unique quality that whether he was in the company of kings and emperors, or whether he was in the midst of his cowherd friends in Vrindavan or with the commoners in Mathura and Dwarka – he treated all as his equals! And was equally at ease interacting in any type of company! He was equally loving and compassionate to one and all – even animals and birds! As a cowherd boy, he tended to the cows of Vrindavan lovingly. At war and battlefields, at the end of the day, when all other warriors would be taking rest, Krishna would tend to his horses himself, massaging their tired legs, removing the burrs from their bodies and feeding and making them drink water with his own hands! His skill in the breeding and training of horses was legendary.

Krishna showed due respect to all elders – whether it was his parents, relatives or other elders in society. During the assembly when all elders and statesmen of Dwarka sat to discuss the matters of the state – he would respectfully put across his ideas and ask for their approval from elders – even though he was aware of the wisdom of his own proposals and knew for a fact that the elders rather sought his advice!

Krishna loved life and lived it to the fullest with full zest and happiness. He moved freely among one and all and even took part in the festivities and celebrated festivals with kings and commoners alike. As a cowherd boy in Vrindavan he

played pranks with the other cowherd boys and the women folk. He danced and created magic with his flute. In fact it is said that after Krishna left Vrindavan to go to Mathura – he never played the flute again – because it was only in Vrindavan

where he lived and loved totally and with complete abandon!!!!!! Later when he migrated with the Yadavas to Dwarka, he lived in wealth and opulence, yet he never indulged or languished in it! Krishna did not believe in renunciation – he believed in accepting everything that life had to offer, with grace and equanimity – but without getting attached to anything. This is one of the teachings of the Geeta and he gave ample proof of this through the way he lived his life. He believed in living life to its fullest!

Even though Krishna was full of love and compassion for all of creation, yet he never shied away from war just for the sake of keeping peace at any cost!!! He always strived for peace and for peaceful solutions to complicated political issues – yet when war was inevitable or unavoidable – he accepted that also and went into it with full sincerity, enthusiasm and commitment. If the good and welfare of society and mankind came through peaceful means, Krishna embraced peace, but if the same was possible only through destruction and war – then Krishna welcomed even war and destruction with open arms and convinced others to along with his thinking. Whatever he did was never from the point of view of self-ego or self-aggrandizement – but his decisions flowed from what was the need of the hour. According to Osho, Krishna was “that man who can hold to his love and compassion even on the battlefield, he can continue to love with his whole being while wielding a sword in his hand”. Krishna never supported violence; he never wished to destroy or hurt others – but if destruction or war was the only solution possible – (after all other avenues had been exhausted) – if he felt that peace itself was in danger if war or destruction was avoided - then he did not try to prevent it – but went on to prepare for it bravely and with full military preparedness to wage a clear, decisive war – so that at the end peace got a clear chance to be rebuild and re-established and flourish!!! Thus, even though Krishna is held responsible for not preventing the horrible Mahabharata was which practically destroyed everything – but for the abovementioned reasons, Krishna in his wisdom and strength of character felt that it was better to go through with the war rather than let peace and society bleed slowly to inevitable death and create more disharmony and misery for a long, long time to come in the process!!! He tried all peaceful methods at his disposal – ultimately going as an emissary of peace himself to the Kaurava court to strike a reconciliation between the Kauravas and Pandavas. Mankind and society had reached such abysmal depths of degeneration, that war had become imperative so that justice could prevail, good could prevail and virtue

could prevail in society. According to Krishna, war had become a necessary evil that had to be encountered and dealt with decisively so that all that was not right could be destroyed and then a fresh start be made for the reestablishment of lasting peace and Dharma!!! Dharma according to Krishna did not mean ‘religion’, but it meant performance of self-duty! And it was for inspiring this sense of self-duty that Krishna instigated Arjuna to take up arms in the Mahabharat war when the latter had laid down arms in a sense of false despair and sorrow!

