(Continuing from the
previous blog post - Life story of SriKrishna)
As we discussed in
the last blog lost, the initial years of SriKrishna in Gokula and the obstacles
he overcame as an infant are metaphorical of the early stages of a spiritual
master in making. Once the foundation for spiritual learning has thus been laid firmly, the next steps in the spiritual journey for such a person are the swādhyāya and
pravachana or receiving, internalization and furthering of the spiritual
knowledge. The appropriate metaphor of the cow is chosen to represent the
scriptural texts which act as the vehicles of spiritual knowledge. The location
where the fostering of this knowledge occurs is also appropriately named as
'Govardhana' meaning a place for flourishing of cows. It is interesting to note
that a parallel for the cow metaphor is also found in the Chāndogya Upanishad
where the student Satyakama is given few cows by his Guru and asked to grow the
herd and come back for spiritual instructions when the herd's population has reached one thousand.
Returning to where we had left off on the story, the residents of Gokula who were troubled by the many attacks from demons, decided to move their settlement to a different location in order to ensure the safety for SriKrishna and his brother Balarāma. The new place, Vrindāvana, that was situated on the banks of river Kālindi and in the valley of a hill known as Govardana which offered plenty of pasture for the cows to graze. In Vrindāvana, SriKrishna, in the company of other Gopa boys, grew up to be a cute, mischievous , young boy who was extremely dear to the hearts of everyone in the clan.
Even though the Gopās were relieved for some time from the incessant
attacks of the demons at their new residence,
eventually those attacks resumed. We are told of five different
incidents in which the demons, using a disguise each time, slipped into
Vrindāvana and attacked SriKrishna.
These Asurās who attacked took different forms including a large python
Aghāsura, a giant stork Bakāsura, a violent calf Vatsāsura, a donkey Dhenkāsura
and a Gopa boy Pratardana. Each and every one of the Asurās were ultimately
eliminated by SriKrishna and his brother Balarāma, once the Asura's true nature
was revealed to them.
Though it is
extraneous to imagine two young boys taking on such powerful creatures as these
Asurās, we can metaphorically understand these incidents to be the many
challenges that are faced and overcome by a spiritual leader while developing
and furthering spiritual knowledge. Just as the entire group of Gopās along
with SriKrishna unknowingly entered the mouth of the python Aghāsura mistaking
it for a cave, a spiritual leader along with followers, could get easily get
guided down a completely wrong path in
their way of thinking, raising the possibility of laying waste to the entire corpus of knowledge they have
developed together.(Remember what happened to David Koresh and his followers in
Waco, Texas?). Or, he or she can be
completely arrested in spiritual progress by a misplaced doubt that arises in
an unguarded moment in the way
SriKrishna was swallowed by the giant stork
Bakāsura. Alternately, it could be a direct charge by someone with a powerful, opposing
viewpoint (Vatsāsura) unsettling one's faith or a tricky, clever argument by
someone with a dumb idea (Dhenukāsura). Finally, one can simply get carried
away by the bad influence from a peer on whom one has misplaced trust. All
these challenges are significant and not easy to overcome. The story of
SriKrishna warns of these dangers and prepares the seeker to be ready to
overcome them.
The greatest danger
to perfecting spiritual knowledge,
however, lurks deep inside one's own heart. This is explained through the story
of the multi-headed serpent Kāliya who is supposed to have been living in a
cave at the bottom of Kālindi river near Vrindāvana. Few of the Gopās and their
cows who had gone down to the Kālindi river to quench their thirst fell
unconscious as they were affected by the venom spewed by Kāliya . Jumping into
the water from a tall tree on the banks of the river, SriKrishna challenged
Kāliya to take on him. Kāliya duly did so by coiling himself around SriKrishna
and threatened to kill him with his poisonous fangs. Breaking himself free from
the coils of the serpent, SriKrishna managed to climb up on the many hoods of
Kāliya and subdue the serpent by stamping down on its hoods. This great dance
of SriKrishna on top of the hoods of the serpent is famously known as the
Kāliya Mardana.
