The Career and Teachings of the Supreme Lord Sree Krishna-Chaitanya
by Sri Narayan Das Bhakti
Sadhukar
II. THE REAL NATURE OF
SREE KRISHNA
The historical aspect of Sree Krishna
need not be considered as irrelevant or mundane. The Absolute is always no
other than Himself. Antiquarian speculations regarding the historicity of Sree
Krishna have thus, inconceivably to us, an intimate bearing on the question of
the real Nature of the Absolute. The scheme of ancient History of India that is
being worked out by the researches of learned scholars has not yet been
conclusively settled in regard to the lay affairs of that remote period which
may have witnessed the Great War that is reported to have been fought out on
the plains of Kurukshetra between the Kurus and the Pandavas backed by their
respective allies. But the time is not far distant when it will be practicable
to avoid prejudices and misunderstandings that at present prevent our
approaching that great event in the proper spirit The Puranas are steadily
winning the confidence of the most hostile critics and the actual occurrence of
the Great War is coming to be recognised, on the authority of the Puranas, as
having taken place at a period which is not very far from 3000 B.C. The
narration of the Mahabharata may now
be seriously accepted as providing a tentative basis for the historical career
of Sree Krishna. The Harivamsa, which
forms the supplement of the Great Epic, is not opposed to the Mahabharata either in the spirit or in
the so-called assumptions regarding particulars of the career of Sree Krishna
that do not appear in the Great Epic
The difficulty in regard to the
Bhagawatam has also become susceptible of historical handling If that great
Purana was actually composed in the ninth century A.D., as seems not very
improbable it should still be historically possible to accept its testimony
regarding even the events of the Boyhood of Krishna. But from the lay point of
view, this question is not of absorbing interest in as much as the politically
important activities in the career of Sree Krishna belong to a later period.
But from the point of view of religious history, the story of the marvelous
Boyhood of Krishna is all-important and demands our most careful consideration.
The Mahabharata
deals exclusively with the Doings of Krishna as King of Dwaraka and Ruler
of the Yadavas. But the mighty Deeds of Krishna recorded in the Mahabharata
form no part of the worship of Sree Sree Radha-Govinda, which is the subject
matter of the present work. Bhandarkar, in his anxiety to redeem the worship of
Krishna from the charge of immorality, might prefer,the worship of the wedded
Husband of Rukmini to that of Sree Sree Radha-Krishna. But the Bhagawatam makes the Pastimes of
Brindabana the heart and kernel of the whole narrative of its deeds of Krishna
as the Divinity, and it is this which supplies all the materials for the
prevalent worship of Sree Sree Radha-Govinda. The political Krishna occupies
but a secondary position, if even that, in the sphere of worship.
The narrative of the Bhagawatam so far as it
covers the same ground as the Mahabharata
does not differ materially from the story told by the Epic. But the
interpretation and point of view of the Bhagawatam
is throughout explicitly different from that of the Mahabharata even in its treatment of those events that are common
to the two works. The later date of the appearance of the Bhagawatam, together with the new perspective adopted and the
prominence given in it to the Boyhood of Krishna, has given rise to the doubts
regarding the authenticity of its story of the Boyhood of Krishna, which is,
however, also found in several other Puranas of an admittedly more ancient
date.
Sectarian manipulation of history is
assumed to be responsible for difference of version in the treatment of even
historical events that are connected with the origin and growth of creeds.
Theologians are supposed to be often ready to be unmindful of any version that
may appear to them to be opposed to the tenets of the creed that they happen to
profess. The Bhagawatam, judged by
this canon, has appeared to certain scholars as being less reliable, in the
considered historical sense, than the Great Epic. This view is also supposed to
cut at the root of the reality of the religion itself. The issue regarding
religion may be put thus: Did the Pastimes of Krishna at Brindabana manifest
themselves on the mundane plane at any period in the ordinary historical sense?
The answer should be, even from the
historical point of view, partly, in the affirmative and negative. The Bhagawatam is regarded by the
Absolutists as being both a work of the medieval period as well as the very
Body of the eternally existing Truth Himself. The argument, viz., that as it
happens to belong to the medieval period it cannot also at the same time be
eternal that is without any origin, is inapplicable to the Bhagawatam. The case is exactly the same with the Brindabana Pastimes.. They are also
regarded to be eternally true. They are at the same time claimed to be
historically true. But they are not claimed to be merely historical events.