Krishna throughout his life was a person who lived life to its fullest in all its varied aspects and accepted life with all its dualities! He accepted praise, devotion and love (of those who loved him) along with brickbats from his opponents with equal equanimity. He never called foul or indulged in self-pity when his enemies tried everything to kill him (he was constantly under the threat of being killed right from his birth and throughout life) or cursed him. He accepted love and hatred with his enigmatic smile. For him life and death were two sides of the same coin … one cannot have only one side of the coin … if one has the coin he has to have both sides of the coin! For him peace had to be protected with war and war was to be fought so that peace could prevail …. Only one was not possible without the other! War for the sake of war and peace just for the sake of peace was untenable! He felt that the importance of peace was enhanced because of war and war had significance because of peace! For Krishna, the dualities of life sustained and enriched it …. Because the positives (as we consider them) are understood and acknowledged and there is importance enhanced only because of the presence of the negatives (as we consider them) not because of their absence but rather, because of their presence. Laughter and tears, happiness and sadness, love and hatred are known because of each other – so to live a full life we must embrace both with equal enthusiasm. If we do not taste one we will never relish the other – the key of a happily lived life is to keep one’s balance in both situations – good or bad – in our likes and our dislikes.

Being a man, he loved women – rather he accepted their love and lavished his love on them. Whether it was Radha, Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati (daughter of the bear king), Ulupi (a Naga princess) ……. All expressed their love for him and in response to their overtures, he accepted their love and in return lavished his complete love on each of them! He had to kidnap Rukmini and then fight with her kith and kin –at her instance – because she loved him and wanted to marry him against the wishes of her brother! He braved calumny on his name just to fulfill her love! He in fact had eight wives and he got a magnificent palace for each of his

eight queens! A wonderful description of these palaces is given in the Mahabharata, Sabha-parva, ch. 57. Krishna lavished his love totally on every woman that he came into contact with – be it the simple gopis of Vrindavan or the princesses that he later married! He had this uncanny ability of giving his all to the woman he was with – to the extent that each of one of them always felt that Krishna was only hers and loved only her! The Rasleela in which he indulged in Vrindavan probably signifies this aspect of his love-making …. Radha and each and every gopi present during the rasleela felt that she was dancing with Krishna and that Krishna was solely hers! This was because although Krishna indulged in a very primal emotion of LOVE …. His love for any woman who came into his life was not motivated by Lust …….. rather it was through pure Love that he interacted with the women in his life! Not only did Krishna have a charming nature – but - his entire personality including his looks, physique, his strength, body vigour - were such that he outclassed the best-looking men of his time! Added to this was that he had great taste of dressing – the yellow silk pitambar that he wore enhanced his looks and complexion – and of course the peacock feather that was always part of his headgear!

Even though he was endowed with great physical beauty, Krishna did not interact with people according to their physical beauty. There is the story about an ugly looking lady named Kubja in Mathura whose body was also highly deformed –but - who had great love for Krishna. It is said that Krishna was very compassionate towards her and after pressing her big toe with his foot and pulling her straight – she was transformed into a beautiful maiden! This story could be interpreted in a more rational way – that Krishna’s love for her (in spite of her deformed body and ugly looks) gave her so much confidence that after that she never bothered about her physical beauty and carried on with her life happily content and confident in her inner beauty!!!!!!! This story probably implies that Krishna gave more importance to the inner beauty of a person and interacted with them at that level …… thus implying that human beings should pay more importance to the real person and his inner compassion and nature rather than getting carried away by the outer beauty of people that they came into contact with!!!!!!

Krishna was probably also a hypnotist – he may have hypnotized the entire Kuru court when Duhshashan tried to disrobe Draupadi – into seeing that the cloth that covered her was endless. Again while living in the forest he was able to hypnotize Rishi Durvasa and his disciples into believing that they were not hungry when Yudhistra had invited them to lunch – (without first consulting or informing Draupadi) but Draupadi had nothing to feed them with!

