Lord Krishna

It has been more than 5000 years now since the Lord Krishna’s existence. Yet, even today people worship him with utter reverence and take his name with so much of adoration in their heart. Why? He had sixteen thousand queens and He lived a royal and luxurious worldly life. Yet, He is worshipped as God.

Lord Krishna is worthy of worship and that is why He is respected. One should not respect anyone who is not worthy of worship. Lord Krishna should be worshipped with respectful understanding and not just for the sake of worshipping.

Why do people around the world worship Shri Krishna so devoutly?

Shri Krishna was a Vasudev. Vasudev means he enjoys everything in this world, yet he is worthy of moksha. A Vasudev has extraordinary super human energies and accomplishments. They are so powerful that thousands of people can be moved to fear by mere look in their eyes.

Lord Krishna had sixteen thousand queens and yet he was a naishthik brahmachari. It means in him there was a constant inner intent of devotion towards celibacy (brahmacharya).

Although his unfolding karmas were that of non-celibacy, but his inner intent was pure and always in favor of celibacy. It is like if a man steals, but his constant inner intent is that of, ‘I do not want to steal,’ then he is said to have naishthik achauriya (inner intent of non-stealing). The inner intent decides what new karma is being bound for the life to come.

On the other hand, when a man makes a charitable contribution, but with the inner intent being, ‘I should take advantage of these people’, his donation will not pay off in the next life.

Everything that one sees and experiences through the five senses has no impact and is of no value as far as the karmic account of the next life is concerned. What is of significance is one’s inner intent; this has a direct impact in binding of new karma. The inner intent happens simultaneously during all overt and external activities.

God (i.e. the pure Soul) manifested in Lord Krishna and this is how from Nar (an ordinary human being), he became Narayan (God)!!!

The Significance of Sudarshan Chakra

You may have seen the circular spinning weapon depicted on Lord Krishna’s right index finger. And almost all of us know that this is called the Sudarshan chakra. But what does this chakra signify? Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan explains that, “It is the samyak darshan (Self-realization) that Lord Neminath bestowed upon him. Sudarshan means samyak darshan (i.e. the right vision of ‘I am a Pure Soul’)

Hence, Sudarshan chakra implies Samyak darshan or Self-Realization. Darshan means vision; and Sudarshan means the right vision. 'I am the Soul' is the right vision. Due to ignorance, we all living beings in this world are living with a wrong or the illusory vision of ‘I am the body (or I am the name given to identify this body)’ However when one attains Self-Realization, ‘Sudarshan’ cuts through the veils of ignorance and manifests as the right vision.

Due to this vision, although Shri Krishna had so many queens and He lived a rich and palatial life, He remained detached from all worldly passions. Despite his physical involvement in worldly affairs externally, internally He had a constant awareness that, “The body is separate and I am a Pure Soul. I am not the doer of anything.” His physical self could not escape the law of karma, and hence he had no choice but to undergo the effects of his karma; but while his karma of materialistic luxuries and having so many wives unfolded, He always remained in the awareness of “I am a Pure Soul.”

Yogeshwar Krishna will come back as Tirthankara in his next birth and grace millions and millions of people with this real vision and lead them to liberation.

Ideal way of worshipping Lord Krishna

Lord Krishna is worshipped in many different forms and ways by different people. Some worship the Lord by chanting the name of Shree Krishna, some observe fasts on particular days and pay their obeisances to the Lord and many more. But the ideal way of worshipping Shree Krishna is to know His real form and then worship Him.

The devotion towards the Lord will definitely help one to approach near to Him, but to know His true form and understanding the knowledge that He gave to Arjun will be very helpful and is the ultimate way of worshipping Shree Krishna.

Facts about Lord Krishna

Kaliyadaman:

The 5000 year old story about the cobra named Kaliya is really a metaphor. It is said that the Bal Krishna came and conquered the huge terrifying cobra that used to torment everyone. There was no such act performed by the Bal Krishna. When you get upset and angry, that verily is the cobra. Why would Bal Krishna need to extract the venom from the cobra? What need does he have to do something like this? Could they not find any snake charmers? People do not understand the real meaning and yet this metaphor of the cobra and the misconception continues even today. Shri Krishna (the Self) is to be found wherever kaliyadaman takes place. The cobra in kaliyadaman is anger and when one gains supreme control over anger, he becomes Shri Krishna. The one who can crush his karma is Krishna.

Lifting Mount Govardhan:

The question arises that how a person can hold up a mountain on his fingertip! And if Lord Krishna did carry it on his fingertip, why then did he not carry the Himalayas? And if he could perform such incredible feats, why then did he get shot with an arrow and die? But in reality it is not like this. These are all just various events, which took place, but they can only be beneficial if they are interpreted correctly. Lord Krishna enforced “Govardhan”- the propagation of cows in a wonderful way, because during that time, tremendous violence was occurring.

People in India depend on domestic animals for their livelihood. Lord Krishna's aim was to protect these animals and increase their population and so he established shelters for cows, which in turn led to an increase in dairy production. He did this single-handedly, hence the symbolism. A safe-haven for cows was established by Lord Krishna.