They are, therefore, claimed to be as being both old and new, or neither. They
are not regarded as limitable by the mundane categories.
It, therefore, becomes necessary to widen
the scope of-the historical method itself in order to treat such a subject with
any principle of consistency. The adherence to the scheme of gradual evolution
of the creed has to be got rid of. The test of contemporary evidence as proof
of authenticity should be found to be even more misleading for this particular
purpose than it always is ordinarily.
What is the reality of the degree of
validity of contemporary evidence in the ascertainment of the Truth? I record
my opinion regarding a certain phenomenon actually occurring before my very
eyes. The statement is made up of the narration of the occurrence and my
individual opinion regarding its nature and other particulars that I may
suppose have a bearing on it. The narrative portion is separated from opinion
by the critics, and is accepted in that unexplained form as historically true.
If Krishna actually passed His Divine Boyhood in Brindabana and performed at that place all the miracles before the
very eyes of all the people, the older narrative of the Mahabharata, it is argued, should have also been cognizant of the
same. If those miracles had been the most important of all the Activities of
Krishna, Who is the Hero of the Epic, they could not have been altogether
omitted by the writer of the Great Epic as they must have been actual and
well-known occurrences. Such argument, although legitimate within its due
limits in the case of mundane events, does not apply without a good deal of
modification to the Pastimes of the Divinity.
It is an option of the servants of
Krishna, which they are not loth to exercise, to divulge His Activities, or
keep Them concealed from the knowledge even of contemporaries. Those activities
possess the special quality of being recognised as true in the real and not
merely historical sense, as soon as, and whenever, they are so divulged to the
unerring consciousness of the pure individual soul. On the other hand, the
reality is impossible of being ever ‘‘discovered’’ by the empiric historical
method.
The Absolute chooses to present His
deluding face to the sense-perception of man. His deluding energy is
all-powerful and is able to prevent the search and discovery of the Truth, for
Whose service, however, every individual soul has an imperative necessity. The
tentative categories of the mundane Logicians are no other than fetters of the
deluding Energy that tend to produce the strange belief that the transitory and
limited are necessarily also true. It is this undoubted ‘‘fact’’ that vitiates
the current short-sighted ‘‘historical’’ method at its source. The reality of
the Ocean is neither proved nor disproved by the admission or denial of the
ignorant dweller of the Taklamakan Desert. Such admission or such denial is
equally abortive and wide of the mark if the observer has no knowledge of his
subject. The issue itself as regards the Truth does not exist for the pedant of
the waterless desert of the narrow and closely barriered Hinterland of
Empiricism.
What value for instance are we to attach
to such ‘‘historical’’ finding as this’ viz., that the teaching of Sree
Chaitanya was the cause of the political downfall of Orissa? Sree Chaitanya
teaches that the Absolute is served by all conditions, beings and events,
either consciously or unconsciously as regards the agents themselves. The
decline as well as the rise of empires and worlds serves equally in their tiny
ways the uncompassable Absolute. As soon as their relation of service to the Absolute
is grasped by the agents, the real consciousness of the Truth is produced in
the humble agent. So long as the Absolute continues to be pedantically regarded
as a part of Physical Nature, as cause or effect, there is no consciousness at
all even of the issue itself of the real Truth. Sree Chaitanya and His
Activities belong to the plane of the Absolute. The empiric historian, with his
geographical and chronological apparatus of observation, can have really no
proper idea of the grotesque anomaly that he unconsciously perpetrates by his
pedantic effort to gauze the Absolute by the standard supplied to her victim by
His deluding Energy in the form of the mundane categories that can only limit
and define, whereas the function that is required to be performed is to get rid
of the necessity of having to do either.
If Srimad Bhagawatam, which professes to treat of the Absolute, is considered
to be an object of this phenomenal world, how can it possibly impart to a
person who chooses to entertain such illogical thought, any knowledge of its
contents? The recipient of the consciousness of the Absolute as well as the
communicant of such consciousness must alike belong to the plane of the
Absolute consciousness. The empiric consciousness is not in the plane of the Absolute
consciousness at all. It can only bungle and commit a deliberate blunder by
attempting to limit and define the immeasurable and undefinable under the plea
of a necessity that need not be supposed to exist at all.
