Krishna

Who They Were

The eighth avatar of Vishnu whose teachings in the Bhagavad Gita constitute Hinduism's most beloved scripture. Krishna's dialogue with the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra addresses the eternal questions: How to act in a world of conflict? How to fulfill duty while pursuing liberation? How to maintain equanimity amid life's storms? Krishna's answer synthesizes karma (action), bhakti (devotion), jnana (knowledge), and raja (meditation) yogas into an integral spiritual path accessible to all.

The Bhagavad Gita: Yoga for the World's Battlefield

Historical Context: The Bhagavad Gita ('Song of the Lord') occurs within the vast Mahabharata epic, just as the great war at Kurukshetra is about to begin. The warrior Arjuna, seeing his teachers, relatives, and friends arrayed on both sides, is overcome with despair. He drops his bow, refusing to fight. Krishna, serving as his charioteer, then delivers 700 verses of spiritual teaching to restore Arjuna's will to action. Though set in mythic times, the Gita was likely composed between 400 BCE and 200 CE.

Core Teachings: The Gita teaches: 1) Nishkama Karma—Desireless Action—perform your duty without attachment to results. It's not action that binds but craving for fruit. Work, but offer the results to the divine. This is yoga (union) in action. 2) The Three Gunas—all of nature consists of three qualities: sattva (purity, light), rajas (passion, activity), tamas (darkness, inertia). Understanding how these operate in you liberates from identification with their play. 3) The eternal Self (Atman)—you are not the body or mind but the eternal witness. 'Weapons cannot cleave it, fire cannot burn it.' Knowing yourself as immortal Self dissolves fear of death and enables appropriate action. 4) Integral Yoga—different temperaments suit different paths: action (karma yoga), devotion (bhakti yoga), knowledge (jnana yoga), meditation (raja yoga). The Gita doesn't mandate one path but shows how all lead to the same goal.

Esoteric Significance: The Gita encodes: 1) Every life is Kurukshetra—the battlefield is your life. The warring families are conflicting aspects of yourself. Arjuna's despair is the spiritual crisis preceding transformation. Krishna's teaching is the higher Self advising the embattled ego. 2) Dharma is individual—Arjuna must fight because he's a warrior (Kshatriya). His dharma isn't a brahmin's or merchant's. Each person has unique duty. What's right for you may not be right for another. 3) The avatar principle—Krishna is God incarnate when dharma declines. This implies: divine intervention occurs when needed; human vessels can carry divine consciousness; the teaching comes in culturally appropriate form. 4) Surrender is victory—Arjuna's final words: 'My delusion is destroyed... I will do your word' (18.73). The ego surrenders to the Self. Victory isn't ego conquering but ego yielding.

Practical Applications: 1) Study the Gita—read a good translation with commentary (Easwaran, Yogananda, Prabhupada for devotional; Aurobindo, Chinmayananda for philosophical). Let Krishna's words work on you over years. 2) Practice karma yoga—in your daily work, experiment: do your best without attachment to results. Notice how this changes the quality of action and your inner state. 3) Know your dharma—what's your unique role, your duty in this life? Not what society expects but what your essential nature requires. Align your life with this. 4) Invoke Krishna—whether as historical deity, cosmic principle, or inner Self, Krishna responds to sincere calling. Chant the Hare Krishna mantra or simply call 'Krishna!' with devotion. The blue-skinned charioteer still guides those lost on their battlefield.

Bhakti: The Path of Divine Love

Historical Context: While the Gita presents multiple paths, Krishna most famously teaches bhakti—loving devotion. In later chapters, he reveals his universal form, terrifying and transcendent, but then assures Arjuna that the devotee who loves him is dearest. Bhakti movements across India made Krishna worship central to Hindu life. The stories of Krishna's childhood (butter-stealing, flute-playing, dancing with the gopis) expanded bhakti's emotional range, celebrating God as child, friend, and beloved.

Core Teachings: Bhakti teaches: 1) Love is the fastest path—'Those who fix their minds on me, ever devoted, with supreme faith, them I consider most perfect in yoga' (Gita 12.2). Intellectual paths are valid but indirect; the heart reaches God directly. 2) Any form suffices—'Whatever form a devotee wishes to worship with faith, I make that faith firm' (7.21). The specific form of God matters less than the devotion directed toward it. Krishna accepts worship to any genuine deity. 3) God reciprocates—'As they approach me, so I receive them' (4.11). Divine love isn't one-way. The more you love, the more you feel loved. 4) Surrender everything—'Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give, whatever austerities you perform, do that as an offering to me' (9.27). Every action becomes worship when offered with love.

