On the day of Lord Krishna’s birth (Janamashtami), one can tell numerous stories which have already been told and retold, each time more fascinating than the previous one. So on this day, I thought of raising a very pertinent question.
Who is Lord Krishna?
Lord Krishna is different to different people in our country. For children he is the lovable prankster who revels in stealing butter from every other household and teasing one and all. For the one with romance in his/her heart he is the one who can romance many together and reach heights of both sublime and erotic romance as immortalised in Jayadev’s Geeta-Govinda. For the religious, he is the ultimate God, Vishnu’s avatar who was on a mission to rid the world of evil and show mankind the path – the marg-darshak. To the not-knowing-where-s/he -belongs, he is both to be revered and ridiculed depending on the course of conversation; he is an opportunist who has his way and justifies all thru with his gift-of-the-gab.
The epic Mahabharata is incomplete without Krishna. He is an important character in the epic and his absence is felt in many a scene and the mind does tend to feel at times – this would not have happened had Krishna been there.
But herein lies the dichotomy that is Krishna. Some say, he is an enigma, and some say he is the answer. When tales of his heroic acts along with him being the fountainhead of knowledge exists, then why do we still see only aspects of his guile and deception?
Depending on which group one belongs, Krishna can be anything from a prankster, to a romantic hero to a politician to a philosopher to a modern day corporate leader. As someone would say – he is all and all is he.
So who do you think is he?
Who is Lord Krishna?
Lord Krishna is different to different people in our country. For children he is the lovable prankster who revels in stealing butter from every other household and teasing one and all. For the one with romance in his/her heart he is the one who can romance many together and reach heights of both sublime and erotic romance as immortalised in Jayadev’s Geeta-Govinda. For the religious, he is the ultimate God, Vishnu’s avatar who was on a mission to rid the world of evil and show mankind the path – the marg-darshak. To the not-knowing-where-s/he -belongs, he is both to be revered and ridiculed depending on the course of conversation; he is an opportunist who has his way and justifies all thru with his gift-of-the-gab.
The epic Mahabharata is incomplete without Krishna. He is an important character in the epic and his absence is felt in many a scene and the mind does tend to feel at times – this would not have happened had Krishna been there.
But herein lies the dichotomy that is Krishna. Some say, he is an enigma, and some say he is the answer. When tales of his heroic acts along with him being the fountainhead of knowledge exists, then why do we still see only aspects of his guile and deception?
Depending on which group one belongs, Krishna can be anything from a prankster, to a romantic hero to a politician to a philosopher to a modern day corporate leader. As someone would say – he is all and all is he.
So who do you think is he?
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