It is possible, if the limitations of the
mental equipment are fully remembered and allowed for, for a person desirous of
treating the subject on the plane of the Absolute to write the cautious
narrative of the Activities of Godhead in the limited vocabulary, without
falling wholly into the deliberate blunders of dogmatic empiricism. The
revealed Scriptures belong to the class of such authentic records regarding the
Absolute. They need not be produced at the time of appearance of the events on
the mundane plane to be historically acceptable as conveying the direct or
first hand testimony of those occurrences. They are quite independent of the
conditions which the mind of the empiric historian finds it impossible to shake
off and which make it impossible for him to conceive of the possibility of
spiritual occurrences.
Therefore, empiric speculations regarding
the so-called ‘‘historicity’’ of a spiritual event instead of establishing its
genuineness, only serve to display the utter insufficiency of the empirical
historical method itself for the purpose of the treatment of the history of the
Absolute.
For example, the complaint of the empiric
scholar, that it is not possible to set forth the nature of the development of
spiritual life in India for lack of definite chronology which renders a scientific
classification of the original works treating of Indian religion impossible,
however plausible in itself it may appear to be at first sight, is, in the
light of the foregoing discussion, at once found to be after all only the
result of a wholly deluded attitude towards the Absolute Himself. As if the
development of spiritual life is capable of being measured by the process of
so-called mundane evolution based on the chronological sequence of mundane
occurrences!
Our contention is not that the Pastimes of
Sree Krishna are historical events but that they are a revelation of the Truth
in the form of historical events. The Pastimes of Sree Krishna are not,
therefore, less true than any historical events whatsoever. They are much more.
All the historical events of this world will be enabled to disclose the real
elements of the Truth that they represent only when they would be set forth in
their proper relationship to the only eternal Verity, viz., the Pastimes of Krishna. It is the historical events and the
canons of historical judgment that require to be brought into tune with the
Truth, Who is no other than Krishna. But the empiric historian does the exact
opposite of this. He assumes the truth of historical events and his canons of
historical judgment as the standard to which the Pastimes of Krishna are to
conform for the realisation of any element of the Truth that they may contain !
The whole difficulty is ultimately due to
the muddled way of thinking favoured by the empiricists that supposes itself to
be self-sufficient for the purpose of finding the Truth. It is empiricism that
requires to be made properly conscious of its limitations and to be forced into
a serious consideration of the nature of the Truth Whom it professes in and out
of season to be so willing to serve. Once the nature of the Truth is taken into
our serious consideration, the inconclusiveness of the cult of historicity
should be perfectly plain to every impartial thinker. Further anxious
consideration of the subject should enable the empiric method to be limited to
its proper scope and by such limited employment to be enabled to serve the
quest of the Unlimited.
As soon as the mind is directed to the
question of the Nature of the Truth, it is enabled by Truth Himself to
understand the otherwise inexplicable postulations of the spiritual Scriptures
that it is necessary to obey in order to attain to the plane of the real quest
of the Truth. Every circumstance even of this world will then be found to be a
help in the realisation of the Truth, and nothing will be found to be a
hindrance. The only hindrance, as a matter of fact, is the empiric attitude
itself. By the empiric attitude one is led to launch out on the quest of the
Absolute Truth with the resources of admittedly utter ignorance. This
fool-hardiness must be made to cease. The method of submissive inquiry enjoined
by the Scriptures should be substituted after being properly learnt from those
who have themselves attained to the right knowledge of the same by the proper
method of submission. It is only after one has actually obtained the vision of
the Truth, Whose face is so completely hid from the sight of the empiric
thinker, that one can, under the guidance of the Truth Himself, set out on the
quest of the Truth with any chance of finding Him and proclaiming Him to
others.
So, although the method that has been
employed throughout this narrative may appear to be inconsistent with the
demands of the blind empiric judgment, the reader is requested for the very
much more weighty reasons set forth above to lend his listening ear to an
attempt to apply the methods of the revealed Scriptures for the purpose of
describing the real Nature of Krishna and His Pastimes, in pursuance of the
mercy of the authorized Teachers, on the ground that the method is the only one
that claims to be applicable to the subject of the Absolute.
As the working knowledge of the Nature of
Sree Krishna is the starting point of the search of the Truth, it is my purpose
in this chapter to present the reader with a summary of the traditional account
of the real Nature of Sree Krishna, which is revealed by the Scriptures of all
Ages and countries in more or less explicit forms.
