Wednesday 19 September 2012

THE LOVE OF LORD KRISHNA



THE LOVE OF LORD KRISHNA


I feel that it is necessary in this closely connected world of ours, where countries
are no longer ruled by High Priests, and places of worship of all faiths exist side by side in accordance with the religious fr
eedom guaranteed by the Constititions of most countries, that people living on the same planet should know a little about the faiths of others. That, perhaps in this knowledge they can discover that Universal Truths exist even outside of their own faiths. And that each person is entitled to the faith of his own choosing, or that which as been taught him by virtue of his birth in a particular community.

What unites all faiths together is the Love that is contained in them, the Love
embodied in their Saviors.

Krishna is a household word in India and God Incarnate for the Hindus. Thousands of temples are erected in the land to the worship of Krishna who the Hindus believe was the incarnation of the Supreme Being on the planet earth and who is their Saviour on heaven and on earth and who will grant salvation to them, which means Eternal Union with him in Heaven.

It is written in the Hindu Scriptures that run into thousands of pages and have various well set out chapters and paragraphs authored by the rishis and maharishis of old, the prophets of Hinduism, that God would be born upon the planet earth to redeem mankind. These scriptures are dated anywhere from 5000 BC to 3000BC.

Krishna came upon earth in 1500 BC in accordance with these prophecies.

He was born in Mathura, a city in Northern India, to Devaki, who was a virgin at the time and had no contact with her husband, Vasudeva The evil kings of the time were aware of these prophecies that predicted the end of their reign, and sought to kill him when he was born.

He was taken away in the stealth of night and brought to another city, Bindavan, where he was left in the care of foster parents.

Right from birth. the child Krishna had a divine glow upon his face unmatched by that of any human face, and all who came to him felt a feeling of an endless love and bliss. Even the rishis and sages bowed before the babe.

As the child grew into a boy, he was filled with the joy of life, playing and dancing with his playmates, cowherds and milkmaids. At the same time his astonishing divine powers were evident all the time. He saved the entire towns folk by slaying a deadly serpent that was poisoning the waters and he performed numerous other miracles which spoke of his divinity.

Krishna was very fond of playing the flute. And when he played it, the notes that flowed from it blessed the earth, the leaves turned green, withered flowers blossomed, the air was filled with scent, and the hearts of men and beasts experienced a bliss, love and peace that was unfathomable.

And yet even as Krishna played on the flute, tears flowed down his eyes, for the sorrows of mankind, for the sufferings of those who were praying to Him from all over the earth. These were tears of love for humanity, which Krishna could not bear to see in pain. The pain of every person was his pain. Many a person was cured of his ailment and many a dead man brought back to life through the sheer power of the divine melodies that flowed from the flute of Lord Krishna.

All the temples of the land today have idols of Krishna invariably with his divine flute in his hands, applied to his lips. It was a flute that was applied to his lips all his life.

As he grew to be a youth, numerous were the milkmaids enamoured of his uncanny beauty, chivalry and love. Prominent amongst them was Radha, who held a deep conviction in her heart that Krishna was God in human form but who loved him as fully man and fully God. Indeed Lord Krishna was wholly man when he chose to be so and wholly God when he revealed his divine self. The love of Radha and Krishna exemplied all that was holy in love, it is described in the Hindu Scriptures as Love Divine.

Even after Krishna had left the town of Brindavan to fulfil his mission in other places, Radha continued to see Krishna and to feel his presence and to dance with him, all the time in Brindavan.

Amongst the noteworthy miracles of Lord Krishna at the time, was his lifting Mount Goverdhan, a moderate sized mountain, with his small finger. He did this to save the people of the town from the ravages of a terrible storm and hurricane that was sure to have killed many and destroyed many a home. He used the mountain as a protective umbrella under which the townsfolk took shelter. Mountan Goverdhan is still worshippped and held in deep reverence by Hindi pilgrims as being sanctified by the touch of Lord Krishna.