After having slain his uncle, the cruel King Kamsa, and freed the people of Mathura and his parents of this tyrannical ruler, Krishna alongwith with his elder brother Balrama went to study under the tutelage of the great Guru Sandipani! Having slain Kamsa, Krishna had become very famous – but at the Guru’s ashram he lived, studied, served and did all the chores at the ashram - just like any other ordinary student. The scriptures describe stories of Krishna going with the other boys of the ashram to collect wood from the forest, getting lost in the forest with his ashram companions in a thunderstorm etc.! He underwent all the rigorous training that his Guru deemed necessary so as to build a strong body and develop a strong and courageous mind. According to the Bhagvata, he did all that was necessary “to perfect oneself in the ‘discipline’ fit for a worthy disciple, the training which cultivates the intellect and the emotions that build up a fine character, to acquire the power and the habit of doing all one’s work oneself without dependence on others, to lay the foundations of lifelong friendships, to learn about and duly exercise rights and duties, to gain admission into all the departments of Science and Art, to understand what the real goals (end purposes) of life are and how to achieve them” – and thus illustrate that all this is the real purpose of Education!!!

.................... to be contd

Krishna The Man .... contd.......

Krishna exhibited great tact, ingenuity, shrewdness and strategy in combating enemies and many times used unconventional methods to defeat or overpower the enemy. In the episode of the killing of the dreaded Kalyavana – Krishna was shrewd enough not to confront his enemy face-to-face as at that point his military prowess could not withstand or combat the strength of Kalyavana’s army. So he managed to kill Kalyavana (and thus bring about complete disorientation of his army ) in a very unique manner. Krishna misleads Kalyavana to a cave where the great sage Muchkunda had been doing great penance. While the sage Muchkunda was sleeping, Krishna put the yellow pitambar on him. Kalyavana on entering the cave saw the yellow pitambar of Krishna – and – assumed that the sleeping person was Krishna himself. He kicked the sleeping figure …. But sage Muchkunda having been aroused so rudely from his sleep ………. Opens his eyes and kills Kalayavana. This brings to light Krishna’s skillfulness in envisaging, anticipating and tactfully using different appropriate devices befitting the different situations and achieving the intended results. Such appropriate devices were called ‘Yoga’ and Krishna was the master of them – he was Yogeshwar – a man whose mind, body and intellect were always finely tuned with each other as well as the surroundings (they acted in tandem)!

The great Emperor Jarasandha’s two daughters were given in marriage to Kansa …….. Krishna’s maternal uncle. After Krishna killed Kansa – Jarasandha held Krishna personally responsible for widowing his daughters. So he decided to invade Mathura to capture and kill Krishna. Jarasandha invaded and attacked Mathura several times and everytime the Yadavas resisted bravely. But Krishna realized that this was proving to be an unnecessary drain on not only the energy, but also the wealth of the Yadavas (because if they were constantly at war, all their resources would have to be diverted towards the war – thus they would never be able to really prosper). Krishna understood that it was not possible to defeat Jarasandha on the battlefield (who had huge resources and a huge army under his command). The Yadavas were much smaller in numbers. Hence they could hardly be able to weaken Jarasandha’s power – the net result would be a drain on their resources (monetarily, food), but also reduction in their numbers and ultimately total annihiliation. Thus, to avoid further unnecessary bloodshed, Krishna decided that the Yadavas should migrate from Mathura to a place which was safer and almost beyond the reach of Jarasandha and thus be able to live in peace and security. Krishna thus persuaded the Yadava elders and convinced them of the wisdom of his plan of mass migration from Mathura. Following Krishna’s advise,

the Yadavas divided all their wealth into small portions so that it would be portable and started moving towards the west with their families and kinsmen. to Dwarka –

a place surrounded by the sea. This incident shows another aspect of Krishna’s ideology – wherein he shows by practical example that rather than mechanically/dogmatically following a prevalent code of conduct (it was generally disapproved in those days to take flight from the battlefront), it is at times necessary to discriminate and weigh the situation and then take decisions regarding an appropriate/practical action …… By migrating to Dwarka Krishna earned the name “Ranchod” – but for the larger good, a practical solution which would be more beneficial to his people was the need of the hour and so Krishna did not mind earning that ‘moniker’. At that time he made people understand that if your set of values have to survive, then first you have to survive – if you do not survive and prosper ……. Your values will go extinct with you!