The outline of the history of Sree
Krishna as told in the Bhagavatam, which
may be accepted as the only authentic account for our purposes, is as follows At the close of the cycle known as
Dwapara Krishna manifested His Appearance in Bharatabarsha. He was born at
Mathura. He was the Son of Vasudeva. His mother was Devaki, the sister of King
Kamsa of the race of the Bhojas. Apprehending harm to himself from the Issue of
Vasudeva and Devaki, Kamsa, that unworthy scion of the Bhoja, had cast the
immaculate couple into the royal prison which was most closely guarded. As they
passed their days inside the prison of Kamsa six sons were born in succession
to Vasudeva and Devaki. All of them were killed in their infancy by the cruel
and fearful Kamsa. Sree Balarama was born as their seventh issue. He was
transferred to the keeping of Rohini in Braja as foster-mother, the report
being circulated that there had been miscarriage at childbirth. Godhead Himself
was the eighth issue of Vasudeva and Devaki. He was conveyed by Vasudeva to the
home of Nanda in Braja, whose wife Yasoda had just then given birth to a
daughter. Sree Krishna was left to the care of Nanda and Yasoda in Braja and
their daughter was brought to Kamsa's prison and exhibited as the eighth issue
of Devaki.
Meanwhile Sree Krishna was growing up in
Braja in the company of His brother, Rama. Putana, an adept in slaughtering
infants, was deputed by Kamsa to kill Krishna under the pretense of giving Him
suck by the profession of motherly affection. Putana was killed by the halo of
the power of the Infant Krishna. The casuistical demon Trinavarta was slain. The
cart for conveyance of their baggages under which Krishna had been put to bed
by His parents was smashed by the kicks of the Divine Infant. He showed his
mother, by opening His mouth, that the whole world was accommodated therein. He
made her see that nescience served to foster love for the power of the Truth.
The Infant displayed much juvenile ignorance that was promotive of love for
Himself, the True Cognition. Noting the waywardness of her child the matronly
milk-maid, embodying the most exquisite degree of serving zeal, bethought of
binding Krishna by means of hempen cords; but in vain. But the Incompassable at
last submitted to be bound by the exclusive love of the affectionate Mistress
of Nanda’s home. Krishna broke the twin Arjuna
trees in course of His childish sports, releasing the sons of a god who had
been reduced to that pitiable condition. Even the gods are liable to lapse into
the senseless condition of trees by addiction to evil deeds; and even trees are
enabled to regain the spiritual condition by the influence of accidental
association with the pure-hearted.
Krishna goes into the forest with His
chums for pasturing the calves. There He slays the demon Batsasur who
represents the offenses of boyhood. It is now that religious hypocrisy in the form
of Bakasur brought up by Kamsa, is also killed by Krishna of pure
understanding. Aghasur also is slain. He is the embodiment of the principle of
cruelty. Thereupon Krishna dined out in the open on the banks of the Yamuna in
the company of His chums. The four-faced Brahma stole the calves and the
cowboys. The orderer of the phenomenal world was thereupon deluded by the power
of Krishna. By this episode the complete supremacy of the immaculate Sweetness
of Sree Krishna over every other principle, was demonstrated. Krishna, the
Beloved of the realm of the perfect cognition, is not subject to any regulative
restrictions. This also was established. The opulence of Krishna suffers no
curtailment even by the total destruction of all spiritual and non-spiritual
realms. No one is able to set bounds to the incompassable ocean of the Power of
Krishna. The evil-minded Dhenukasura, the ass of blunt judgment, was destroyed
by Baladeva, the principle of the pure individual soul. The serpent Kaliya, the
self of crookedness and malice, polluted the waters of the Yamuna, the mellow
liquid of the spiritual principle. This wicked demon was thereupon slain by
Hari. When the wild forest-fire, the evil of internal faction within the
community, burst forth in all its destructive fury, Sree Krishna in Person
swallowed it up. Thus the Lord is ever solicitous of the well-being of Braja.
Then Rama killed the demon Pralamba, the thief in disguise who was sent by
Kamsa for stealing the children.
