Krishna & Me

It is Divine December 😊 and 2020 has more than enough reasons for us to approach the divine, is it not? The biggest question is — “What is divine?”. To each one of us it might mean very different things. For some like me, the immediate association that comes to mind is God. Again, that leads us to another famous question — “Who is God?”. Well I can give many names and you can choose from them. There are others who believe God is formless and is basically “energy”, “presence” and “high power” which is something beyond Human. There are a set of people who believe that being Humane is being God. Well who is to deny all this, not me. Be it a theist or an atheist, God has always been an important aspect — either accepting or rejecting His/Her existence.

Photo by Vivek Sharma on Unsplash

One of central figures of God in the Hindu Religion is Krishna. He is also associated with the Bhagavad Gita, an important text even with respect to understanding Yoga. It is said that the Month of Margazhi is the most favourite month to Krishna and hence it become one of the reasons associated with the divinity of the month of Margazhi (Dec-Jan as per the English calendar). This blog is about Krishna and me.

As a kid, Krishna to me was a super hero. Many times, more powerful than the Superman, Spiderman, Batman and of course our own Shakthiman. Krishna is known to be mischievous as a kid, He had magical powers. He could at an instant change his form and replicate himself innumerable times. Even as an infant he had defeated so many demons. He was the much-adored kid in the Vrindavan. He was a cow herd and all the animals loved him. He was great musician and played the flute. Not to miss the peacock feather that adorned his head. He was celebrated. That is all most kids know about Krishna and I wasn’t any different.

This was how I knew Krishna for a very long time. We know a lot of stories and we think we have understood it all.

“And what relationship has the word to actuality? The actuality of a word like the ‘tent’, is not the tent. The word is not the thing. That’s simple, anybody… But for us the word is the thing. We identify the word with the thing, we don’t separate the word from the thing. That’s part of awareness. You get it?” — J Krishnamurti

Fast-forward, many years. I laid my hands on a book called “Krishna — the man and his philosophy”. The book was by Osho and contained a set of questions and answers relating to Krishna. This book made me look at Krishna as human being rather than a super hero. An important thing that I realised was how we easily separate the Divine from the Human. So, when we find a person who is way superior to us, as humans we do two things

We either praise them, adulate them and keep them on a very high pedestal and associate divinity with them as a reason for their extraordinary existence. Then we say we lack the same divinity and sit comfortably in our lazy zones

Or

We outright deny them. Call such people a fallacy. Find as many faults with them as possible. Thus, convincing ourselves that there is no divinity in them leave alone us.

So, I tried to read about he life of Krishna and try to understand him as a fellow human. To empathise with what he went through will reveal so many beautiful life lessons. It helps us understand better what Joy is and what sorrow is. At birth he was separated from his Parents. As an infant his life was in constant danger. He was wanted dead by his own uncle. He had to leave Vrindavan. He had an unsuccessful love story and had to leave his love interest knowing that he can never marry her. As a king he had so many enemies. He had to vacate his Kingdom and move his people afar because defeat and destruction was obvious. He was called a coward. He was called a trickster. He had to marry many women for the sake of their love and kingdom. He watched his own men get defeated at the great battle as they were given in support to the “Kuru” army. He was cursed by a mother to die like a hunted animal. He watched his own people kill each other. No matter how bad my life is, if I took a moment to reflect on Krishna, he went through worse. The matter is he took them in his stride.

“Perhaps there is no such thing as finding God first and then living; It may be that God is to be found in the very understanding of this complex process called life “– J Krishnamurti

My understanding of Krishna is that he lived every moment completely and that those moments weren’t devoid of emotions. There were moments where he got angry, but his anger was so complete that It did not have any residue. That was evident because he was able to drop it completely and forgive wholeheartedly the next moment. That was indeed possible by the Human who was called Krishna. So probably such a state is not unreachable by other Humans. All examples of the human roles can be found in him, the exploring youth, the incredible friend, the selfless lover, the charming prince, the strong warrior, an able king, the wise philosopher and a guiding teacher. No wonder he is known as the “poorna-avatar” (complete incarnation).

Does this all mean that I know him now?

“The description is not the described; I can describe the mountain, but the description is not the mountain, and if you are caught up in the description, as most people are, then you will never see the mountain” — J Krishnamurti.

The Bhagavad Gita, is Krishna’s explanation on life. He gives his own experience on who God is and what divinity is. Honestly, I haven’t read it. I should do it. It will be interesting to know and reflect on what a person who had lived his life to the fullest has to say about it. It is equally important to know what to do after one has read it. Is it not? To not to separate the divine and keep it on a pedestal and stay home comfortably without applying it. To not to be cynical and just deny it.

Today, life has taken me to a point, where surrender to me seems to be the right step. If I think about it, had I not known the super hero stories of Krishna as a child, it would have been very difficult for me to understand him as a Human and what makes him special and great. He has made innumerable souls fall in love for him. That is evident from the great repository of songs that many great poets have written about him. A single soul to have enraptured so many after many thousand years of his existence. He seems to be living eternally.

Now, what is it to surrender? The questions are endless. I do not have the answer yet and probably “I” can never have this answer.

“Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that form the Lord. True surrender is the love of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake of salvation. In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you acquire this effacement through self-enquiry or surrender (bhakthi-marga) “ — Ramana Maharishi

“Grace is ever present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to it “ — Ramana Maharishi

Isvarapranidhanadva — Yoga sutra Chapter- I Sutra no. 23

Offering regular prayers to God with a feeling of submission to his power, surely enables the state of Yoga to be achieved — T.K.V Desikachar.

The month of Margazhi ( Divine December) is when , the poet Andal attained her Union with her Lord Krishna , having surrendered herself to Him.

Let us once again keep in mind that the description is not the described. The word surrender is not the act of surrendering. Knowing how to surrender is not surrendering. Let us all explore of ourselves what does the word “surrender” mean . We can take support of a book, a scripture or a teacher but to know surrender is quite different from the act of surrendering.

Cheers

aravind subramanian