Krishna

JANMASHTAMI - KRISHNA

Krishna was born on the 8^th day after the full moon.  This meaning of the birth of Krishna is very beautiful.  It signifies the beautiful co-existence of self effort and grace.  You have to come right up to the 8^th day and then the divine takes over and then Krishna is born in you and the fullness shines.  Krishna consciousness was fully blossomed and infinite.  Krishna’s consciousness should remind each one of us about how vast and expansive and fully blossomed each one of us can become. 

KRISHNA – ABSOLUTE JOY

Everyone is always searching for joy – Krishna is that absolute joy.  Krishna is full of mischief – absolute joy is like that …..full of mischief.  He is full of joy even though his life was miserable from the time he was born.  He was born in a prison.  When his uncle, Kamsa knew that Devki’s eighth child would kill him, he imprisoned her and Vasudev and killed all her 6 children.  Kamsa was the embodiment of Ego which kills joy. Children have no ego, so they are full of joy.  The moment we develop ego, it kills the joy. 

Krishna’s life was full of adventures, everyone would love him…he was full of joy – so mischievous… Children are like that and we shun them for their mischief. It is normal; we should let them do that mischief.  It is fun, what is life without fun?  Haven’t we all done some mischief in our lives?  Krishna said many lies, troubled people, broke the Gopis’ pots, stole yoghurt but it was sweet trouble… people would like it.  Behind his back the Gopis would complain to his mother but in his presence they would laugh and giggle.  His presence is like that… full of joy….. all complains vanish.  We should lead our life like that.  Complaining and wailing destroys joy and joy itself creates all the problems and challenges.  That is the mischief of joy.  Krishna would create many challenges too. Wherever he went, there was war, but he would just smile… it was all a game … a ‘leela’ like Krishna says…life is a game.

Another name for Krishna is ‘Nanda’ ‘Ananda’ or joy.  This comes only through being hollow and empty.  What you carry in your hand indicates what is in your heart.  If you carry a gun, you have fear in your heart, a flower in your hand indicates that you are like that flower, but Krishna carries a flute which is hollow and empty.  His posture is that of a dance… one foot on the ground and one in the air… and his life is like a dance. This is something you will not see in Jesus or Buddha but with Krishna anything is possible… he is the symbol of all possibility and total blossoming.  He is an embodiment of all divine.  Even in the battlefield, he had the depth of awareness and gave knowledge to his friend… every aspect of Krishna leaves you in awe!

If you can laugh when everything is down, then it is something.  Everything was chaotic wherever Krishna went but he always had a smile.  He would draw everyone to him through his smile.  The inner core of every being is such – it draws everything in.

Radha is the symbol of longing and Krishna is the symbol of love. Love is like – it cannot be fully expressed and yet it cannot be without expression… Krishna’s love for Radha and the Gopis was like that… they had given their soul to him… that was their depth of love and devotion to Krishna.

This body is made up of eight elements, air, water, fire, earth, ether, mind, intellect and ego.  Krishna says that he is the 9^th.   Though he is in the body, he is not in it.  He is not as we see him, he is much more, present in our heart.  Anytime we call out to him he is there… we can always count on him – that wisdom and unity is unparalleled.   He says drop everything and be with me… my devotees will never perish.

THE MYSTICISM OF KRISHNA

The Avatar of Krishna, had a threefold objective: to destroy the wicked demons, to play the leading role in the great war fought on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and to become the centre of a marvellous development of the Bhakti schools.  Sri Krishna is the ocean of bliss.  His soul stirring lilas, are its waves.  The honeyed music of his flute attracts the minds of his devotees.  His palms bear the signs of a lotus and discus, the right sole of His feet of a flag, lotus, thunderbolt an iron goad, barley seed and the Swastika.  His left sole has the rainbow, triangle, water-pot, crescent, sky, fish and a cow’s footprints.  His form is composed of condensed universal consciousness and bliss.  His body pervades the entire cosmos.

Krishna has played various roles during His stay in the world.  He was Arjuna’s charioteer.  He was an excellent statesman.  He was a master musician; he gave lessons to Narada in the art of playing the veena.  The music of his flute thrilled the hearts of Gopis and everyone else.  He was a cowherd in Brindavan and Gokul.  He exhibited miracle powers even as a child.  He killed many demons.  He revealed His Cosmic Form to His Mother Yashoda.  He performed the Rasa Lila, the secret of which can only be understood by devotees like Narada, Gauranga, Radha and the Gopis.  He taught the supreme truth of Yoga, Bhakti and Vedanta to Arjuna and Uddhava.  He had mastered every one of the sixty-four fine arts.  For all the reasons, he is regarded as a full and complete manifestation.
Your Responsibility as a joy:

Krishna's Crown has peacock feather, generally the crown are heavy to make person wearing them reminding the big responsibility they have. So they take it as a burden, don't give life to what they are doing. But Krishna, who took the responsibility of all world, his crown was very light. The beauty is that peacock feather, though you have a crown, the crown is like the peacock feather - "Mora Mukuta", it is not bogging you down, though you have big responsibility, though you have things to do, it's very easy, very flowing, and very joyful in all it's way. That is the symbol of "Mora Mukuta"
Krishna has the peacock feather crown, that is the meaning of the peacock feather. Very colourful and yet fully responsible.