Krishna was never born but we celebrate the
birthday- yet he was born, this is the fun! Krishna was born to Devaki and
Vasudeva. Vasu means breath, the prana. Devaki means body. Kansa put Devaki and
Vasudev in prison. Kansa means the ego. Ego is the brother of Devaki, the body.
He put both the pran- vasudeva and Devaki into prison. So the ego imprisoned
the body and the pran. In that pran,
what was born, is the bliss - ananda, that
is why Krishna is called Nandlala. Nanda
means- ananda- blissful, embodiment
of bliss, embodiment of infinity. Within this small body you are able to
experience this infinite space.
See Krishna is always depicted in blue colour. You
know why in blue colour? It means that the body is transparent as if it was not
there. He was not a blue baby, certainly!
Even Shiva is depicted in blue. That doesn’t concern the physical body
but inside is infinity. Whatever is infinity is represented by blue: sky is
blue, ocean is blue, the great, the big, enormous depth and that bliss, that
being- the soul. The soul is never born, but still it is born when the mind and
the prana and the body come together. (That is what we are doing when
practicing hollow and empty- taking the mind here and there. Suddenly we
experience space; there is nothingness – just space inside, pure space. Space
has already been there but still you didn’t experience it.)
Krishna was born at 12 o’clock at night- all the
watchmen; the guards fell asleep…. This
is what is said. When Krishna was born there were many guards in the jail and
they all fell asleep. What are the
guards? the eyes , nose, ears, tongue- the five senses are the five guards that
keep you out, engaged, so that you don’t
the infinite sky which is
within. They keep you so busy outside,
the five senses, either you look at this, look at that, look here, look there
or hear this, hear that, smell this, taste that… you are engaged in the outer
world all the time, they are not letting you go- letting you experience your
self. So they all fell asleep when Krishna was born and then , though it was
born, the body was not capable to hold it
so it has to go it to Yashoda.
The child was taken by Yashoda,
by the prana, to another town
that is called Gokul. Krishna was born
in prison but he was carried away in the middle of the night because the joy
Kamsa, the ego may kill it. You know it is like someone experiences bliss and
that bliss itself can become a trip for the ego, which in turn destroys the
infinity, the joy the bliss. So in order to protect him the prana, the breath
takes him across the river if love. Yamuna is symbol of love. So by yoga, by meditation, the infinity is born
but yoga alone can’t handle it. What is
needed to nourish it is devotion, is bhakti, and is love. So love can sustain the bliss and bliss
essentially born by uniting our self into that aspect. So just yoga, just meditation is not
sufficient. Along with that bliss,
devotion, love, kirtan is essential. Kirtan is symbol of yamuna, the river.
Vasudeva was carrying the child in a basket on top
of his head because all the guards fell asleep and the prana could permeate,
could bring out that bliss, that joy into the entire atmosphere. When he was walking through the river, which
he had to cross in order to take the child to another country, it was
raining. At that time India was a small
country like Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. You just cross one border and it is there.
Vasudeva had to cross this river Yamuna, and when he
was crossing it, it was raining and Krishna was just a new born child- the
story is very beautiful here – he was carrying the basket on his head and he
had to walk through but there was flooding because of rainy season. The Yamuna
River was flooding but with great courage he walked and the water came up to
his throat, his nose. Vasudeva was about to drown but the child put his leg
outside the basket. His leg came outside the basket and the Yamuna river
stopped rising. This means when the difficulty comes upto your nose, God’s
protection is always there. It cannot go above that because that’s the
responsibility of the divine. So the divine puts its leg outside because the
Yamuna River was rising up and up and trying to have a touch of this divine
child. The moment it touched the river, it receded and Vasudeva could walk
through the other shore.
The Kirtan, love rises so high till it has a glimpse
of that infinity, a touch of that silence, a touch of bliss. You will see that’s
why in music you go high up and then you go down just like the Yamuna River.
What is important is not just singing because one can go on singing and singing
but a few moments of silence, of depth, of experiencing the bliss of the
infinity- is very essential. Many bhajan groups simply sing bhajans very
nicely, one after another in competition. They donot stop and just experience
that space in-between the bhajans.
Then in middle of the night Yashoda was sleeping and
there was another baby girl sleeping with her. Vasudeva went and replaced the
baby. He took that girl with him and left Krishna at Yashoda’s house. That is
where he grew up. So devotion, bhakti can only make the ananda, bliss grows in us. Yashoda is a symbol of shradha, faith
and devotion. So here is the birth of all these qualities in this human body.
