Krishna and Hanuman are both known for their iconic hill lifting prowess. The awe inspiring display was towards different reason. Here we will focus on Krishna, who offers his grace endlessly in various enigmatic ways. His reasoning is far-sighted, subtle, yet comprehensive. As one studies the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is hard to miss the fact that his leelas are mysterious, yet act as portals for elevating Bhakti for every bhakta. At the same time, one can find deep intellectual, spiritual and practical applications. As a part of the Practical Krishna series, we have endeavored to connect with Bhagawan as a human being. This does not mean we ignore the Avatara, Ishwara or Brahman aspects, but to find a stronger connect with him by learning the wisdom from a human angle. By repeatedly applying Krishna’s practical approaches we begin to harvest our proximity’s rewards immediately. This will prompt us to explore HIS other dimensions. With that goal, let us study the Srimad Bhagavatam, Skanda X, chapters 24 and 25.
Storytime:
Krishna was loved by all the gopas and gopikas. He was seven years only, yet not a day passed without some exciting incident that endeared him even closer. Once in Vrindavan, observing the hectic preparations for a yajna, feigning ignorance, Krishna approached Nanda, seeking to know the reasoning and information behind. Enticing his father with sweet words, Krishna suggested that he must not be treated as a child and be given a complete account. He drops pearls of wisdom like “One must treat an indifferent person as an enemy, whilst a friend needs to be treated as own’s own self” to grasp Nanda’s attention. (उदासीनोऽरिवद् वर्ज्य आत्मवत् सुहृदुच्यते ॥ udāsīno ’ri-vad varjya ātma-vat suhṛd ucyate SB 10-24-5)
Krishna exclaimed that many people follow the rituals mechanically and hence do not obtain the fruits of the effort obtained by the ones with understanding. (ज्ञात्वाज्ञात्वा च कर्माणि जनोऽयमनुतिष्ठति । विदुष: कर्मसिद्धि: स्याद् यथा नाविदुषो भवेत् ॥ jñatvājñātvā ca karmāṇi jano ’yam anutiṣṭhati viduṣaḥ karma-siddhiḥ syād yathā nāviduṣo bhavet SB 10-24-6). He wanted to know if the rituals were ordained by scriptures or was merely a custom.
Nanda explained that all creatures are dependent on rains. Since Indra controls it, he must be propitiated through various offerings. Anyone who rejects to honor due to desires, enmity, greed or fear will not achieve prosperity. As the elders of Vraja chimed in support of Nanda, Krishna addressed them with words that infuriated Indra.
Krishna’s insights: Let us digest some nectarine words of wisdom from Krishna. Karma determines the birth and death of every living being. He argued if there is a Supreme Controller, Ishwara who rewards our actions, HIS rewards are dependent on our Karma. Every living being lives a life that is tied to its past Karma’s phala. Hence there is no option for Indra to withhold Karma’s phala based on people worshipping him. Karma determines the Janma, being a slave to Karma; all the life events are guided by it. Karma is the enemy, friend, unconcerned, spiritual master and even the ishwara both by itself and by its Karmaphala. (शत्रुर्मित्रमुदासीन: कर्मैव गुरुरीश्वर: śatrur mitram udāsīnaḥ karmaiva gurur īśvaraḥ SB 10-24-17). Owing to this all powerful bearing of Karma, Krishna suggests one must stay centered on Karma based on swadharma and worship Karma.
The Prapancha is made of the three gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Rajas is the reason why we see diversity. Rajas drives the clouds and causes rain providing sustenance to all life. Krishna questioned where Indra came into the picture. Being cowherds, living in forests and hills, the real focus of worship must be towards the cows, the Brahmanas and the Govardhana hill. Krishna encouraged a rich feast of diverse dishes to be offered with reverence to Govardhana, with a special focus to reward the Brahmanas presiding the puja with cows, food and other gifts. He mentioned that such a yajna must be all inclusive and must include dogs and dog eaters, both specifically excluded from such events. (अन्येभ्यश्चाश्वचाण्डालपतितेभ्यो यथार्हत:। anyebhyaś cāśva-cāṇḍāla-patitebhyo yathārhataḥ SB 10-24-28). After treating everyone to sumptuous prasad, Krishna recommended everyone to dress festively, circumambulate the cows, the sacrificial fires and the Brahmanas. Despite all the suggestions, he left the choice to Nanda and the elders to follow.