According to scriptural sources, Krishna moved his entire kinsmen to a safer place – Kushasthali – adorned by the Raivataka mountain - where they repaired its fort and made it so impregnable that even women could defend it. Though they were capable of protecting themselves, yet they took shelter in the Gomantak mountain to be further safe. Twenty one posts of armed men were placed there and the heroes of the eighteen branches of the Yadu race defended it always. Thus Krishna brought the Yadu clan many hundreds of miles away from the land of their forefathers’ because that was the need of the hour – if they wanted to survive as a race! He brought them across deserts, mountains, rivers to the coast of the sea, where (according to some sources - Puranas) he probably reclaimed land from the sea – by his knowledge of engineering (it is described poetically in some books that he commanded the sea to recede) – thus - he founded the new city of Dwarka on a small island in the sea, near the site of an ancient vanished city which was the capital of a kingdom (once upon a time). Dwarka was protected by the hill Raivataka on the main land. This itself helped to make the place impregnable – yet he built a chain of forts on the Raivataka to further protect the city from external attacks. Added to this were the facts that this place had great natural beauty and “salubrious climate”. He introduced amongst them a system of governance far superior to what existed in any part of India. He formed an army of his old playmates, his beloved cowherds of Vrindavan, who afterwards became the foremost warriors in India and were famous in the name of “Sansaptakas” (See Mahabharata – Drona Parva). Thus he raised the Yadu race to a higher strata of civilization than that of any other Aryan race then living on the plains of India!

Krishna never fought for personal sovereignty or revenge – his battles were always for the larger good – ‘Dharma’ as he put it!. When Jarasandha was slayed by Bhima under the directions of Krishna – he got released all the captive kings. Krishna returned them their kingdoms and asked them to acknowledge Yudhistra as their overall sovereign – which they consented to happily – thus paving the way for the success of Yudhistra’s Rajasuya Yagna without any bloodshed. So in one commanding stroke he got rid of the corrupt Jarasandha and also got the allegiance of the 100 kings held captive by Jarasandha (whom Jarasandha was anyway going to sacrifice for some Yagna that he wanted to perform). Later, he coronated Sahadev – the son of Jarasandha as his successor. This implied a policy of peaceful coexistence. He did not demolish other states as long as they recognized the authority of the sovereign – and a beneficial sovereign who would see to the welfare of all – thus for prosperity of the common man in general!!!!!!

In ancient India, real generalship in wars was quite unknown. Every warrior was pre-eminent for his own bravery, physical strength and knowledge of the arms and weapons that he specialized in. They really did not know how to command and face a great warrior or a great army with a small force (i.e. strategic warfare). It was Krishna who introduced real generalship in his war with Jarasandha (mobilizing small units to cause maximum damage to the army). He was not only a great warrior but a great general as well. Krishna in his various wars with great kings (who were constantly warring with one another to increase their kingdom boundaries and holding the defeated kings as prisoners – or – were re-aligning among themselves to put down other benevolent kings) across the length and breadth of this land – Krishna exhibited his skills as a great war-strategist par - excellence!!!!!! He keenly observed the enemy, his weaknesses and strengths, the psychology of the enemy kings and their warriors. All this knowledge he put together and used it while deciding his strategies to counter the huge armies of his opponents with small units of his die-hard Yadav warriors – who moved swiftly (because of the small numbers of the soldiers in each unit) and deftly to take the enemy camp by complete surprise and thus cause complete disarray and confusion in their rank and files. Such strategies were unknown to the great warriors of those days – as they relied more on their individual prowess, expertise and dexterity in the usage of their favourite weapons and bravado to win battles. But Krishna –with his keen observations and inputs - using least power and small armies strategically won impossible victories in wars with mighty enemies !!!!!!!!! Thus people thought that he was a magician, or he had some kind of supernatural powers – He was thus considered God incarnate!

