MantraOnNet.com: Text & Images Of Lord Krishna
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Krishna was a dynamic incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was an Avatar.
An Avatar is one who is attuned to the supreme Consciousness from his very birth. Krishna’s incarnation brought about a profound and powerful influence upon Indian thought and life. There is no aspect of Indian life, culture and civilisation which does not receive his revitalising touch. India’s philosophy and religion, mysticism and poetry, painting and sculpture, music and dance articulated Krishna’s theme and thought. Every aspect of Krishna’s life and deeds has a mystic symbolism indicating a sublime truth. Some of them are explained below. They should set a direction to the reader for deeper study and discovery of the allegorical significance of the entire story of Krishna |
Krishna is blue in colour and wears yellow clothes. Blue colour
has been always associated with infinity. The sky appears blue. So does the ocean. Yellow colour represents earth. When sand is introduced in a colourless flame, the flame turns yellow. The blue form of Krishna clothed in yellow therefore suggests the Infinite Reality reduced to a finite human being. The incarnation of Krishna represents the descent of God on earth. This idea of the limitless, formless Reality being constricted and restricted to a limited, human form is again suggested by Krishna’s birth in a prison. The divine child was however not confined to the prison. No sooner was Krishna born than the prison doors miraculously flung open. The guards could not hold the child back. The child’s father, Vasudeva, carried him out of the prison in spite of the severe restrictions imposed on him. This episode is meant to convey that the infinite being can never be really restricted or limited to the human form. A Godman is ever free and liberated. The Atman in man is limitless. Only his body, mind and intellect are limited, finite. These material equipments have a beginning and an end. They cannot restrict the Atman. The Atman is eternal, all-pervading, infinite. Krishna represents that Atman |
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Krishna was born in Mathura. His uncle, Karnsa was a tyrant. Karnsa
imprisoned his father and usurped the throne of Mathura. He reigned over Mathura. His minister Chanura was equally wicked and cruel. Under the rule of these two tyrants Mathura suffered greatly from confusion and chaos. Krishna destroyed them both and restored peace and order in that land. The word “mudhwam” means sweetness. The land of Mathura represents the personality of man. Man’s essential nature is his Atman. His real nature is ever sweet, peaceful and blissful. But when the evil forces of ego and egocentric desires usurp man’s personality he suffers from stress and strain, worries and anxieties. He is agitated and sorrowful. He loses his blissful nature. To regain the lost bliss man has to destroy his ego and ego-centric desires and establish his identity with his supreme Self. |
Krishna is often represented as playing a flute. The enchanting
music emanating from the flute of the Lord is the bliss of Godhood enjoyed by the man of Realisation. The flute is hollow but it can produce enchanting music. So too when man empties himself of his vasanas and desires the Divinity within him flows out with enchanting bliss. Man has to give up all his claims upon his body, mind and intellect, give up all his egocentric connections, all thoughts of ‘mine’ and ‘thine’, rise above them all and chant OM (Krishna), remove all selfishness from the flute of his body and fill it with the divine breath of OM.
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In the Bhagavad Gita Arjun surrenders to Lord Krishna completely
and seeks his advice. Krishna gives him the entire philosophy of life in the eighteen chapters of the Gita and towards the end of the last chapter he declares to Arjun ?I have declared the highest wisdom to you reflect upon it and act as you choose to? |