Krishna is one of those rare beings in our human history. He is not concerned about what we say about him. Was he accepted as Bhagwan or God in his own time? No, he was accused and condemned in every way. And even today, we will not spare him unless we shut our eyes to many episodes of his life. We do know how Jesus was crucified. He was condemned as a disreputable and dangerous person. When he was crucified he was not alone: he was placed between two thieves who were going to suffer the same fate. This was a declaration that Jesus was no better than the criminals. The society in which Krishna or Jesus, Mahavira or Buddha were born did not accept them as bhagwans, incarnations or messiahs. It condemned them, called them names, mocked them and persecuted them. But they were brave people and could not be intimidated. They took all the insults and humiliations with a smile of compassion on their faces. So, how long can we go on? We will feel embarrassed, conquered by their love, their forbearance and compassion. And we the society begin to honour and worship them. But they take our worship with the same detachment and equanimity with which they take our insults and curses, because really nothing affects them - neither fame or infamy. And the then society hails them as God incarnates.
I attach importance to a discussion of Krishna’s life not because we have to emulate him, but because he is the most beautiful and rare example of a multi-dimensional person. And if his treasures are laid before us, they will help us uncover our own hidden treasures. And we better remember that Krishna’s treasures are his own and our treasures will be our own. And no one can say our treasures will not be even richer than Krishna’s. I just want to remind us all again that what happened to Krishna can happen to each one of us, and this awareness is enough. This whole discussion is meant for the remembrance that we all are heirs to Godliness. We just have to understand our own life with Krishna’s life. And we don’t have to accept and follow Krishna’s views and ideas. People like Krishna look at life with extraordinary eyes, and their perception is rare. It penetrates the inner most depth of life, and it will be a great gift if for a little while if we can look at life through the eyes of Krishna. That will go a long way to change and deepen our own perception, our own perspective of life.
Even if we are in Himalayas, surrounded by beautiful hills and majestic mountains, we can see only that much beauty in these mountains as our eyes, our perception, our perspective are capable of. I would like to share a story of the Russian artist Mr. Nicholas Roerich, who happened to visit Himalayas and whole life he painted only Himalayas. The story and its relevance to this topic will be discussed in the following week. And until then let us contemplate what we discussed in these 3 parts of ‘Know thy self, Never imitate’.
To understand Gita, we must understand Krishna.
Dr. Dwarakanath,
Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people.
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