Krishna introduced among the Yadav clans a system of governance far superior to what then existed in any part of India – a form of Governance which was very similar to Democracy style of governance of today. In Dwarka he established sort of a republic (with equal rights for all the various clans of the Yadava race). He formed an army of his old playmates, his beloved cowherd boys from Vrindavan, who afterwards became the foremost warriors in India and were famous by the name of ‘Sansaptakas’ (See Mahabharata, Drona Parva, the battle between Arjuna and the Sansaptakas). Thus he raised the Yadu race to a higher strata of civilization than that of any other Aryan race then living on the plains of India.

He was a very shrewd statesman because he realized very early on that if the Aryan way of life had to reign supreme in the Gangetic plains, not only was unity among the various Aryan kings extremely essential – but the allegiance of the powerful tribes residing in the forests was equally important. The allegiance of the tribals was necessary so that rather than the Aryans and tribals being either at war with one another or being irritants to one another – they would rather help one another and mobilize joint resources in keeping at bay some very strong but autocratic and despotic Aryan kings like Jarasandha! So, wherever it was possible, he brought about political alliances, wherever he could he made marriage alliances between the Yadu warriors and princesses of other powerful tribals! He convinced his cousin Uddhav to marry twin Naga princesses (of a very powerful clan) who had fallen in love with Uddhav. Krishna himself married Jambavati – the daughter of a bear king! Thus the Yadavas became the most powerful in the land of Aryavarta – though they never went to war to increase the boundaries of their own kingdom!!!!!!

King Drupad the powerful Panchal king, had a secret desire to have Arjuna as his son-in-law so that he could defeat Dronacharya (to avenge defeat that he had suffered at the hands of Dronacharya who had by force taken part of his kingdom when King Drupad refused to give half his kingdom to Dronacharya which he had promised to him in their student days). Krishna had foreseen the inevitability of the battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. For this reason, Krishna had been working towards having strong alliances for the Pandavas much before the actual battle took place. Thus keeping King Drupad’s secret desire in mind and wanting a strong alliance for the Pandavas, Krishna single-handedly stage-managed (literally) the alliance between Draupadi (daughter of the Panchal king Drupad) and Arjuna!

..... to be contd.....

Krishna - The Man!

Krishna the Man

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krihna Krishna Hare Hare!!!!! Yes - Krishna - the sweetest manifestation of the Supreme Being!he is regarded as the Purna-Avarata of God. He was perfect in every respect. Sri Krishna has always been ‘divinised’, i.e., looked upon as God. But such an outlook/attitude however misses the greatness of Krishna as ‘the man’. It does not allow us to look at his activities in the capacity of a human being par excellence! – and thus lay before us the potentialities of ordinary human beings and the heights that mortals can attain if they just led a balanced life with awareness!!!!!!!! Only if we look at Krishna as a normal human being – a figure of history – can we give full credit to his capabilities and teachings in the times that he lived ….. only then can we appreciate as to why he was admired and respected by his contemporaries. This respect and devotion over a period of time transformed Krishna into a divinity, rather than the other way round (a divinity deciding to take birth as a human being and performing miracles for the upliftment of man and society in those days)!!!!!!!

Sri Krishna’s life-on-earth was all-comprehensive. If one studies the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Mahabharata one will understand what a multifaceted diamond Sri Krishna was. He was a wonderful child, resplendent youth, dearest friend, mighty warrior, wise administrator, sweet comrade, master of diplomacy, protector of the meek, death of the wicked, preserver of Dharma, clever strategist, humble servant, obedient pupil, dutiful son, loving husband and Supreme Guru. He was very clever, original and ingenious. Even in the case of restoration of Dharma He displayed super-divine cleverness.

