KRISHNA

KRSNA was adynamic incarnation of Lord Visnu. He was an Avatara. An Avatara is one who is attuned to the supreme. Consciusness from birth. Krisna's incarnation brought about a profound and powerful influence upon. Indian thought and life. There is no aspect of Indian life. Culture and civilisation which does not receive his revitalising touch. India's philosophy and religion, mysticism and poetry, painting and sculpture, music and dance. articulated Krsna theme and thought. Every aspect of Krsna's life and deeds has a mystic symbolislm indicating a sublime truth. Some of them are explained below. They should set a direction to the reader for deeper study and discovery of the allegorical significance of the entire story of Krsna.

Krsna in Sanskrit means dark. Krisna represents the inner Self, Atman. The Atman is dark in the sense that it is unknown to man as long as he is involved in his terrestrial experiences. Man's knowledge is limited to the realms of perceptions, emotions and thoughts. He gains these experiences through his three equipments of body, mind and intellect. He knows not the Atman within. The body, mind and intellect by themselves are inert and insentient. They constitute the material aspect of man. The Atman is his spiritual being. The Atman is the living principle in man which transforms his inert matter into a living being.

Krsna is blue in colour and wears yellow clothes. Blue colour has always been associated with infinity. The sky appears blue. So does the ocean. Yellow colour represents earth. When sand is introduced in a colourless flame, the flame turns yellow. The blue form of Krsna clothed in yellow therefore suggests the infinite Reality reduced to a finite human being. The incarnation of Krsna represents the descent of God on earth. This idea of the limitless, formless Reality being constricted and restricted to a limited, human form is again suggested by Krsna birth in a prison. The divine child was however not confined to the prison. No sooner was Krisna born than the prison doors miraculously flung open. The guards could not hold the child back. The child's father, Vasudeva, carried him out of the prison in spite of the severe restrictions imposed on him. This episode is meant to convey that the infinite Being can never be really restricted or limited to the human form. A Godman is ever free and liberated. The Atman in man is limitless. Only his body, mind and intellect are limited, finite. These material equipments have a beginning and an end. They cannot restrict the Atman. The Atman is eternal, all pervading, infinite. Krisna represents that Atman.

Krisna was born in Mathura. His uncle, Kamsa was a tyrant, Kamsa imprisoned his father and usurped the throne of Mathura. He reigned over Mathura. His minister Chanura was equally wicked and cruel. Under the rule of these two tyrants Mathura suffered greatly from confusion and chaos. Krisna destroyed them both and restored peace and order in that land. The word madhuram means sweetness. The land of Mathura represents the personality of man. Man's essential nature is his Atman. His rear nature is ever sweet, peaceful and blissful. But when the evil forces of ego and egocentric desires usurp man's personality he suffers from stress and strain, worries and anxieties. He is agitated and sorrowful, He loses his blissful nature. To regain the lost bliss man has to destroy his ego and egocentric desires and establish his identity with his supreme Self.

There is a Purac story, which speak of Krisna killing a mighty serpent with many heads. It lived in a lake poisoning its water. The entire village suffered because of this dragon. Krsna jumped into the lake and began.to crush down its heads. But as he crushe them other heads sprung up in their place. Krsnaultimately crushed all the heads and vanquished the serpent. He danced on its crested head playing the flute. The wies of the dragon paid homage to the Lord.

This story again has an allegorical significance. The lake represents the mind. The dragon and its many heads the ego and egocentric desire. The ego and egocentric desires poison the mind and make its world miserable. When man turns his attention inward When he Contemplates and meditates upto his Atman, upon Krisna he overcomes his ego and egocentric desires. Thereafter he revels in the bliss of Realisation. The sense-objects of the world become subservien to such a man. This is symbolised by the wives of the serpent paying homage to Krisna.