Swadharma - Pardharma:

People think swa-dharma is the Vaishnav religion and par-dharma is all other religions such as Shaivism, Jainism etc. Lord Krishna said, “Par-dharma bhayavaha,” People understood this to mean, ‘There is danger in practicing any religion other than the Vaishnav religion.’ All the other religions too say that par-dharma means there is danger in other religions, but no one understands the true meaning of swadharma or par-dharma. Par-dharma means dharma of the non-self, the body complex, prakruti, and swa-dharma is the dharma of the Self. Washing and bathing the body, making it fast etc., are all religions of the body; it is par-dharma. There is no swa-dharma in that. The Self is your natural state (swaroop).

Lord Krishna had said, “The religion of the Self is swa-dharma and any other activities such as fasting or penance are activities of the non-self. There is nothing of the Self in them.” Swa-dharma can only be practiced when one understands and recognizes that one’s Self within, is Krishna. A true Vaishnav is the one who recognizes the Shree Krishna within.

The Essence of 'The Gita'

Before the great war of the Mahabharat Shri Krishna said to Arjun, "Arjun, you have been with me for a long time, but still you haven't known me in the true sense. What you see in front of you is not the real me; what you see is the physical body. I am separate from this body. I am a Pure Soul. You too, are a Pure Soul. Your brothers, uncles, gurus and friends with whom you are about to fight, are also Pure Souls. This (fighting) is your destiny (karma), so you have to carry it out with this awareness of the Soul. If you remain in this awareness and fight the war, you will not bind any new karmas and your remaining ones will be exhausted. This will lead you to ultimate salvation."

To do darshan of a Great one (viraat) means to recognize a Gnani. In reality, who can be called a true viraat? It is someone who can devour our ego. He who annihilates our ego to pieces, is called a viraat! And what is the result of that? He also transforms us into a viraat! It takes a viraat for people to bow down in reverence. Arjuna surrendered to Krishna Bhagwan, only after Krishna Bhagwan showed Arjuna, His viraat svaroop!

Thus, Arjun remained in the awareness Shri Krishna gave him. He killed many great men but still did not bind a single karma and achieved ultimate salvation in the same life.

Gnani Purush of the Akram Vignan Path

Lord Krishna has said, “It is extremely difficult to find the path of liberation, but if one were to meet a Gnani Purush, then it becomes even easier than making khichdee (a dish that is easy to prepare).”

The knowledge that Lord Krishna gave to Arjun verily is what the Gnani Purush of the Akram Vignan Path gives us here. Gnani Purush destroys the effects of our demerit karma (paap) of endless past lives and gives us the right vision that gets permanently established in us so that we start seeing the Self (the Pure Soul) in everyone (Atmavat sarva bhuteshu)!

He gives us the awareness of the Self! Thus, we directly come into swa-dharma (religion of the real Self – the Soul) as expounded by Yogeshwar Lord Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita, while the body fulfills the duties (the relative dharma) in the materialistic world. Therefore, let’s get our work done in His direct presence!!!

Let’s know more about how did Arjun receive divine vision from Lord Krishna from the conversation below…

Questioner : Why did Lord Krishna tell Arjun to fight the battle of Mahabharata?

Dadashri : At that moment Lord Krishna was the nimit for these words. Arjun was overcome with worldly attachment. In spite of having the duty (dharma) of a Kshatriya (those meant to perform the role of a warrior), he was overcome with attachment (moha) for his brothers and teachers who were on the side of enemies. To remove this delusion, Lord Krishna cautioned Arjun and said, “Remove your illusion. Come to Your dharma. Be the Self. Do not become the doer or the non-doer of karma.”

“Dear Arjun, the moha (the illusion) that attaches you to the doership that You are ‘doing’ the killing is wrong, so let it go.” For this Lord Krishna showed him a violent and a very frightful scene (vishwadarshan); he showed Arjun a vast picture wherein everyone is dead. Upon beholding this, Arjun was shaken up, but as he understood everything, he became ready to fight.

Then the Lord showed Arjun the tranquil state of the Self. "Arjun, you have been with me for a long time, but you have not yet known me in the true sense. What you see in front of you is not the real me. What you are seeing is the physical body. I am separate from this body. I am a Pure Soul. You too, are a Pure Soul. Your brothers, uncles, Gurus and friends with whom you are about to fight, are also Pure Souls. This (fighting) is your destiny (karma), so you have to carry it out with the awareness of the Soul. If you remain in this awareness and fight the war, you will not bind new karma and your old karma that unfolds will exhaust. This will eventually lead you to ultimate salvation."

This is how Arjun received the divine vision(divya chakshu) from Lord Krishna and consequently he fought the entire war of Mahabharata, killing many great men; yet not binding a single karma (nishkaam karma), as he fulfilled his duty in the relative role of Arjun. He remained in the awareness of his tranquil and formless real Self i.e. the Soul [the material] as part of his swadharma.

Thus, he achieved ultimate salvation (moksha) in the same life.