Today we celebrate Krishna's birthday. Where was he born? In a prison. What were his possessions? Nothing. Born in a prison, he was taken to the house of Nanda, and then he went to Mathura. He owned nothing. But he became the greatest figure in the world! Even before he was born – plans had already been made to kill him. Throughout his entire life he was constantly hounded by his enemies – to end his life – yet he led – as though a charmed life – time and again proving too slippery for his enemies!

Poetry divides human emotions into nine classes. Bhagwadas in his book Krishna – A Study in the theory of Avataras states beautifully – “The Bhagvata loves to show that Krishna, as a theme for poetry, exhausted all these in himself. The occasion is the then very young (~ 11years of age) Krishna’s entry into the arena of the tournament which had been planned by

Kamsa in a last effort to murder him, but at which he himself was slain by tusk torn from the elephant Kuvalayapida, which had been stationed at the gateway to kill Krishna, but which had been killed by him. “To the gladiators pitted against him, he appeared ‘Fierce and Furious’ as the thunderbolt of heaven; to the masculine spectators, as a ‘Wonderful’ specimen of perfect manhood; to the women, as the ‘Beautifull Eros’ incarnate; to the cowherds, as playmate full of ‘Laughter and Fun’; to the bad and ferocious but valorous kings assembled there as ‘Heroic’ chastiser of the wicked; to his parents, also present there, as a precious child, an object of ‘Compassion’; to Kamsa, as the ‘The Terrible’ Lord of Death himself; to the shallow-minded, as ‘Disgustingly’ stained with the stains of battle; to the yogis, as the embodiment of the ‘Peace’ of the Universal Self the eternal object of single-minded ‘Devotion’; and as their idolized personal deity, the focus of their whole-hearted ‘affection’ to his kinsfolk of the Vrshni clan.”

****** The above description epitomizes the ‘Navrasa’ embodied in the Personality of Krishna that invoked different emotions in different people – friends and foes and all.

He was a man who recognized the importance of not only “Niti” but rather “political-Niti”. He was a diplomat – a statesman in a class of his own – who did politicking shrewdly, with practical ideals without sacrificing ethics. His tremendously deep understanding of human psychology (nature) helped him while playing politics. He was not just a political strategist – but he was also well-versed in the use of weapons and missiles (shastra and astra). His understanding of human nature helped him to foresee others’ reactions/ actions and thus prepare for emergencies well in advance. Thus his enemies could never catch him napping or ill-prepared in any situation – rather they would normally be taken by surprise by Krishna! His clan – the Yadavas were always well-armed and always fine-tuned for war physically and mentally. His kingdom of Dwarka was chosen as it was difficult to attack it due to its geographical location- yet its warriors and armies were always in a state of war-preparedness - Krishna’s ideology being that if you are strong, that itself is the greatest deterrent for the enemy to even think waging a war. He never went out to conquer territories like his contemporaries – but believed in defending his own frontiers. He never did anything for his personal benefits – but did things or took decisions keeping an eye on the larger picture of the political scenario of the sub-continent and thus helped forge alliances of major forces on the political front so that no one power became totalitarian and subjugated the weaker. He took calculated risks – well thought out and with alternate plans in place!