Krsna is often represented as playing a flute. The enchanting music emanating from the flute of the lord is the bliss of Godhood enjoyed by the Man-of-Realisation. The flute is hollow but it can produce enchanting music. So too when man empties himself of his vasanas and desires the Divinity within him flows out with enchanting bliss. Man has to give up all his claims upon his body, mind and intellect, give up all his egocentric connections, all thoughts of 'mine' and 'thine', rise above them all and chant Om (Krsna), remove all selfishness from the flute of his body and fill it with the divine breath of Om. Man becomes God.
The milkmaids of Brindavan were called gopis. These gopis were enchanted by the divine music flowing out of Krsna's flute. They danced in their ecstasy around Krisna. The dance of the gopis is known as rasa-lila, Krsna again represents the Atman, pure Cosciousness while gopis represent thoughts. Atman in man is the enlivening factor by which he becomes conscious of his thoughts. Thqughts by themselves are insentient. In the presence of Consciousness thoughts gain sentiency or consciousness. Thoughts dance around the Atman as it were. But the Atman is ever immaculate. It unaffected by the thought around it. So it Krsna pure, immaculate. He remains Detached and unaffected by the dancing gopis. Losing this allegorical significance of the rasa-lila much criticism has allegorical significance of the rasa-lila much criticism has been levelled against Krsna's association with the gopis, The gopis were in fact deeply devoted to Lord Krsna. They remembered Krsna throughout the day in all their activities. Their limbs were ceaselessly engaged in their. Obligatory puties while their minds were constantly attuned to the Lord. To dedicate oneself to a higher being and work in the world without ego and egocentric desires is karma yoga. When man works in a spirit of karma yoga he gets rid of his vasanas, desires. This idea is suggested by Krsna stealing the butter which the gopis had churned and collected in their pots. The desire for realisation of the Self alone remains. This last trace of desire gets eliminated by itself through single-pointed meditation upon the Lord. In Verse 66 of Chapter XVIII of the Bhagavad Gita the Lord gives man -this assurance.

"Abandoning all dharmas, take refuge in Me alonne, l will liberate thee from all sins, grieve not. "
There is yet another beautifut incident: in Krsna's life indicating his absolute state of detachment It served as an eye-opener to the two wives of Krsna when they began to doubt his association with many gopis.

One day the great sage Durvasa camped with his many disciples on the opposite bank of river Yainuna where Krsna lived. Krsna's wives saw the sage and prepared a lot of sweetmeats to take to him. In the evening when both the ladies with their trays of delicacies approached the river it was flooded. They could not cross over to the other bank to make the offering to the sage. They returned and sought Krsna's help. Krsna asked them to go back to the river-side and pray to Mother Yamuna (the rivers in India are deified as goddesses), "lf sage Durvasais a nitya upavasi please show us the way". Nitya means eternal, permanenL Upavasi means one who fasts. So nitya upavasi is one who is always observing fast The ladies did not understand the implication. They followed Krsna's advice and prayed to Goddess Yamuna. The goddess granted their prayer and instantly the waters subsided. They crossed over and offered the sweets to the sage. The sage ate every bit of the food and returned the empty trays. A nitya upavasi!
Krsna's wives took tpe sage's plessings and reached The river bank to return home. Again, the river was flooded preventing the from crossing over. This time they sought the help of Durvasa. The sage advised them to go back to the river bank and pray to goddess Yamuna, "If Krsna is a nitya Brahmacari please us the way". Nitya Brahmacari means permanent celibate. The ladies followed the advice and prayed to the Yamuna. To their amazement the waters subsided forthwith enabling them to cross over to the other bank.
The significance of this episode is obvious. Durvasa was totally free from mental attachment to any type of food. He had absolutely no desire or craving for them. Eating to him was a ritual, an obligatory function. Such a person though acting acts not. A man of perfect detachment even though acting acts not" (Bhagavad Gita Chapter IV, Verse 20), Durvasa belonged to that rare category. He was ever mentally detached from frod. Hence he was called a nitya Upavasi even as he was eating like any other man.
The same principle applies to Krsna. It is not man's Physical expression but his mental impression that determines his attachment or detachment to the world. Krsna's association with the gopis did not in any way affect his total detachment, his mental resignation from them. He was ever maintaining an inward dispassion and disinterest even as he was closely associating with the gopis. His mind was ever in a state of Brahmacarya celibacy. Hence he was called a nitya Brahmacari.