Now, let's look at
the metaphorical aspects of this story. It is well known in Vedānta that there
are six negative qualities of mind - kāma (selfish desires), krodha (rage), lobha
(avarice), moha (delusion), mada (vanity) and mātsarya (jealousy) - that need to be subdued in order to make
progress in the spiritual journey. These tendencies that are dark and hidden in
our subconscious mind are like the hoods
of the serpent Kāliya who is also dark in color and lives in a hidden
cave. Another key point to note in the
image of SriKrishna's taming of Kāliya is that in addition to stamping down on
the hoods, SriKrishna also holds Kāliya
firmly by the tail on his left hand. The
message here is that a mere suppression of the negative tendencies is
insufficient and one needs to have a strong grip on the root cause of these
negativities which is ahamkāra, or the
'I Consciousness'.
The next major
incident in SriKrishna's young days is the encounter with Indra, the King of
Devās. It was
The Indra in this
story stands for the source of all material wealth. A spiritual person, though
he or she needs some material wealth to survive, does not direct his reverence
towards the source of such wealth. Instead what such a person should revere are
the values and principles that enable growth of spiritual knowledge and insight
(Govardana). When challenged by materialistic difficulties, such a person finds
refuge under the values and principles he or she upholds and uses them as a
shield until the difficulties pass. In Vedānta, this important quality of a seeker is known as thithiksha or forbearance. In this story of Govardanodhārana, we are reminded of the need
for forbearance in spiritual life.
As SriKrishna
continues to grow up and become a teenager, we come to the most controversial
aspect of SriKrishna's life story - his relationship with the Gopika women. It
is said that every Gopika woman, single or married, madly desired for
SriKrishna's company. One fine night in an autumn month, when the sky was lit
bright by the full moon, SriKrishna sitting on the banks of river Kālindi,
played a most attractive tune on his
magical flute. Mesmerized by the enchanting tune, the Gopikā women left their
homes, some of them even their husband and children they were attending to, and
arrived in front of SriKrishna, in a trance. There, each and every one of them found for themselves an image of
SriKrishna to give them company to fulfill their intense desire for his
companionship. As the moonlight danced throwing silvery streaks on the waves of
Kālindi, the Gopika women danced with SriKrishna to his music, all night. This
dance of SriKrishna with the Gopika women is known as the Rāsa Leela and is highly revered in the Hindu Bhakti tradition as a great act of devotion in
spite of the moral transgressions the story might imply.
Until this point, we
have seen SriKrishna as a spiritual master in the making, nearing a perfection
in knowledge and practice. What should be the attitude of such a person who has
reached highest levels of spiritual maturity, towards everyday living? Should
that person shun all joys of life and become a hermit or should he or she
engage back with the world? The Rāsa Leela
story offers SriKrishna's definitive answer to this question.
The Sānskrit word Rasa means the essence, particularly the
essence that produces joy. Rāsa are the
manifestations of Rasa. The word Leela means a
playful, sportive engagement. Therefore, combined together the word Rāsa Leela means a playful engagement with the
many manifestations of joy, in a way that such an engagement with the world
will be devoid of the entrapments of attachment, dependency and aversion.
According to the Rāsa Leela story, this
must be the attitude towards everyday life by a person who has reached the
highest level of spiritual maturity. Again, do note that for those of us who
have not reached the pinnacle of such spiritual maturity, a caution less
engagement with the world would not be the right choice.
Based on the stories above and their metaphorical interpretations, the Srikrishna doctrine
for spiritual living could be summarized as
follows:
- Prepare the self for receiving spiritual knowledge (The Gokula period).
- Learn, reflect, share and grow the spiritual knowledge while watching out for the common pitfalls (The early Vrindāvana period)
- Overcome the inherent negative tendencies lurking deep within the heart (Kāliya Mardana story)
- Develop forbearance, reject materialistic tendencies and uphold values and principles (Govardanodhārana story)
- Having attained spiritual maturity, engage back with the world and the many meritorious joys of life, avoiding attachment, dependency and aversion (Rāsa Leela story)
What about the messages from rest of Srikrishna's life story? Hopefully, with SriKrishna's blessings, we
will continue to examine rest of his life's journey to become the Jagdguru, the universal teacher and master.