With his faculty of critical thinking and innovative spirit, Krishna could not only comprehend the situation with all its positive and negative aspects and intricate implications, but could also envisage ways of overcoming it and saving the concerned from passive submissions to it. He also understood the social evils and superstitions existing in the society of that day and was dedicated to eradicating them by educating the people in this regard! In the episode of the Govardhana mountain, he pointed out to the people that rain is a natural phenomenon which does not require mediation of Indra! Krishna asked the Gopas to learn to cultivate modes of constructively utilizing the mountain, the very base and source of life and through it to develop an attitude of reciprocity with nature – rather than that of animosity! (The mountains cause precipitation to occur – as water-bearing clouds start ascending the mountains, the temperatures within the clouds decreases – so they cannot hold the water within and thus precipitate. Thus one side of the mountain gets good rains, but the other side being in the shadow of the mountain gets less rainfall). This shows that Krishna had knowledge of this mechanism of rainfall and the role of the mountain in precipitation - and thus he wanted, or rather insisted that his people should put in self-confident efforts to be self-reliant and improve their lot rather than being passively dependent on or submitting to forces of Nature and Fate – which can at the most be appeased and propitiated – but never totally overcome and commanded! This approach of Krishna regarding living and being in harmony with Nature and using one’s understanding of Nature in becoming self-reliant, rather than living at the mercies of the vagaries of Nature shows that he was a personality who believed in being action-oriented and self-reliant …. These two being the pillars of His teachings in the Bhagvad Gita!!!!!!!!

Krishna was very much concerned about the environment and its conservation - and the story of his vanquishing the terrible Kalia Nag who was causing havoc in the waters of the Yamuna maybe an allegoric story to showcase this point. It is possible that due the activities of human beings, the Yamuna was getting polluted and its waters were getting poisonous (as if a snake’s poison had got mixed in it) for consumption of plants, animals and human beings. Krishna may have carried out a major plan to clean the waters of the Yamuna single-handedly and single-mindedly and thus the story of this great feat! It is also possible that Kalia was a Naga tribal chief living in the forests near the Yamuna – and Krishna defeated him and brought about peace between the Naga tribals and his own village people. If constant enemity was there between his people and the Naga tribals, it would only cause casuality of life but the constant skirmishes would have caused deterioration of forests and its flora and fauna – because it was common practice in those days to

set fire to settlements of the opposing side to cause harm to them and make them either surrender or migrate elsewhere!

THE SOURCE OF ALL KNOWLEDGE IS WITHIN YOU

Remember the early tape recorders – huge spools of tape were required to store even an hour of audio recording Then came the cassette , which were very much small compared to the earlier spools and they contained more information in a smaller space – and today we have compact discs (CDs), MP3 discs, iPods and what have you – that contain 1000’s of songs

The same goes for computers. The early computers required a huge room to house just the Central Processing Unit (CPU) – but today supercomputers comparatively require hardly any space and they are handling hundreds of thousands of times the data handled by the earlier computers. In fact your laptop (whose size has now shrunk to the size of an oversized notebook) handles much more data than that of the earlier supercomputers! So the point of the matter is that the grosser the matter the more space it occupies and the lesser information it contains – the finer the matter, the lesser space it occupies and the more information it contains. Thus the DNA (extremely subtle compared to even the cells of our bodies) within each cell contains information regarding generations of the human beings. Thus it is logical to assume that the consciousness within us which is much more subtler (vibrating at much higher frequency) than even the DNA in the cell, will contain much more knowledge. Therefore it is that enlightened human beings (highly evolved souls) who know how to have access to the consciousness within them can have access to all knowledge – everything from the most mundane to the complex mysteries of the Universe which scientists even today are struggling to understand! They do not need to go to schools, colleges, universities to gain high sounding degrees of the world and yet the knowledge hat all these degrees give can be compared to just collecting some random pebbles on the seashore. Compared to that, the consciousness contains information not only of the physical realm and beyond but also they understand the connections between the various branches of knowledge. It contains everything that exists, whether perceivable by our limited senses (and instruments) or not. After all each one of us has at some point in our lives definitely gone through some experiences where one may have seen, read, heard something that one does not consciously remember having seen, read or heard previously – yet there is a sense of déjà vu! At such times probably the consciousness within the person has suddenly remembered something from a very distant past! After all it has everything stored in its deep reserves!

