Lord Krishna

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Lord Krishna

 

 

Although Lord Krishna is often considered the 8th Avatar of Lord Vishnu He(Lord Krishna) is actually the Supreme personality of Godhead. He is actually the source of all avatars and is the cause of all causes. This is confirmed in various vedic sastras and is the conclusion of vedic uttama siddhanta which is the Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

The main objective of Gita is to help people struggling in the darkness of ignorance cross the ocean of transmigration and reach the spiritual shore of liberation while living and working in the society. The central understanding of the Bhagavad Gita is to not only do your duty but ultimatly surrender unto the Supreme personality of Godhead. Sri Krishna. By doing your duty in the thought of Lord Krishna and ultimatly offering everything unto him.

The congregational chanting of the maha-mantra, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, is accepted by the Vedas as the most effective means of self-purification in this age.

 

When one realizes Him by His grace, the knots of ignorance are loosened, all doubts and confusion are dispelled, and all Karma is exhausted.

 

 

Early life:

Shri Krishna, according to belief based on ancient scriptures and astrological estimations was born on either the 18th of July or 21st July 3228 B.C.

 

Krishna was the 8th son born to princess Devaki of Mathura and her husband Vasudeva. The then king Kansa, who was Devaki's brother, had forcefully acquired the kingdom by imprisoning his father Ugrasena. He had been told that he'll be killed by the eighth son of Devaki, fearing which, he imprisoned the couple. Not willing to take a risk, he killed Devaki and Vasudev's first six children. Upon Lord Krishna's appearance(birth) Vasudev had transported Lord Krishna to the house of Maharaj Nanda and Mother Yashoda in exchange for the female child born there.

 

Krishna was raised in Gokul by his foster parents Yasoda and Nand. He had two other siblings - Balarama and Subhadra. Balarama was Devaki's seventh child who was transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudev's first wife. Subhadra was born to Rohini and Vasudev much after the birth of Krishna and Balarama.

 

In Gokul, Nand was the head of the family and of all cow-herders. Nand, along with Yasoda settled in Vrindavan. That is where hundreds of Krishna's childhood stories are based. Folk tales of Krishna as a "maakhan chor" (butter thief), "bansi wala" (flautist), savior of villagers from demons like Kaaliya Naag (A vicious, multi hooded gigantic cobra that poisoned the waters of river Yamuna), Pootna (Demon sent by Kansa to kill Krishna), all originate from Vrindavan. This is also where Krishna lifted a hill called Govardhan parvat on his little finger and defeated God Indra (the king of devs and the God of rain) to protect land and people of Vrindavan.

 

In Krishna's youth, his romance with local girls called Gopis has been called "raas leela" and was later source of inspiration to poets for centuries and continues to be till date.

 

 

Middle Life:

When Krishna grew up, he returned to his kingdom in Mathura. He participated in a wrestling competition and on beating all other participants, challenged his uncle Kansa to fight. Kansa was killed in this battle. Krishna then reinstated his grandfather Ugrasena as the rightful king of Yadavas and was celebrated as a popular prince.

 

At this time, he got to know the Pandav princes from the Kuru kingdom and became very good friends with Arjuna (one of the 5 Pandav prices) and other princes.

 

Later, he along with his Yadava subjects, moved to the city of Dwaraka (modern day Gujarat) and established his kingdom there.

 

During his time as king in Dwarka, he married the princess of Vidarbha named Rukmini, after abducting her from her marriage ceremony. Krishna supposedly had sixteen thousand one hundred and eight wives, of which the chief were Rukmini, Jambavati and Satyabhama. He had married sixteen thousand maidens, held captive with a demon named Narakasura. He had to do that to save their dignity and allow them a respectable status in society.

 

 

Bhagavad Gita and War of Kurukshetra

 

Krishna was a cousin of Pandavas and Kauravas. When the war between Pandavas and Kauravas seemed inevitable, Krishna made an equal offer to both Pandavas and Kauravas - either himself alone (with a condition that he won't lift a weapon) or his entire army. Duryodhana (the prince of Kauravas) chose the mighty Dwaraka army and Arjuna (the Pandav prince) chose Krishna himself. Krishna offered to be his charioteer as that role didn't involve him lifting a weapon.

 

The battle broke off. Arjuna, on the battlefront, saw massive armies on both sides. He saw people that he loved like his teachers Dronacharya, Bhishma Pitamah and others standing opposite him. He realised that he'll soon be fighting against the same people. "How can I do that?" he thought. "How can I kill the people I owe so much to?". Krishna at this point, talked to Arjuna and explained the concept of "aatma", the soul and how the soul can neither be created nor destroyed.He exhorts Arjun to fight valiantly regardless of consequences. What Krishna said to Arjuna on the battlefield of the Kurukshetra war formed the Bhagwat Geeta.

 

With the help of Lord krishna,the Pandavas won the battle with Kauravas.