In Krishna you see the total personality- a multi-dimensional personality from
any angel.the full blossoming of human potential is what Krishna is. You can
see him sitting silent like Buddha. You can find him in the battlefield, you
can find him as a best friend, and you can find him as a very mischievous
child, through all angels. It is a total blossoming of personality, of
existence.
Krishna himself says in Geeta “people do not know my
true nature, nobody knows”. In all his life only three persons knew him. One
was Yashoda, that too by accident. Though she was bringing him up, she was
beating him up several times. He was unbearably naughty. Once he was eating the
mud, Yashoda came and slapped his face and said, “why are you eating mud when I
have given you so many things”! He said, “No, I have not eaten mud you can see
my mouth”! He opened his mouth and she could see the whole universe. She saw
the space inside him, she saw that he is hollow and empty. She saw that he is
not just another body but he is infested innocence. In him there were all
stars, sun, moon, all that is in the creation- she saw everything, that means
she saw nothing. She saw everything and nothing in his mouth.
The second instance is with Arjuna- in the
battlefield. In Geeta he gives so many arguments to Arjuna to make him fight
and still Arjuna is not ready and krishna says “o.k. you are my dear friend. I
am going to show you who really I am. You can’t see with these eyes. You need a
special eye- the eye of awareness, the eye of knowledge” you close your eyes, I
give you another eye, you see from my eye who I am? And Arjuna was shocked to
see. He says “oh I thought you are an ordinary being, I thought you are just
like a friend to me, like a good friend, a very respectable and talented
friend. I never knew you are infinity, you are everything. He says “ you are
the air, you are the wind, you are the sky, I see the entire creation in you”
he gets bewildered and says “Oh now excuse me, I might have told you so many
things, played with you, fought with you. Please pardon me”.
The third person was Uddhava. At the end of his mortal
life Uddhava got to know who Krishna was. Krishna says in Geeta “ People think
of me as a physical embodiment. I am not the body, I am the consciousness which
is present all over and in everything”. He goes on saying “ I am the sweetness
in sugar, I am the light in the moon, I am the heat in the sun” he expresses
himself. See, Krishna is having one foot on the ground and the other foot
crosses over and is just touching the ground, that is called “threebhungy”.
means one foot is firmly on the ground, the other foot as though it is touching
the ground but it is not touching, it is elsewhere. Don’t use your mind and
energy in worldly things. If you put 100% of your mind in the worldly things,
then you get buried in the mud. So Krishna is depicted one foot very firm on
the ground but the other foot just as though it is touching up in the air-
perfect balance. That is the way to live life- the art of living. How you can
make life a fun.
It is said that Krishna was supposed to steal
butter. Butter is the final product. The milk is made into curd and curd is
churned well and becomes butter. Life is also considered to be like that- life
is like milk- life is the process of churning. So many things- events,
happenings and instances are churning your life.
Your mind is churned and churned and finally the
butter comes, it is the sainthood in you, the saintliness in you. Krishna is
stealing the saintliness. This means what? - He loves the saintliness, he loves
this mind which is like butter, which is not hard, which has reached its final
state. It is cooked well, churned well; it comes as the final butter. He is fond
of you when your mind becomes like that. This means the infinity is coming
towards you loves you so much that it steals you at any cost. He searches for
you. Wherever you are, God comes and searches you. He will search and take you,
wherever you are. You only have to become like the butter that’s what he steals
the butter. That’s another way to represent.
Then there is Radha, Radha means longing. She was
already married to someone. Nobody even knew his name. What does this mean,
“was she married?” the longing was for something else before Krishna arrived.
People long for a car, long for prestige and long for many things. But when the
bliss comes, when God comes into our life- the longing for God is very intense.
Radha forgot everything, she left her husband, she forgot her husband, her home
and her cooking and other things and she became krishna, she became immersed in
Krishna because that longing for the divine, love for the divine was so total
that even the divine could not stay without Radha. Krishna says “ I am playing
the flute just for you”. Radha is older than Krishna. That’s why some people,
some scriptures don’t accept that thing about Radha and Krishna: “What is that
Radha and Krishna?” It is very illegal. But the symbol behind it is very different
and beautiful.
Longing is older than love because longing gives
birth to love. It’s longing which reaches love and they always go together.
There can’t be love without longing and there can’t be longing without love.
How can you not long if you love something? If you love something, naturally
you will long for it. Radhe- Shyam; the infinity-Radhe-longing. Radhe is the
individual life, Shyam the infinite life. The infinity is dawning in every cell
of our body. That’s what we have been doing, taking our mind like this, taking
it through, observing and seeing, becoming conscious, becoming alive and more
alive. The entire creation is filled with life- that - is Radhe Shyam.
