While he was in Gokul, as a mischievous kid, Krishna was often accused of stealing butter. As he grew into a young man, people accused him of stealing the hearts of young girls. He was now an adult and the prince of Dwarika. But accusations of stealing never left Krishna. And now, he was faced with the accusation of stealing an expensive Gem. What is this new story?
Krishna was now in Dwarika. He was no more the boy of Mathura. He had grown into an adult. Naturally, like all human beings he too fell for the cupid’s arrows. That is, he too fell in love like a typical human being. But it was not a one-sided story. Nor was it a smooth love affair. Let us discuss this love story in this episode.
The book that I am going to announce today is not really a new book. I had started working on it 2 years ago, but I was not very comfortable giving a final shape to it. It is about a highly revered ancient Indian scripture, or shall I say the most controversial one. It is highly revered since it is supposed to put down in clear terms, everything about Brahma or God. I am terming it controversial since the same book has been used to justify diametrically opposite view points by many great Indian philosophers.
We were discussing events in Mathura after Kamsa was killed by Krishna. Kamsa’s father-in-law, namely Jarasandha was furious about the killing of Kamsa. He wanted to wipe out the entire Yadava clan to which Krishna belonged to avenge Kamsa’s death.
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| Uddhav meeting the cowherd girls |
After freeing Mathura from the clutches of the tyrant Kamsa, Krishna installed Ugrasena – Kamsa’s father, as the King of Mathura.
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| Krishna curing Trivarka |
There were some who were close admirers of Kamsa and loyal to him. They tried to slight Krishna in whatever way they could. But there was a vast silent majority who suffered a lot from the tyrant Kamsa. They were quite jubilated to see Krishna. They had heard so many heroic stories about Krishna that they were hoping that Krishna would free them from the oppressor Kamsa.
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| Akrura lands in Vrindavan with an invite from Kamsa |
Were you surprised?
The Kamsa, who was all along doing everything possible to kill Krishna, how could he think of inviting Krishna to Mathura? Was he repenting for whatever wrongs he did against Krishna? Was he thinking of patching up with Krishna to avoid his death in Krishna’s hands? Or was his wicked mind scheming for something very big?
The Krishna’s story that you have been listening to for the past few weeks is now in a book form – e-book, Paperback as well as audio. Each format has its own advantages.
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’.