When Lord Krishna became the King of Dwarka, an old friend of his, Sudama, visited him in his kingdom. Sudama was a very poor person and all he could bring as a gift was a small bag of dried rice. Lord Krishna embraced him with tears in his eyes, and offered him his throne to sit upon, and, thereafter, washed his feet. He asked Sudama to live with him, but Sudama would not hear of it and left for his own village.

When he got there he discovered that instead of his hut of straw there was a magnificent palace, a miraculous gift from his friend, Krishna.

Though numerous were the persons who genuinely believed Krishna was God upon earth, yet there was Queen Draupadi whose faith in him was unparalleled. Krishna had often said that it was a person's own faith that rewarded him. There came a time when Queen Draupadi was amongst her enemies who sought to dishonor her by stripping her naked in their court. Dushashana, the chief villain amongst them began to pull off her saree. Draupadi was miles away from Lord Krishna, but she closed her eyes and began to pray to Krishna to save her. And a miracle occurred that astonished and terrified her tormentors. Countless lengths of the saree unfolded themselves. The more that the evil Dushshana removed of the cloth of the saree the more that appeared by amiracle. The tormentors were soon in awe and fear and gave up the attempt, knowing that it was the Divine Power of Krishna that had saved her.

Then came the terrible battle of the Mahabharata in which the righteous were arrayed against the evil doers. It was a battle in which Lord Krishna took no part as a combatant, as he did not wish to use his divine powers. Instead he told the righteous kings that it was their duty to fight injustice, it was a duty enjoined upon them by God. That they were to do this without hatred or malice , but out of a love for righteousness and the righteous in the world so that evil did not reign supreme. They were also to have a love for their enemies even while battling them and to remember they were not there to destoy evil doers but to destroy evil.

It was during this historic and momentous battle that Lord Krisha narrated the 700 verse Geeta, the most sacred text of the Hindus today, in which he explained the mysteries of life and death and creation, and that no one truly died save those who lived in evil, and even they would be redeemed if they repented at the last moments of life.

It was during this time that Lord Krishna revealed His Real Self as the Supreme Being. It was a revelation that was so powerful that words become insufficient to describe it. There was the Lord in all His Glory, the entire Universe and indeed a thousand Universes flowing out of him, all of time, the past, present and future, all of Space and time, everything solid and fine, everything in existence, all the beings that dwellt therein, became as the painting of a magnificent All Powerful Artist, God.

"Behold I am God!" were the words of Lord Krishna at the time of this mighty revelation of God upon earth, "even then thou canst not understand me in my fulness with thy limited human knowledge, for I am without beginning and without end, I am infinity itself!"

"Whenever evil is exalted and the righteous are suppressed, then I myself come forth. To take the righteous to myself and to vanquish evil, I am born into this world from age to age!"

Amongst his noteworthy sayings at the time were his call to humanity to take refuge in him and his words of universality:

"He who sees me in everyone and everyone in me is in fact never separate from me, nor I from him."

"Leaving aside all thoughts seek thou a refuge in Me!"

"No matter which path a man may choose to come to me, I go to meet him along that very path!"

This then is a bery brief and incomplete condensation of a narration that runs into hundreds and thousands of pages of the well documented religious history of the Hindus and its Savior, Lord Krishna, also called an avatar of God upon earth.

Amongst all the faiths in the world the one that stands out for its greatest tolerance is the Hindu faith, which accepts the truth in all faiths and adopts their saviors as its own to accord them equal status with Lord Krishna, as God Incarnate.

For the Hindus of the world there will always be one and only one God and that is Lord Krishna, but they will never deny the truth in any other faith in the world nor call its Saviors false.

There may be some who will call Krishna's miracles impossible, but then let them look ar the miracles referred to in their own scriptures and they will observe that miracles are a part of faith. What is impossible for the unbeliever is possible to the one with Faith.

There were the words of Lord Krishna:

"More than those who love me and worship me, my heart goes out towards those who follow the path of righteousness and love one another, even their foes, as they would love their own selves."

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