The Krishna dances on Kalinga, the snake, and a
legendary five-hooded snake. On the top of it Krishna is dancing. This is again
another beautiful symbol. Awareness, if not controlled by joy or bliss; it will
only bring irritation and anger. If you see people who are very aware, very
alert, a creative person, who wants everything precise, they become very angry,
restless and agitated and they throw poison? No doubt they want perfection and
create misery around if they are not blissful by themselves. Those who want
perfection create the entire problem. Those who do not want perfection they do not
care for anything. This want of perfection is not bad but it should not be on
the top of your head. If bliss is there, love is dancing, then it is all very
beautiful, it is all wonderful. It is all smooth and safe. The love is dancing
on the hood of awareness. You would see here and there a snake hood and Krishna
dancing on top of it. This is what it symbolizes. There is a very deep symbol
in it.
And then the flute. See this body is like a hollow
and empty flute. It has seven holes, seven centers. And he puts his fingers on
the seven centers, different emotions come, different tunes come and he blows
through it. Same with everybody’s life. The infinity blows through, plays all
different tunes, pushes different buttons and brings out different songs, different
music and the entire creation rejoices in that music of the flute. He can blow
through it. You become a perfect instrument of the divine when you become
hollow and empty. That is when you become like a flute. It is said that even
Radha was jealous because the flute was always with Krishna. The creation
becomes jealous of you when you become so hollow and empty and it is ready to
do whatever you want. You just need to desire. “Let there be sun” and that is
it and “ let there be rain” and that is it. Creation is all anxious to fulfil
your desire when you become hollow and empty. That is being Murali- the flute.
This is the beauty.
In ancient days when people made a story, when a
story was written, it was never made just like a history. Somebody was born on
such a date and died on such date and lived here on such date. They didn’t
bother about the dates; they didn’t bother about history at all. A story also
depicts unlimited infinity. Then the story goes beyond time and it becomes
timeless, ageless. That symbol is ageless for any age, any time.
Arjuna asked Krishna-just now the fifth chapter be
recited. Krishna says “ This yoga, this knowledge of yoga I am giving you now,
I had given this fifteen thousand years ago to somebody” immediately Arjuna
said “ What? Ishwaku lived so long ago and you are born now? How is it possible
that you could have taught this yoga to Ishwaku and others, those people who
were born thousands of years ago?” Then Krishna said “My dear both I and you
have come here several times. I remember but you don’t remember.” It is written
in Gita “I will come again and again when time is needed- when people forget
yoga, when people forget this knowledge, when they forget how to go into
themselves, how to become hollow and empty, how to get into the source of the
being. I will come again and again and revive this knowledge and all the
fortunate will get this knowledge.”
I am not finished. I am eternal and I am eternally
continuing in consciousness. So like this many small stories charm the mind,
charm the intellect, feeling, emotions, body, and everything-the entirety. That
nourishes all levels of existence.
A feather is something else we left. Why peacocks
feather? Krishna had a peacock feather. You know a crown is never light. Crown
means heavily weighed – responsibility. Crown means what? The entire state is
on the head. A person cannot sleep. He is responsible for everything happening
anywhere in the country. That is what a crown is. But if the crown is made of
peacock feather- it is never colorful you know. Our past Prime Minister Chandra
shekhar was craving to become Prime Minister for the past twenty years. Finally
he got the post but he said “Oh there is
no charm in this post”. The thought was a very big charm but after grating it
he lost it and said, “It doesn’t interest me”. That is what everybody feels,
what everybody has undergone. You ask anybody who has been in power. It is not
colorful. Others may feel “Oh. What a nice crown?” but for them it is a big
heavy load on their head. All kings are miserable. I remember once Maharishi
was sitting and there were so many people, some Swedish television people had
come and they asked Maharishi, “ What is it you are sitting like a king and
there are flowers and so many people around you”. Maharishi immediately said
“Don’t compare me with kings, they are all miserable. There is nothing colorful
there. The peacock feather, you see how many colors are there- gold, brown,
blue and green, all beautiful colors. The crown is colorful, at the same time
it is light, is made of feathers- peacock feathers. This knowledge is like
feather. This knowledge is such a supreme knowledge. Though it commands
everything, commands all power in the creation, still it is not heavy, it is
very light. It is so blissful, it is so beautiful. That is what the peacock
feather depicts.
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