And when the sky began to be surcharged with
the love-laden clouds heralding the advent of the showery season, the
milk-maids of Braja, who are loved by Krishna and are by their nature of a
loving disposition, felt intoxicated by singing the Praises of Krishna. They
were deeply stirred by the strains of Krishna’s flute. They now worshipped
Yogamaya who effects the union of the individual soul with Krishna, with the
desire of gaining Krishna as their Lover. Those who are possessed of a strong
desire to serve Krishna find that there is no adjustment regarding themselves
or their relation with others that is necessary for the purpose, of which they
need feel ashamed. They are no longer disposed to conceal their minds. Krishna
stole away the clothes of those milk-maids at their bath to disclose the perfectly
nude state which is the immaculate sporting ground of Divine love. Sree Krishna
feeling hungry begged for food that had been prepared for offering at the
sacrificial ceremony by the ritualistic Brahmanas. But they did not give it to
Him in the pride of their superior status. Those sacrificial Brahmanas were
addicted to a variety of empirical interpretations of the Scriptures inspired
by the desire of attainment of worldly prosperity or by love for barren
speculation which ends in the negation of all specific forms of activity. By
dint of their traditional attachment to the Scriptures and the by-gone
ancestors they are apt to degenerate into the mere mechanical transmitters of
the rules and taboos that are found in the Scriptures. By reason of this vain
attitude they are disabled to understand that the attainment of love for
Godhead is the only purpose of all those rules and regulations. How can people
with such mentality be induced to serve Krishna. But the loyal wives of those
sacrificial Brahmanas, despite the opposition of their husbands, repaired to
Sree Krishna in the forest and surrendered themselves to the Feet of the
Supreme Soul. This demonstrates the truth that neither intellectual nor
hereditary equipments are the cause of love for Krishna. It also lays down the
right principle of conduct of conditioned souls as consisting in regarding
everything with an equal eye. The varna and
ashrama institutions of man are
intended for the regulation of the society of this world. If the social order
is preserved it affords scope for association with pure-hearted persons and
thereby offers opportunities for discussions regarding the supreme desideratum.
These tend to spiritual progress. It is the possibility of attainment of love
of Krishna by their means that constitutes the value of the institutions of varna and ashrama (the system of divinely ordained division of social
functions and grades). There can, therefore, be no disloyalty to the purpose of
the social arrangement if one gives up the observance of the social rules for
the sake of Krishna Himself. As a matter of fact, on the actual attainment of
the goal itself, the further pursuit of the means of its attainment becomes
unnecessary for all persons who are really desirous of obtaining the goal. It is
also no infringement of the purpose of the social code to allow such a person
full scope for serving Krishna. In enforcing social obligations it is,
therefore, necessary to consider the actual condition of individuals to whom
they are to apply. Otherwise the very object of social organization itself will
be wholly frustrated.
Hari then forbade the people to perform
the sacrifice to Indra. The people were wont to sacrifice to Indra to please
him in order that he might send them rain which was necessary for the
sustenance of themselves and their flocks. This represents the principle of
utilitarian work on the basis of mutual co-operation for the safety and
well-being of society. Indra being denied his offerings, in anger tried to
punish the denizens of Braja by sending down torrential rain which flooded the
fields and homesteads of the people. Hari Himself protected the residents of
Gokula from this peril. No harm can come to the servants of Krishna if for the
purpose of serving Him even their ordinary domestic and social duties have to
be given up altogether which may result in the destruction of the world. No one
can kill whom Krishna Himself protects. Even the cosmic law is not binding on
them. The devotees of Krishna are free from all observance of all law except
that of spiritual love for the Supreme Lord. Through the realm of faith there
flows the perennial stream of the holy Yamuna. The transcendental river is the
liquid essence of the pure cognitive state. Nanda was in danger of being
drowned in the waters of that river of joy, but was mercifully rescued by his
Son’s blissful Activity. Thereafter Sree Krishna showed the cow-herds His Own
Divine Majesty in the realm of the Absolute. The Divine Majesty is always
latent in the Personality of Krishna. The Supreme Lord Who is the Beloved of
the eternally free souls and their following then performed the Pastime of the
Dance in the circle of His beloved. This Pastime manifests the principle of
working of Divine love. Lord Hari, out of His mercy, danced in the Rasa circle
formed by the milk-maids. He promoted
the -growth of their highest love by separation, by His subsequent
disappearance.
