The Eternal Rasa: Krishna’s Divine Leela and Its Profound Significance
Krishna. The mere mention of his name causes our emotions to surge and our thoughts to delve. Call him Kanha, Govind, Madhava, Makhan Chor, Vasudeva, or Ladoo Gopal. Several different labels, all divine. His raasleela and hex have spared none. He, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, played a pivotal role in the Mahabharata and in Arjuna's life by spreading the message of righteousness through human form.
Without the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and the man who conceived of the entire Mahabharata, Lord Krishna, my blog series on the epic poem would be lacking. After illuminating one of the most sacred texts, the Bhagavad Gita, in my last blog, I will be discussing the Hindu god of love, compassion, tenderness, and protection, Krishna, in this one.
Lord Krishna. Who doesn’t know his name? Who doesn’t respect him? Literally, millions of people around the globe regularly pray to him in temples and in their own homes. He is one of the most approachable and benevolent deities, and his presence is ubiquitous. Beginning with his birth and continuing until his death, Krishna helped everyone by finding answers to their problems. Everyone is familiar with his birth story.
Krishna’s narrative is filled with emotional hiccups, struggles, heartbreak, love, and devotion. He suffered so much yet remained calm and composed. While he came to do as he pleased, made friends with everyone, and was someone to call in times of need, his avatar in the mortal world not only established righteousness but also chalked out an all-new path and new traditions. And maybe that is why, out of all the gods, he is the most adored and adulated.
Krishna is one of the most well-known mythological figures, with accounts of his exploits appearing in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, the Harivamasa, and the Puranas, considered holy texts. The earliest accounts of Krishna in sacred texts focus on his time with the Pandavas, while later accounts, gathered over the centuries, detail his eventful youth, during which he used his formidable arsenal to vanquish a wide variety of monstrous foes.
He belonged to a traditional pastoral race called Yadava, and his birth is poetically described in the Mahabharata. Lord Vishnu, the supreme force, plucked two hairs from his own head, one white and the other black, and placed the black hair in Devaki’s womb. Devaki, who was a princess, later became queen of Mathura because of her marriage to Vasudeva. The other hair entered the womb of Rohini, who gave birth to Balarama, Krishna’s elder brother.
Legend has it that Balarama was miraculously transplanted from Devaki's womb to Rohini's. In Hindu mythology, this is the earliest known case of surrogacy. He, therefore, had two mothers. Unfortunately, Kansa, Devaki’s brother, and Krishna’s uncle had been previously warned that he would be killed by her eighth child. So he was determined to murder the newborn, having already committed this sin seven times earlier, before Krishna was born.
Luckily, Vasudeva took care, and a wonderful nighttime miracle occurred. By the grace of God, all the guards dozed off, allowing Vasudeva and Devaki's chains to be broken, and he set out on the journey to entrust Krishna's care to his cousin Nanda. Nanda and Yashoda raised Krishna as a simple cowherd in the village of Gokul, close to Vrindavan (he goes by the name Govinda in this form). There, he enjoyed a nonchalant childhood and won the hearts of many gopis or herd women with his dark good looks, playful charm, and talent in music and dance.
Thus, Krishna's tale involves not one but two forms of disguise: a god posing as a human and a prince posing as a commoner. After 16 years, he went to Sandipani's ashram in Ujjain, where he received his education alongside his best friend Sudama. As such, the myths are full of disguise metaphors, such as a spark hidden amongst ashes or a mighty sword concealed within its sheath, alluding to Krishna's dual role as both a punisher of human deeds and a harbinger of enlightenment.
After his family moved to Vrindavan from Gokul when he was three years old, Nanda and Yashoda raised Krishna there. After Kansa dispatched his demons to assassinate Krishna in Gokul, the family was compelled to relocate to Vrindavan, and they ultimately settled in Nandgaon. Known as one of Vrindavan's sub-forests, this town was home to Lord Krishna and his foster parents.
As soon as he finished off Kansa, he made his way to Vishram Ghatis, a bath and worship place on the Yamuna River's banks in Mathura.
Before moving to Mathura, Krishna and Balrama stayed in Vrindavan for a total of eleven years. Vrindavan's escapades and revelry have left an indelible mark on Hindu mythology. Krishna spent the bulk of his childhood here, engaging in a variety of pursuits, the most prominent of which were his interactions with the gopis and his divine love, Radha. There is no place in Vrindavan more sacred than the one where the legend of him and Radha was inscribed as a symbol of undying devotion.
Radha, who is depicted as his divine love in the vast majority of texts, was allegedly his primary consort in at least some versions of the story. Radha and Krishna had a constant oneness. They were otherwise the same; the differences were purely external. Her love transcended physicality and was a manifestation of devotion to Krishna. According to some accounts, Radha and Krishna married in secret, with Lord Brahma performing the ceremony.
Sridama, Krishna’s devotee, placed a curse on Radha and Krishna, which caused them to be apart for a century. Following the curse, Krishna departed for Mathura, and Radha left her place as well, traveling to the forest known as Kadli Vann. She left behind her shadow, or illusionary form, in Barsana, known as Chaya Radha. The forest is where Radha and Ashtasakhi ran into Uddhava, who brought them Krishna's message.
When the curse was lifted, Krishna went back to Braj to be with Radha and the rest of his gopikas. After a while of enacting the divine pastimes, Krishna summoned an enormous divine chariot, which returned the citizens of Braj, Radha, and Gopis to their celestial abode, Goloka, where Radha and Krishna finally reunited.