In his childhood, Krsna is said to have eaten mud on an occasion. His mother Yasoda chided him. Kisna denied having eaten mud. Yasoda would not take his word. She asked him to open his mouth; the child did so yasbda was wonderstiuck to see the entire universe within the child's mouth. This episode has a deep philosophical implication. Krsna is the Infinite, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent Reality. The Reality alone exists. Nothing else does. The universe is nothing but the same Reaiity, though seen diffetently by men with limited Vision. Yasoda was one of those who could not see the Supreme Being in Krsna. She only saw her child in him. But in truth Krsna is that all-pervading Reality which includes the earth as well. The earth is a part of the Reality which Krsna is. Krsna therefore gave the right answer to his mother when he denied eating earth. How can Krsna (Reality) eat mud (Reality)? Krsna was therefore speaking the Truth. When Yasoda insisted on knowing the truth Krsna had to reveal it by opening his mouth and showing the universe in Him.
Man's essential nature is the ssupreme Reality. The world is also nothing but RealIty. Yet man finds the necessity to run after the world of objects for his pleasures. Is this not an absurd situation -- Reality in the form of man craving to enjoy Reality in the form of the world? This absurdity of man's pursuit is subtly implied when Krsna as a baby is shown sucking his own big toe.
Lord Krsna is also described as holding a staff in one hand and showing a symbol of wisdom, jnana mudra with the other. A staff is used by a cowherd boy to drive the cattle to the pasture lands for grazing. The jnana mudra is a symbol made by holding the little, ring and middle fingers erect and bringing the index finger to touch the middle portion of the thumb. This again has a philosophical meaning. Krsna represents the Atman in man. Atman is the Life-Principle which enliven his body, mind and intellect. Without the life spark man cannot act at all. All actions are possible because of the life spark. Actions broadly classified fall under two distinct heads-actions that are degrading and devolutionary and those that are elevating and evolutionary. Man can make use of the Atman to evolve or to devolve. Atman is neutral. It helps man to pursue whatever direction he wants. The first type of actions is indicated by Krsna holding the staff. The cattle represents the sense organs. The sense organs constantly feed upon the sense-objects of the world. Eyes go to colour and form ears go to sound, the tongue to taste etc. The sense-objects are the pastures for the sense organs. Man spends all his life driving his sense organs to their respective fields of enjoyment for sensual pleasures. He Uses his Life-Principle merely to indulge in sense gratification. That seems to be his main occupation in life.

The other type of actions, indicated by the jnana mudra, leads man to Self-realisation. The index finger represents the ego. It is the pointing finger which creates duality, plurality. Man develops his ego by his association and identification with his body, mind and intellect, with his gross, subtle and causal bodies, with his slattvika, rajasika and tamasika gunas. This idea is indicated by the index finger remaining in contact with the other three fingers.

The thumb represents the Atman by virtue of the vital role it plays in all actions. The index finger bending towards the thumb to form a circle shows the ego's detachment from the three bodies or gunas and total surrender to the Atman. When man does that he reaches his Infinite state, the state of Self-realisation This state of Infinitude is indicated by making a circle. The circle haScno beginning or end. That which has no beginning or end is said to be infinite. Krsna gives this choice of action to man, that is to spend his lifetime in merely gratirying his senses or to transcend the limitations of his bodyj mind and intellect and reach the state of Realisation. Krsna is a mere witness a saksi. He does not interfere with your choice. He merely presents the truth for you to decide your course of life. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna surrenders to Krsna completely and seeks his advice. Krsna gives him the entire philosophy of life in the eighteen chapters of the Glta.Towards the end of the last chapter he declares to Arjuna "I have declared the highest wisdom to you, reflect upon it and act as you choose to.