 

 

Later Life:

After the Kurukshetra war, Krishna lived at Dwarka for the next 36 years of his life. At a local festival, a fight broke out amongst the subjects of his kingdom - Yadavas. The fight was so brutal, that it resulted in the extermination of thousands of Yadavas. Krishna's elder brother Balaram then went into eternal yoga and left his body.

 

Krishna quit all worldly desires and started living in the forests, meditating. One day, a hunter looking for a prey, mistook Krishna's left foot for a deer and fired and arrow, injuring Krishna fatally and ultimately resulting in his demise.

 

According to the scriptures of Mahabharata, Krishna's demise occurred because of a "shraap" (curse) given to him by mother of Kauravas - Gandhaari. She couldn't bear the death of her sons after the battle of Kurukshetra (Mahabharata) and held Krishna responsible for not doing enough to stop the war when he could have. Krishna had acknowledged the "shraap" stating that his responsibility was not to stop the war, but to assist the righteous people.

 

After executing His mission on earth i.e after removing the burden of earth from unrighteous kings and installing Yudhistar as King of whole world, He ended His past times on this mortal world and returned to His own spiritual planet Goloka Vrindhavan.

 

GEETA SAAR (The Bhagwat Gita summarised)

 

Bhagwan (Lord) Shri Krishna (Shri or Shree used for respect in Hindi and Sanskrit languages) talks to Arjuna, the warrior who stands in front of his cousin Duryodhan's army. The Kurukshetra war is about to begin and Arjuna stands to fight and kill his teachers, family and friends. He feels saddened by the thought of war against his loved ones and loses will to fight. That's when Shri Krishna, Arjuna's charioteer recites the Bhagwat Geeta to him, explaining to him the concept of God, Aatma (the soul) and matirialism.

 

* Krishna says to a distressed Arjuna: Why do you worry unnecessarily oh great warrior? What are you scared of? Who can kill or destroy you? A soul is never born, so it never dies. Your soul can neither be created nor destroyed and there's nothing more temporary than your body.

 

* Whatever happened in the past, happened for the best; whatever is happening, is happening for the best; whatever will happen in future, will happen for the best. Do not repent the past, do not worry for future, concentrate on your present.

 

* What or who did you own, that makes you shed tears? What did you bring with you, that you fear losing? What did you give birth to, that you fear destruction of? You didn't bring anything. Whatever one takes, one must return to God. Everyone came empty handed and will therefore die, empty handed.

 

* Whatever belongs to you today, belonged to someone else yesterday and it will belong to some one else tomorrow. Don't be illusioned by maya (the material substance). Maya is the root cause of all pain and misery.

 

* Change is the rule of nature. What one understands to be death is actually life itself. One moment you are the owner of millions and in the very next moment you become a pauper.

 

* Your body doesn't belong to you and neither do you belong to this body. Body is composed of five elements- Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Sky; one day it will dissolve in these elements.

 

* Offer yourself to the Almighty Lord. One who offers him/herself unconditionally to me, gains freedom from fear, worry and despair.

 

Names of Krishna

 

The word krsna in language Sanskrit means "black", "dark" or "dark-blue",which in the modern day Hindi is Kala and was used to describe someone with a dark skin. Shri Krishna is portrayed in dark blue colour in most paintings and idols.

 

Krishna also means the "all attractive one".

 

Lord Krishna is known by many other names and titles, which reflect his many qualities, phases in life and forms.

 

There are 108 names and titles of Krishna from the Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition. They can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_titles_and_names_of_Krishna . It is believed that Krishna has well over 1000 names. Some of the more popular names are:

 

1. Krishna - The Supereme all-attractive form of Godhead.

2. Parthasarathi - The chariteer of Arjuna.

3. Vasudeva - The son of Vasudeva.

4. Devakinanadana - The son of Mother Devaki.

5. Nandanandana - The son of Nanda Maharaja.

6. Yashodanandana - The son of Mother Yashoda.

7. Madhusudhana - The of the demon Madhu.

8. Narayana - The shelter of all human beings.

9. Govinda - The giver of pleasure to cows and senses.

10. Keshava - The killer of kesi demon.

11. Madhava - The husband of the Goddess of Fortune.

12. Ranchor - The one who flied from fighting.

13. Janardhana - The maintainer of all living entities.

14. Lakshmipathi - The husband of Goddess Lakshmi.

15. Hrishikesa - The owner of all senses.

16. Mukunda - The Giver of liberation.

17. Damodara - One who was bound by ropes through His belly.

18. Hari - He takes away all distress.

19. Acyuta - One who never falls down.

20. Ajita - The unconquerable.

21. Yogeshwara - master of mystic powers.

22. Jagatpati - The master of the cosmic manifestation.

23. Yadunandana - The son of Yadu dynasty.

24. Brahmanaya-deva - He is worshipped by all brahmins.

25. Jananivasa - He is present in everyone's heart.

26. Vamana - The drawf-incarination, who taught a lesson to King Bali.

27. Trinayana - The seer of the three worlds.

28. Shripati - The husband of the Goddess of Fortune Laksmi.

29. Sankarshan - The Supreme shelter and attractor all living entities.