The stellar system may supply a poor
analogy of the Rasa Pastime. Just as the Suns surrounded by their respective
circling groups of satellites dance round the Polar Star in the form of a
circle, in the same manner, all individual souls eternally enact their
harmonious dance in their orbits round Sree Krishna as the centre of the
system, sustained therein by the force of Sree Krishna’s overpowering
attraction for all spiritual entities. In this vast round of the Rasa dance, Sree Krishna is the only
Male and all individual souls are females. In the realm of the Absolute Sree
Krishna is the sole Master and Enjoyer. All the rest belong to the category of
servants and objects of enjoyment that minister to His sole pleasure. The Rasa Pastime is capable of being
analogically described in the vocabulary at our command only in terms of the
sexual relationship. The reason of this is that there is a real correspondence
between the two—the sexual relationship of this world being the unwholesome
reflection of the spiritual process in the mirror of this material world. The
analogy is, however, bound to prove misleading if due allowance is not made for
the radical difference between the substantive nature and location of the two
processes. The principle of mundane amour resting on that of physical sex can
never be divested of its innate grossness and unwholesomeness. The grossness of
worldly enjoyment as well as the sensuousness and frailties of both the object
and subject of the sexual passion, are responsible for the imperfections of
mundane amour. The Rasa Pastime is
absolutely free from any touch of unwholesomeness, all the conditions being favourable
for the promotion of the most perfect bliss by universal association in the
rites of the most exquisite love. No apprehension of lewdness or sexuality
must, therefore, be allowed to stand in the way of the exhaustive consideration
of this highest and all-important spiritual subject.
The circular amorous dance or the Rasa Pastime expresses the manifestation
of Divine love in its perfectly unobscured form. The highest realisation of
this process consists in this, that in it Srimati Radhika, the highest object
of all reverence of all souls being that supreme blissful Power of Krishna who
expresses His specifically luscious quality, appears in person in the circle of
the dancers, in all Her most exquisite charm encompassed by the bhavas, her
suite of the most confidential female friends. At the close of the Pastime of
the circular dance there follows naturally sporting in the liquid current of
the Yamuna, the cognitive essence itself dissolving into liquid bliss on the
full manifestation of love.
Nanda who is the personality of spiritual
bliss, is swallowed up by the boa-constrictor of the joy of the liberation of
merging in the Divine Essence. Krishna, the Protector of His devotee, thereupon
rescues him from his peril. The stubborn demon Sankhachu®a, who sets fame over
every other principle, is then slain in an attempt to create disturbance in
Braja. Keshi, the demon of the vanity of political ambition, is next slain by
Krishna, the Foe of Kamsa, when the Lord finally made up His mind to return to
Mathura.
Akrura, the contriver of all occurrences,
then conducted Hari to Mathura. On His arrival there, the Lord killed the
sturdy wrestlers and then also slew Kamsa himself with his younger brother. on
the departure from this world of atheism in the person of Kamsa, Sree Krishna
bestowed the charge of the earth on Kamsa’s progenitor, Ugrasena, who embodies
the principle of independence. The twin widows of Kamsa thereupon repaired to
their parent, the King of Magadha, the embodiment of elevationism, and submitted
to him their sorrows of the state of widowhood. On receiving this tiding, the
King of Magadha set out at the head of his armies and fought seventeen mighty
battles about the city of Mathura, but was every time defeated by Hari. When
Jarasandha at last beleaguered Mathura for the eighteenth time Krishna retired
to His own Capital of Dwarakapuri. The real significance of this episode
consists in this, that the potency of the principle of elevationism is
constituted of the eighteen categories of the ten personal lustrations from
birth to death, the four-fold classification according to aptitude and the
four-fold division into stages of the individual life (varnashrama). When the
seat of knowledge is finally captured by these eighteen categories by fostering
renunciation of the world, there is manifested the disappearance of Godhead on
the consequent emergence of the longing for pseudo-liberation.
While Krishna abode in Mathura, He placed
Himself under the charge of the teacher of religion, and after completing His
study of all the Shastras, restored
the life of His preceptor’s dead son. There is no necessity in the case of
Krishna, Who is naturally perfect, to endeavour for the acquisition of
knowledge. The episode indicates that the intellect of man makes progress in
erudition during its stage of residence at Mathura which is the Academy of all
learning.
Those who covet the fruits of their
activities also cherish attachment to Krishna. Their attachment to the Lord is
charged with impurity. The attachment by degrees grows into the well purified
unadulterated liking for Krishna. This salutary truth is manifested in the case
of Kubja’s love for Krishna during His sojourn in Mathura. Uddhava went to
Gokula to be acquainted fully with the loving state of Braja which is superior
to all forms of devotion.