Krishna’s focus was to destroy the Indra’s pride. (कालात्मना भगवता शक्रदर्प जिघांसया । kālātmanā bhagavatā śakra-darpa-jighāṁsayā SB 10-24-31) Owing to Krishna’s guidance, the simple cowherds repurposed the Indra puja to Govardhana puja. To instill faith in the hearts of these simple devotees, Krishna simultaneously took the form of a huge hill and devoured all the offerings, by declaring himself as the Govardhana hill. Krishna joined the rest in worshipping and rejoiced the hill blessing them. The delighted villagers returned to Vraja having witnessed the wondrous puja.
Indra considered him to be the master of all (हेशमान्युत heśa-māny uta SB-25-2), found this act very offensive and hence ordered the destructive clouds of Pralaya time to drench and drown the Gopas. He opined Krishna as a mere mortal (मर्त्यम martyam), over talkative (वाचालं vācālam), child (बालिशं bāliśam), arrogant (स्तब्धम stabdham), ignorant (ज्ञं ajñam), assuming himself as scholar (पण्डितमानिनम् paṇḍita-māninam). Interestingly all these were Indra’s limitations he projected on Krishna. He ordered the clouds to plough the way for Indra to follow on his Airavata. Torrential rain, accompanied by gale winds, hail, lightning and thunder drowned the marooned Gopas who sought Krishna’s refuge.
Krishna immediately understood the gravity of Indra’s rage and intentions from the unseasonal rains. He resolved to destroy the pride of Indra for wrongly assuming to be the master of the world. Out of goodness of his heart, he decided to help Indra get rid of his pride. This will demand protecting his Bhaktas in the form of Gopas and the cows. He went to Govardhana hill and held it aloft like an umbrella, balanced merely on his little finger. He addressed the villagers and offered them to take shelter in the cavity below along with their cows and belongings. He assured that they need not fear if the mountain will fall off his hand or if the rains and wind will hurt them. With this assurance, the gopas entered the hollow along with their belongings.
Krishna displaying no signs of thirst, hunger or pain held the hill aloft for seven days, with the awestruck vrajavasis gazing at him. Realizing the Yogic power of Sri Krishna, Indra was stunned and his pride dented. He withdrew the clouds quickly. As normalcy returned with the bright sun and abating of the streams, Krishna suggested the Vrajavasis to return back to their regular lives. Krishna restored the hill to its original place. The Vrajavasis displayed their gratitude in various ways from blessing to thanking and hugging Krishna. Krishna returned to cow grazing with his friends, even as all the Gopas and Gopis could not contain their awe, recalled the various pastimes of Krishna with great fondness and deep fervor.
Understanding Krishna – Practical applications
Reason for this leela: The Devas are supposed to be brimming with sat-bhava. Mada (pride) can be a very serious blemish. This accelerates their fall. Krishna wanted to free Indra of this dangerous condition. (न हि सद्भावयुक्तानां सुराणामीशविस्मय: । मत्तोऽसतां मानभङ्ग: प्रशमायोपकल्पते ॥ na hi sad-bhāva-yuktānāṁ surāṇām īśa-vismayaḥ matto ’satāṁ māna-bhaṅgaḥ praśamāyopakalpate SB 10-25-17). This arises owing to the wrong identification. Maya can rear its ugly tentacles and reach anyone. Brahma also made the same mistake earlier of thinking Krishna as a mere boy, eventually learnt a tough lesson. Indra did not learn this from the earlier episode. Whenever people with Saatvic mind perceive some bad things happening in their life, they immediately pause and reflect. This is impossible if Rajas or Tamas dominates the mind.
If Brahma and Indra are mere puppets in the hands of Maya, succumb to myopic ahamakara, then what is the state of mere mortals like us, who seem to specialize in roiling eternally in samsara? The root of all our misery is this mistaken identity of our perceived self. In the case of Indra, witnessing the powerful yoga shakti of Krishna was enough to make him realize. But in our case, we must develop a relationship with Krishna and/or attempt to realize the nature of our Jivatman in conjunction with the Parmatman. Only then, the veil of our avidya begins to lift.
