In the previous episode, we saw how Vyasa apparently portrayed Krishna as a flirtatious boy.
More than getting into the historicity of the incident narrated in the previous episode, I am more curious as to why Vyasa included such an incident in the Bhagavata. Did Vyasa really want to portray Krishna as a flirtatious boy?
Krishna is often portrayed as a ‘lover boy’! Probably, in any other religion, thinking about God as a lover boy is blasphemous! But not so for most Indians.
They enjoy looking at Krishna as a very flirtatious, and even sometimes as a person who goes beyond all socially accepted norms when it comes to ‘love’.
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| Krishna in Vrindavan |
Kamsa was taking rest in his palace, unable to fall asleep. He knew very well that any moment Devaki was going to give birth to her eighth child. The taunting tone of the ‘voice from skies’ was still reverberating in his ears. Will it really happen? He kept thinking. He tried to fall asleep, reassuring himself that nothing of that sort could happen since both Vasudeva and Devaki were imprisoned in a high security prison guarded by his trusted soldiers.
But...
We come across more and more people who firmly deny the need for any God in today’s circumstances.
As always, I would like to analyze this issue rather than outright take any position.
Who can be all pervasive, but God? That way, Vishnu is not limited to God of some sect of Indians, nor some specific religion. He is the God of any God centric religion. His reach is beyond sects, beyond religions, and even beyond India.
First of all, let me apologize for not speaking to you for the past few weeks. I am going through some voice related issues, and I prefer to remain silent for some time. I hope to get back to you as early as possible.
I have a short announcement to make. I have made sampling of all my audiobooks simple. This will help you in deciding to choose the right book for you in a matter of minutes without switching sites and product pages. This is a small but powerful addition to UBL of my books.
The journey I am referring to is both the journey of our ancestors over thousands of years as well a journey that I took you along for the past several episodes talking about that.
I had a friend who believed firmly in the theory of Maya talked about by modern Advaitis. This elderly gentleman used to drive a long distance just to meet me and engage me in a lively debate. He somehow wanted to convince me that this world is an illusion and all that exists is just Atma and nothing else!
At a time when the world is faced with an imminent world war, and nasty menace of unending religiously motivated terrorism, let us talk something positive.
One of the reasons for our confusion is our unruly mind. It obscures clarity. It keeps dragging us outward. It puts before us myriad baits and makes us forget our true nature.
That definitely sounds absurd! It violates basic math and common sense. But Vedas do have such strange mathematics.
Many modern ‘intellectuals’ who proudly declare themselves to be atheists would probably find many supporters in ancient India 😉
That is because most of the ancient Indian schools of thought were inherently atheist in the core. They did not believe in a ‘creator’ God who created this world, just like our modern atheists 😉
Many devout Christians believe so. It is a different matter though, Jesus never claimed that he is God! He almost always addressed himself as ‘son of man’ or at most as ‘son of God’ but not as ‘I am God’.
Ramana Maharshi was a great saint who lived amidst some of us till recently. He passed away in 1950. There are many people alive even today who have seen and interacted with him in a place called Arunachala in Southern India.
I have a smart neighboring kid who is just 2-year-old. She can hardly express herself clearly. But some of her utterances amaze me and show how shallow we, the ‘so called adults’ are!
Many of us often gloat over our limited knowledge. We think that we have understood everything in this world and we deem ourselves qualified to question deep philosophical truths.