The Srutis
affirm that the Pandavas represent the branch of righteousness, while the
Kauravas are the offshoots of unrighteous conduct. For this reason, Sree
Krishna is verily the Friend and Preserver of the family of the Pandavas. In
order to establish the well being of righteousness and for the deliverance of
sinners, the Lord deputed Akrura to Hastina as His messenger.
Jarasandha, the champion of unwholesome
fruitive activity, beleaguered the beautiful city of Mathura, the abode of the
knowledge of the undifferentiated Greatness and Nourishing Quality of the
Divinity (Brahman). Here the point
that is established is that fruitive activity itself is of two kinds. One
variety is directed to the supreme desideratum itself. By such activities there
is growth of knowledge and by their conjunction liking for Godhead is
developed. This conjunction of activity, knowledge and the principle of Divine
service, is also variously designated as the process of karma, jnana or bhakti. Those
w ho possess real insight, call it the method of Harmony. But there is a
different variety of activity which is directed to a selfish purpose. This form
is known as karma-kanda, to
distinguish it from the process of what is termed karma-yoga. This selfish variety of fruitive activity often gives
rise to apprehension regarding the existence and attainment of Godhead and
promotes their union with atheism by wedding them with the latter. It is this
unwholesome variety of worldly activity that in the person of Jarasandha
invaded the city of Mathura.
Thereupon, Sree Krishna, of His own
accord, conducted His friends, viz., the community of His devotees, to the city
of Dwaraka. This is the process of the service of Godhead under the regulative
principles of the Divine Dispensation. The Yavana king belonged to a society
that was not regulated by the Divinely ordained principle of class and stage (varnashrama). Being thus addicted to
ignorant utilitarian activity and relying on the resources of such activity and
being thereby opposed also to the path of liberation by empiric knowledge, the
Yavana king scornfully kicked King Muchukunda representing aptitude for the
path of liberation. The Yavana king was thereupon destroyed by the superior
power of King Muchukunda. Hari then repaired to Dwaraka, the seat of the
Knowledge of the Divinity in all His Majesty. There the Lord wedded Rukmini
Devi, Embodiment of the Supreme Majesty of Godhead. Pradyumna, God of love, was
no sooner born from the womb of Rukmini, then he was stolen away by Sambara,
embodiment of the deluding Energy. The body of the God of love had formerly
been burnt up by Mahadeva, representing barren asceticism. At that period Rati
Devi, consort of Kama, God of love, had sought refuge in the demoniac
propensity for the lust of the flesh. Kamadeva of great prowess, being now
instructed by his consort Ratidevi, killed Sambara representing the pleasures
of the flesh and made his way to Dwaraka. By way of restoration of the gem,
Hari now wedded the auspicious Satyabhama, who is part and parcel of Sree
Radhika, the fullness of the quality of extreme loving sensitiveness. Rukmini,
with seven other ladies, were the reflections of the Power of the most
delicious and the very highest Divine love, appearing in the conditions of
Splendour and Majesty. They became the chief Queens of the Royal Home of
Krishna at Dwaraka. At Dwaraka Sree Krishna’s offspring and relations
multiplied apace. This points to an essential difference that distinguishes
reverential worship rendered to the Majesty of Godhead from that of loving
devotion. The former naturally tends to expand by the process of division. The
latter is indivisible. It is not possible to deal with this matter in greater
detail at this place. But the subject requires to be most carefully treated in
a separate treatise.
A certain demon proclaiming himself to be
Vasudeva preached the doctrine of undifferentiated Monism, at Kashi, the abode
of Hara. The Lord of Roma, Who is Godhead Himself, after slaying that demon,
burnt Kashidham, the seat of that corrupt opinion. The Lord seated on the back
of Garuda slew the demon Bhauma who was filled with the notion that the things
of this material universe are Godhead. This is idolatry. The worship of the
Holy Divine Archa is not to be
confounded with the worship of idols. The latter consists of the two
co-ordinated varieties of pseudo-worship of Nature in its positive and negative
aspects. Godhead rescued the victims of idolatry by destroying the faith in the
undifferentiated Brahman, which is
the subtle and more dangerous one of the two forms of idolatry and by accepting
the worship of their quondam victims. By killing Jarasandha by the agency of
Bheema, the. Lord rescued many a king from the bondage of elevationism (worship
of pure worldly utility). He accepted unrestricted worship at the sacrifice of
Yudhisthira and cut off the head of Shishupala who was a personal enemy of
Himself. At the battle of Kurukshetra, Krishna afforded relief to the Earth
groaning under her burden and, having re-established the pure religion, saved
spiritual society.