Esoteric Significance: Bhakti reveals: 1) Emotion as yogic force—Western spirituality often suppresses emotion. Bhakti harnesses emotion's enormous energy, directing it toward the divine rather than worldly objects. 2) The divine lover—Krishna as romantic beloved (especially in the Radha-Krishna mythology) suggests: the soul's ultimate relationship with God is love affair. Mystics across traditions echo this: Rumi, John of the Cross, Mirabai. 3) Grace versus effort—while other yogas emphasize self-effort, bhakti invokes grace. You can't earn God's love; you open to receive it. This parallels Christian debates about faith versus works. 4) The accessible God—Krishna's human-like form, personality, and relationships make God approachable. Unlike abstract Brahman, Krishna is someone you can love, talk to, dance with.

Practical Applications: 1) Cultivate devotional practice—kirtan (devotional singing), japa (mantra repetition), puja (worship), darshan (seeing sacred images). Let the heart lead; don't just think about God—feel. 2) Choose your ishta-devata—in Hindu practice, you choose your personal deity (Krishna, Shiva, Kali, etc.) based on what attracts you. Even outside Hindu context: what form of the sacred moves your heart? Focus there. 3) Offer everything—practice dedicating actions to the divine. Before work: 'May this be offered to you.' After meals: 'Thank you for nourishing me.' This transforms ordinary life into worship. 4) Read devotional poetry—Mirabai, Kabir, Tukaram, Surdas—these Krishna-bhaktas wrote from direct experience. Their poetry transmits devotion beyond intellectual understanding.

The Cosmic Vision: Vishvarupa and Divine Terror

Historical Context: In Chapter 11 of the Gita, Arjuna asks to see Krishna's true form. Krishna grants him divine sight, and Arjuna beholds the Vishvarupa—the universal form containing all beings, all worlds, all time. He sees beings rushing into Krishna's many mouths like moths into flame—including the warriors he's about to fight. Overwhelmed, Arjuna begs Krishna to return to his gentle form. This theophany is one of the most powerful mystical visions in world literature.

Core Teachings: The vision teaches: 1) God contains everything—'In my body you will see the whole universe with all things moving and unmoving' (11.7). There's nothing outside God. Good and evil, creation and destruction, all are within the divine form. 2) Divine terror—'Time I am, world-destroying' (11.32). God isn't just loving but terrible. The divine includes what we fear most: death, destruction, the consuming flame. 3) Human form is grace—after the overwhelming vision, Krishna returns to gentle human form. God's accessibility as person (Krishna, Christ, etc.) is accommodation to our limitations. 4) Action in cosmic context—seeing that the warriors are already dead in Krishna's vision, Arjuna's fighting becomes participation in cosmic necessity, not personal violence.

Esoteric Significance: The Vishvarupa reveals: 1) The coincidentia oppositorum—the divine unity of opposites. What seems contradictory at human level (creation/destruction, love/wrath) unifies in God. This is Nicholas of Cusa's insight, the Taoist yin-yang, the Tantric embrace of all polarities. 2) Ego death—Arjuna's terror is ego's terror at dissolving into infinitude. Every genuine mystical vision involves this death/rebirth. The limited self can't survive encounter with the unlimited. 3) Kali-Krishna relationship—the destructive aspect of Krishna's vision relates to Kali (goddess of time and death). Accepting divine darkness is essential. Spirituality isn't just light and love but includes shadow. 4) Prophecy and fate—the warriors are 'already killed by me' before Arjuna acts. This suggests: destiny is real, though paradoxically human action is still required. We participate in what's already been decided.

Practical Applications: 1) Contemplate divine terror—don't sanitize the sacred. Meditate on Kali, on Krishna's universal form, on the Wrathful Deities of Tibetan Buddhism. These aspects of divinity require acknowledgment. 2) Accept death—the vision shows all beings consumed. Your death is included in the divine. Rather than fighting this, contemplate it. Death is not opposed to God but is God. 3) See the divine everywhere—the Vishvarupa is everywhere, always. Practice seeing all beings as forms of the One. That annoying person, that suffering animal, that beautiful sunset—all are Krishna's face. 4) Surrender to cosmic process—if destiny is real, resistance is futile. This isn't fatalism but acceptance. Do your duty while trusting that larger forces work through you. You are an instrument.