Each one of us has consciousness – which is the same in everybody. If some people can tap into this source so can each one of us – but we are so busy searching for the pebbles in the external world that we have no time to look within us and learn to keep to tap the source of all knowledge which is within each one of us!!!!

Dr. Poonam Mehra

I had read somewhere that of all human values - truth and honesty contribute most in bringing about a certain order in life - and I concur with this view. As I read the words they set me thinking that is this not true even in the scientific field! The scientific community expects that experiments should be conducted and reported with complete truth and honesty- and the logically deduced results of the experiments should lead to growth of knowledge - which can then be used for the benefit and overall growth of mankind (although sometimes these are used for destructive and selfish purposes)! A true scientific temperament calls for rational thinking with the spirit of inquiry! But aren't these again the basic fundamentals for anyone wanting to tread the path of spiritualism! So also the great masters and mystics all say that nothing should be accepted unless you think it over for yourself, understand it - rationally, logically and then ultimately experience it! They call it 'chintan' and 'manan' and the end result is 'self-realization'. Progress of science takes place slowly, revealing the mysteries, beauty, symmetry of nature. Man started with 2D, realized 3D and today is aware of 4D space. As science reveals more and more - at some point man will truly understand about all the other dimensions talked about in scriptures. Ultimately, both the scientist and the person on the journey towards self-realization experience a kind of inner strength that keeps them going - because both follow discipline of a similar nature in their lives!!!!!!!!
Dr. Poonam Mehra

* CONSCIOUSNESS FLOWS THROUGH ANIMATE AND INANIMATE

Science classifies things in this Universe as animate and inanimate. Accordingly, an amoeba – even though unicellular – is animate --- but a rock is inanimate. But then the animate is made up of protein molecules, nucleic acids and what not chemicals – which are basically groups of molecules and atoms – and these are considered to be inanimate! Then how does something constituting of inanimates become animate? Well, people try to explain this anomaly by saying that when ‘consciousness’ starts flowing through the inanimate, then that particular inanimate becomes animate – if ‘consciousness’ stops flowing through the animate – it turns back to inanimate. This explains how organisms, plants, humans live and then die.
Ok, let us now examine the concept of electricity. Now, electricity is a form of energy which is always present all around us. What scientists have done is to identify the energy – study it, understand the how and why of its flow, its working, its characteristics - so as to be able to use it purposefully. With the switch of a button when electricity flows through a bulb, it gives us light – with the flip of the button again, the electricity stops flowing through the bulb and there is no light. If a control mechanism is attached in the path of the electricity (between the button and the bulb), one can control the brightness of the light being emitted out of the bulb. Similarly there are other gadgets where depending on the amount of electricity flowing through them the speed or heat emitted out of the gadget can be controlled. Every gadget comes with certain specifications, i.e., if the electricity flowing through the gadget is below a certain threshold the gadget/appliance will not work – so also if the electricity flowing through the gadget is beyond a certain maximum threshold, then the gadget will breakdown or explode!
Similarly ‘consciousness’ is just there everywhere – in fact it is the substratum of the Universe. Thus it is present in every conceivable/nonconceivable thing – right from the smallest, yet identifiable subatomic particle to stars, galaxies and what we term as animates. The only difference being in the amount of consciousness flowing through anything! If the consciousness flowing through a particular something is lesser than a particular threshold – we (as humans – limited by the range of our own senses) term that thing as inanimate. As the consciousness crosses that minimum threshold value – we start terming those things as animate – till we reach the human level of consciousness. So when an animate or human being dies – it is not really dead or inanimate – it is just that the amount of consciousness flowing through the particles of its body is now below a particular threshold value! So it is at a different level of being. Thus, if man is able to increase the consciousness flowing through him/her, then he/she will enter into may be another state of being – which is beyond the capacity of a so-called normal human being - which is probably called the supraphysical state of being – or – as some describe being in different realms or worlds simultaneously!

Dr. Poonam Mehra