On His arrival at Dwaraka, the sage
Narada was filled with great wonder on beholding the Lord appearing at one and
the same time in the homes of all His different Consorts. The fact that Godhead
is fully present everywhere and in every soul, is much more wonderful than that
He is One and pervades the whole universe by His Divine Essence. The demon
Dantavakra, embodiment of barbarism, was slain. The Lord bestowed on Arjuna,
His brother by the religion-bond, the hand of His Own sister Subhadra in
marriage. The Lord saved the city of Dwaraka by destroying the efforts of Salwa
backed by the knowledge of the deceptive physical sciences. The beautiful
products of material sciences are nothing in comparison with the Doings of the
Lord. King Nriga was undergoing the punishment of unrighteous conduct in the
form of a reptile. He was delivered from the condition of a reptile by the
mercy of the Lord.
Hari ate the raw rice given Him by the
Brahmana Sudama, out of love. The Lord is not so pleased with the offering of
even sweatmeats that are made by the pashandas
(unbelievers). The monkey Dibida representing un-Godly carnival, was killed
by Baladeva embodying the essence of the pure soul full of the love of Krishna.
Baladeva performed the Pastime of love in the company of milkmaids who were the
different substantive aspects of the pure soul, in a great forest in which
there was a city made of the cognitive principle of the pure soul.
These Divine Pastimes are enacted in the
hearts of the devotees. They disappear with the termination of the earthly
sojourn of the devotees, just as the show ceases on the actor leaving the
stage. The Will of Krishna, in the form of Time, having made the Yadavas, pure
spiritual states, desist from their Pastimes, overwhelmed the Divine Abode of
Dwaraka by the waves of the ocean of oblivion. The self-same Will of Krishna,
who is the Source of ceaseless joy, made the devotees give up their bodies,
worn out by decay, and by fomenting mutual discord, at Prabhas, representing
the Knowledge of the Divinity. The aptitude towards Krishna that dwells in the
hearts of the devotees attains to its pristine glory by its conjunction with
the pure soul on his severance from the physical body. It continues its full
manifestation in Goloka which is the highest portion of the realm of Vaikuntha.
These Activities of Sree Krishna never
cease in Goloka, which is the innermost Sphere of the realm of the Absolute and
the Abode of the Supreme Lord in the manifest unobstructed enjoyment of His own
pure Nature. They are available to the conditioned soul in terms of the
categories of time, space, and agent, in proportion to the realisation of his
proper spiritual nature. This realisation may remain confined to the detached
relationship of the individual soul to the Lord or expand into the form of a
social function. It is this latter form that made its appearance in the pure
consciousness of Narada and Vyasa in the cycle of the Dvapara Age. The
spiritual consciousness is, therefore, susceptible of manifesting its
appearance in terms of the activities of individuals and also of those of the
community of pure souls. With the growth of the social instinct the second form
of manifestation makes its appearance in due course.
Regarded from the point of view of the
associated spiritual consciousness Hari is realised as fully manifest in
Mathura, more fully in Dwaraka, and most fully of all in Braja. The degree of
purity of its blissfulness, is the measure of the Plenitude of the Divine
Manifestation. Judged by this standard, the joyous activities of Braja form the
highest platform of the spiritual realisation of the individual soul. In this
most blissful experience Krishna is ultimately realisable as the Sweetheart of
the spiritual milkmaids, the very highest point in the process being the
Blissful Activities of Krishna as the Beloved Consort of Sree Radhika.
Those who have been enabled to taste the
sweetness of these spiritual realisations, are fully established in the eternal
function of the pure soul. It is not possible to elaborate the quality of the
liquid sweetness of the process by means of general terms. It is for this
reason that the poetic sages have expounded the Truth of the Activities of
Krishna by their detailed concrete descriptions. The Supreme bliss is
obtainable only by the most solicitous service of Krishna. It is not possible
to attain real and abiding satisfaction by the contemplation of Godhead as the
Regulator and Companion of the individual soul, or by the realisation of the
Greatness of the undifferentiated Divinity by the process of empiric Knowledge,
or by worshipping Godhead by the method of the Sacrifice (yajna) as the Giver of the fruits of utilitarian activities.
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