{"id":193556,"date":"2021-08-30T12:01:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T11:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=193556"},"modified":"2021-08-30T12:22:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T11:22:00","slug":"lord-krishna-symbol-of-love-compassion-wisdom-and-mischief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/08\/lord-krishna-symbol-of-love-compassion-wisdom-and-mischief\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Krishna: Symbol of Love, Compassion, Wisdom and Mischief"},"content":{"rendered":"

30 Aug 2021 – <\/em>India is a land of diversities \u2014 social, geographical and above all of religious faiths. Not only Hinduism but also Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and several smaller faiths such as\u00a0Arya Samaj<\/em>\u00a0coexist in this diverse land of India.<\/p>\n

Among Hinduism, several Gods and Goddesses such as Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesh, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, and above all Krishna are loved and revered. But the eternal Brahman is also believed by Hindus to be the provider of existence and\u00a0truth. In a way, the different deities find their sustenance from Brahman.<\/p>\n

Krishna is considered as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and his features or aspects are countless and endearing. As a child he was lovingly called\u00a0Makhan Chor <\/em>(stealer of butter). Household women would be alerted to prevent the child from stealthily drinking milk and butter from their homes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gopal Krishna<\/p><\/div>\n

His birth that occurred in a prison has, in itself, an interesting storyline. His mother\u00a0Devika<\/em>\u00a0was locked up by her ambitious and wicked\u00a0\u00a0brother\u00a0Kans<\/em>\u00a0who killed Devika\u2019s six newborns one by one. But when Krishna, who is also endearingly known as Gopal, was born, he was cautiously taken away from the prison by his father Vasudev, to\u00a0\u00a0a place called\u00a0Gokul <\/em>and was raised by the loving lady Yashoda <\/em>who considered Gopal as her own child.<\/p>\n

Growing up to become a handsome young man with innumerable qualities \u2014 he would play the flute to attract the beautiful lady Radha and village belles. As a virtuous and noble person, Krishna could be successfully beckoned by the lady\u00a0Dropadi<\/em>\u00a0(of the\u00a0Pandavas <\/em>clan) who was being disrobed by a villain of the\u00a0Kauravas <\/em>clan\u00a0in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Krishna successfully came to Dropadi\u2019s rescue.<\/p>\n

Many devotees have sung\u00a0bhajans\u00a0(religious songs) in favour of Krishna. One well known woman was\u00a0Meerabai<\/em>\u00a0in the 16th century, who sang beautiful bhajans that are common even today. She was a married woman and was criticised by her husband and others for overlooking her domestic duties.<\/p>\n

Krishna is also a wise and mature person who could explain the meaning of life and sorrows that afflict mankind. This quality is highlighted in his conversation with Arjun as they escape from the turmoil caused by\u00a0Duryodhan<\/em>\u00a0belonging to the rival\u00a0Kauravas clan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Radha Krishna<\/p><\/div>\n

The wisdom shared by Krishna to Arjun is enunciated in the Hindu epic\u00a0Bhagwad Gita<\/em> (or\u00a0Gita<\/em> for short), which is a source of the meaning of life \u2014 both material and spiritual. Various learned persons not only in India but also overseas have tried to understand and imbibe the essential qualities of the Gita<\/em>. Mahatma Gandhi himself was inspired by Gita<\/em> and had written articles on its essential features. He also tried to live according to the principles of Gita<\/em> \u2014 truth, honesty, love, nonviolence, Satyagraha, etc.<\/p>\n

It is difficult for me to write more about Krishna and the book\u00a0Bhagwad\u00a0Gita<\/em> that has been a guiding spirit of many illustrious persons in the world.<\/p>\n

I end by writing that the lunar day that Krishna (Gopal) was born is known as\u00a0 Krishnan Janmastami\u00a0<\/em>that this year falls on August 30 (Monday).<\/p>\n

Janam Ashtami<\/em>\u00a0means the anniversary of Lord Krishna that occurs on the eighth day after the full moon. People pray and fast on this happy occasion. For me, it is an opportunity to be inspired by the legendary personality and to share my happiness and joy.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr Ravi P Bhatia is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, an<\/em> educationist, Gandhian scholar and peace researcher. Retired professor, Delhi University. His new book, <\/em>A Garland of Ideas\u2014Gandhian, Religious, Educational, Environmental was published recently in Delhi.<\/em> ravipbhatia@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30 Aug 2021 – The lunar day that Krishna (Gopal) was born is known as Krishnan Janmastami that this year falls on Aug 30–today. The wisdom shared by Krishna to Arjun is enunciated in the Hindu epic Bhagwad Gita, which is a source of the meaning of life \u2014 both material and spiritual. Krishna is considered as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and his features or aspects are countless and endearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":193557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[889,893,2634],"class_list":["post-193556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-krishna","tag-krishna-consciousness","tag-krishna-janmastami"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}