Taking responsibility: Krishna having resolved to assist Indra, initiates this entire drama by influencing the vrajavasis with his deep insightful talk. He nudges their intellect to reason along the lines he guides, which is quite rational. His arguments revolving around Karma finds its echo later in the Bhagavad Gita as well. Instead of merely talking of Karma theory, he lays a clear path on how to do Govardhana puja. To firm up the faith of the simple gopas, he took the form of Govardhana hill and consumed the offerings. Though such a feat is possible only for an avatara, Krishna demonstrates the idea of taking responsibility. When Indra reacted with fury, Krishna protected the residents by lifting the Govardhana hill as if it were a child’s umbrella. He didn’t let the guard down till Indra realized his blunder.
This is a crucial attribute of all successful people. At the superficial level, one starts taking responsibility for the actions and reactions. As one gains a deeper insight into the way of things, one begins to appreciate the bedrock of all samsara is Karma and the attachment to Karmaphala. Once this realization begins to dominate the mind, the burden of samsara is felt, even as one aspires for an exigent exit from this rat race. This again comes as taking responsibility, by focusing on our dharma.
Rights vs responsibility: The average person focuses on his rights, privileges and even hand outs. The basal mind revolves around what is in it for me. This myopic selfish outlook repeatedly stumps the mind from evolving higher. If the individual is not in such a pursuit, they are busy defending their rights. Abrahamism focuses more on such an approach.
On the other hand, Sanatana Dharma emphasizes on responsibilities, based on dharma. As one does their Karma, so goes the Karmaphala. This approach allows the society to start evolving beyond mere demands. Karma based approach also enables one to realize the importance of a series of tasks to be performed with a lot of forethought.
Indra allowed the gratitude of the devotees to be his privilege. He also thought it as an extension of his power, without realizing that even his great powers were dependent on a superior source. This led to the rise of his anger, when his misplaced rights were obstructed. Instead if he were to merely continue to perform the role of regulating rains normally as his responsibility, he would not have had a dent to his pride.
Krishna’s spiritual insights: Krishna repeatedly emphasizes the idea of Karma in diverse ways to the Vrajavasis. He encouraged them to focus on the underlying meaning behind, rather than mechanically follow rituals, if one were to derive maximum benefit. Even the ritualistic process he recommended had many spiritual truths. He recommended all inclusivity by specifically mentioning dogs and chandalas. This is critical not for mere societal balance, but vital for spiritual evolution. If one cannot see the Parmatma in every Atma, it is impossible for the Jiva to progress in this arduous internal journey. His suggestions to include sumptuous food for all participants have practicality at numerous levels.
Krishna repeatedly protected the Vrajavasis from all sorts of harm, yet the most important thing he strived hard to protect in all Sattvic people is their spiritual wealth. Interestingly, he has the same effect on us, as increasing Sattva against all odds in this samsara, struggling against our vasanas, working hard to follow our dharma needs this constant reassurance. Krishna is a mere boy when he charms the villagers with his deep insights on Karma. All the different paths – bhakti, jnana, dhyana amongst others, have the underlying focus of cleaving us from our attachment to Karmaphala and our sense of doership.
Just like the Vrajavasis, we must learn to develop Bhakti. While they saw the miracles in their own life, we fail to connect the subtle dots of how our Karma, Karmaphala, Bhakti and other factors in our life interplay. Krishna’s practicality in injecting such wisdom is for the benefit of all of us. Let us not merely worship him ritually or keep praying to him for material trinkets, instead let us imbibe his words of deep spiritual import and apply them in our daily lives. This wondrous episode again emphasizes the importance of our connection with Krishna, his words and his life from an application angle. We may obtain this connection by repeatedly studying, listening and pondering deeply about his life events. May we follow his words and uplift our lower self and raise it by placing at the feet of the Supreme SELF. Sri Krishnarpanamastu.
ॐ तत् सत
Hare Krishna
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