Thought One

Krishna was born on Janmashtami.

Janmashtami is around the corner, so I thought that it would be a good idea to get re-acquainted with Sri Krishna.

Krishna is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu

Meaning of Krishna Krishna means the one who attracts, 'akarshit ati te Krishna'. Krishna attracts people not only by the matchless beauty of his form. He attracts people by his music, his dance, his sports and his words...But one must need to love Him first. Understanding follows...

Krishna is the 'The Dark One' Krishna's colour is  dark blue.

The  color blue is associated with the ' infinite' like the blue sky.

Krishna's favorite color of 'dress' is  yellow.

Yellow is the color of the Earth. I have read that this is because, the earth when introduced into a colorless flame emits a yellow hue. 

The Blue colour of the sky and the yellow colour of the Earth could indicate that  the Pure and Infinite Consciousness of Krishna has descended on earth to play a human role.

Men love to say with a naughty twinkle in their eye: "Why cant we have as many girlfriends as Krishna had gopis, and get away with it like He did?

I say: "If you can pick up the Govardhan mountain with your little finger, if you change the poison that was offered to Meera and turn it to nectar, if you can dance on a thousand fanged cobra, and above all if you are a young lad of 9, you may dance with as many gopis as you please.

Krishna is considered a 16-kala-Avtaar which means that He is as close to God-head as one can get. That is why He is so difficult to understand. One should not even try. One must just learn to love Him. and how does one do that?  By being close to His Bhaktas (Devotees)

I remember when I first met Ma, she said "To most people, He is made of stone, to me, everyone is made of stone, only He is real!".  She believed that the Lord is more or less a theory, for most people, but for her, He was an intimate reality. Her love and faith for the Lord was contagious. She passed a small measure of it to me. I hope I am able to pass some on to you, through these words.

Read: Krishna is born

Thought Two

My mother introduced me to Krishna.

Ever since I can remember I have had a 'Krishna and Radharani' to worship. They were there in my mother's house.

Mummy gave me a Krishna to take with me when I went abroad after my marriage and she brought me a Krishna when I moved into my new home in Bombay. Tomorrow is Janmashtami, the birthday of Krishna and my mother is in the hospital. I shall miss her at the kirtan tomorrow, but she will be with me and Krishna will be with her, and I shall pray that my Blue Lord protect her from pain of any kind.

(Mummy has since passed on)

DAKOR (Aug 2006)

Let me tell you a story that happened 500 years ago in Dakor (A short distance from Ahmedabad in Gujarat) There was an old man called Bodana who would travel all the way to Dwarika every year to see (Do darshan) his Krishna (Dwarkadheesh) On his last trip there Bodana told Krishna that he had become too old so this was probably his last trip there! Bodana had a dream at night where Krishna told him to take Him (Krishna) away with him. Bodana did as he was told and he was accused of stealing the Idol by the King...When Bodana told the king his version of the story the king in order to humor the poor man said that they would weigh the idol of Krishna...They would put the Idol on one scale and posessions on the other) and whoever's turned out heavier would get to keep 'Krishna' Yes...you have guessed right...Bodana only put the only posession that he and his wife possessed (a nose ring) and the scale tipped in Bodana's favour! Anyway the point that I am making is that I used to go to the Hare Rama Hare Krishna Temple in Juhu on Janmashtami and now an Iskcon temple has 'come' very near to my house near Babulnath Temple... ...And I am cordially invited and taken care of...you see now I am older and need a little extra comfort...and my Krishna gives it to me...Koun kehta hai Bhagwan aatey naheen tum Meera ke jaisey bulaatey nahin!

Picture on the left: Iskcon Temple. Picture in the centre: Myself with the Chaturbhuj Krishna in the temple where we completed (ooops...we can never say we have completed a scripture...so we restarted the Bhagavad Geeta....(Aug 2006) Picture on the right: The group that participated in 'The Geeta study'

Janmashtami 2007

Chaitanya Charan Das says:
Nietzche said: "I would believe in a God who could dance"
During his time God was generally portrayed as a frozen perfection, remote, static, and wholly unsociable...Nietzche would have been pleasantly surprised had he heard of Krishna, who danced expertly on the hood of the venomous serpent Kaliya...Krishna delights, not in the magnificence of godhood but in the sweetness of uninhibited love...He gives a glimpse of His awe inspiring greatness through His Vishwa roop darshan, which is one of the greatest mystical visions in world literature...Arjuna saw within the Universal form-within Krishna-everything and everyone in existence...The disarming hospitality that Krishna extended to Sudama and the subsequent generous benedictions that He bestowed upon His poor guru-kul friend are also eloquent testimony to Krishna's personal warmth and sweetness...(Before the great war of Mahabharata) Krishna went as a Shantiduta (peace messanger) to dissuade Duryodhana from war with sweet words...

Shakun says:
What else to speak about my Krishna? He sang the Immortal philosophy: Bhagvad Geeta!
But today I sing!
Roop saanvala, man ka gora
Krishna Kanhaiya naam hai
Ek baalak ka janam hua hai
Radha ka jo Shyam hai
Meera ka Ghanshyam hai!

Tum hi bal mukunda ho
aur tum hi hamaare Gopaala
Tum hi Govardhan Giridhaari
Tum hi pyaare Nandlala
jag se hume kya lena dena
Jag se hume kya kaam hai
Ek baalak ka janam hua hai
Radha ka jo Shyam hai
Meera ka Ghanshyam hai

(Excerpts from) Jagannath (Lord of the Universe)
Rath Yatra (Chariots of the Gods)
By Damodara Pandita Dasa



Jagat means universe
Naath means Lord
Rath means chariot
Yatra means journey

(During the Rath yatra,)Why is the Lord of the Universe pulled around by ropes, balanced on 12-foot wheels, in a primitive fashion?

Because Lord Jagannath is bound by the ropes of His devotees’ affection. He goes wherever they take Him.

Why does Lord Jagannath have such big round eyes?
Because He is staring wide-eyed at all of us showering everyone with His Love.

One day Krishna’s brother Balarama, and sister Subhadra rushed off with Krishna to Vrindaavan.
When they reached Vrindavan, Balarama and Subhadra are wonderstruck at the deep intense love of the Brijvasis for Krishna…and the latter weeps inconsolably when He sees Radhika lying lifeless and burning with the fire of separation. The siblings’ hands and legs retract into their bodies…Their eyes widen with awe!

 

Read:

Christ and Krishna

Divine Births