Krishna vanquished Jarasandh, the king of Magadh, seventeen times in Mathura. Subsequently, he killed Kamsa and anointed his grandfather, Ugrasen, as king of Mathura. Krishna relocated to Dwarka after renouncing the war. There is a strong cultural connection between the state of Gujarat and the mythological story of Krishna's relocation from Mathura to Dwarka.
Some versions of the story have Radha visiting Dwarka after she was already married to another Yadava just to be with Krishna again; she was unable to bear the pain of being apart from him. Krishna was aware of everything and followed her. At Radha’s request, he engaged in divine pastimes all day and all night, right up until the moment she passed away. Radha’s soul merged with Krishna’s after she died, representing the unending devotion of the two lovers. As for his flute, he never picked it up again after that. He threw his flute into the bushes, shattered it because of the loss of his love, and vowed he would never play an instrument again.
Krishna married Rukmini later in life, and the two had ten other children in addition to his son Pradyumna. He also married 16,108 wives after he killed Narkasura at his fortress, Pragjyotisha, with his wife Satyabhama, who was an incarnation of Bhu Devi. He also fathered 180,000 sons. As the avatar of Goddess Lakshmi, Rukmini was regarded as Krishna's principal consort, while his preferred wife was Satyabhama.
Lord Krishna is said to have had eight wives and a total of eighty sons and a daughter.
As a young man, Krishna got into a lot of scrapes. Among his many victories over formidable foes is his defeat of Putana the ogress, Danava the giant bull, Kaliya the giant snake, and Keshi the king of the Hayas (horses). Krishna killed many demons and demon kings, including Muru and his 7,000 sons, Pralamba (whom Krishna defeated using only his fists), and the sea demon Pancajana (who resembled a conch shell), which caused him to lose his magic shell, which Krishna then carried and used as a trumpet. Additionally, he was able to subjugate Saubha, the Titans' (daityas) floating city. Krishna also caused chaos among the Gandharas, Bhojas, and Kalingas, among other mortals.
One of his best-known feats is the lifting of Govardhan Hill. Everyone is aware of the backstory, which explains why this event was so significant and how it continues to be relevant today.
Perhaps even more significant is his part in the epic Mahabharata. One cannot forget the moment in history when Lord Krishna himself created a chakravyuha by doling out adharma and establishing dharma. The battle of Kurukshetra, his role as mentor to Arjuna, and his narration of the sage shlokas that became the Bhagavad Gita were all part of his divine plan.
Krishna, a major character in the famous Indian epic the Mahabharata, is portrayed as a statesman, a philosopher, a guide, and a godly figure in addition to being a divine being. The many facets of his character in the epic go far beyond the realm of mythology to provide valuable philosophical and moral lessons.
The Kurukshetra Conflict demonstrates his abilities as a negotiator and military strategist. To avoid a disastrous war, Krishna used his diplomatic skills to broker an agreement between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Krishna, ever the tactician, figures out a way to win the war for the Pandavas.
The Hindu god Vishnu is known as the protector of the cosmos, and Krishna is seen as an incarnation of Vishnu. It is said that in a period of moral decline, he came to earth to restore Dharma. Thus, his status in the Mahabharata goes beyond that of a mere mortal and into the realm of the divine, where he plays a pivotal role in the chain of events that ultimately leads to the re-establishment of justice.
With his incredible physical prowess, he could have single-handedly won the Battle of Kurukshetra. But he opted to be the charioteer and lead them, demonstrating that even the most menial tasks can be performed with pride.
Krishna's existence was a wild ride. Even if he is a divine celestial, he endured a million times more pain than the rest of us put together. We go to the gods for help, but since he himself was a god, no one was there to hear his side of the story. He took everything with a pinch of salt, including Gandhari's curse that the Yadu dynasty would eventually collapse.
He did a lot of good work during his time on Earth, but when his time was up, he departed this mortal coil and returned to Vaikuntha. Beyond simply being a cowherd, Krishna was the Mahabharata's heart and soul. A manifestation of his boundless vitality and absolute power, his eternal rasa and divine plays are a constant display of his energizing potential.
After 36 years had passed since the Battle of Kurukshetra, a hunter named Jara shot and killed Krishna, thinking he was a deer. His karma ultimately led to his demise. When Krishna died, Arjuna relocated the people of Dwaraka, including Krishna's 16,108 wives, to the city of Indraprastha. The Mahabharata states that after Krishna's death, the ancient city of Dwaraka was submerged under the Arabian Sea.
The arrival of Krishna and his many lessons prepared the world for the Kaliyuga. He did what he had to and ended up having a significant impact on the Hindu epic. His Leela exceeds our wildest dreams, making him one of the most revered gods.
Lord Krishna shines as a brilliant figure in the Hindu pantheon, personifying compassion, insight, and divine humor. His eternal rasa, the cosmic dance of love and devotion, reverberates throughout the ages, entrancing hearts and souls with its enduring melody. As the Supreme Being, Krishna’s teachings in the Bhagavad Gita illuminate the path of righteousness and self-realization, guiding humanity toward spiritual enlightenment. Whether in his role as a playful cowherd playing his flute to woo the gopis or as a wise philosopher of universal truths, he has always been a symbol of enlightenment, inviting those who seek to join in the eternal dance of love and find oneness with the divine. In the unfathomable depth of his divine leelas and teachings, Lord Krishna’s legacy endures, a beacon of light that continues to inspire and uplift the spirit of those who seek the sublime connection with the ultimate truth.
