Understanding Krishna Is Understanding Life

Understanding Krishna is unconventional. He is ageless. We have to grow higher to be a contemporary of Krishna’s ways. Much and much higher. Because He is puzzling, confusing, multi-channelled, political for us. Too evolved to catch Him now. Because He is not only for now. He is for the future and that is much ahead of our times. Pettiness can’t aspire to fathom Him.

The musician God who sings and dances, smiles and flirts signals the worth of life. He is hardly brooding, sad or serious or even flinty. He enjoys life and asks everyone to do so by complete surrender to the Supreme.

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज |

अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुच: ||

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śharaṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣhayiṣhyāmi mā śhuchaḥ

“Do not worry about anything, leave all faiths and take refuge in me. I will liberate you.” Even with this unconditional guarantee, we prefer to be miserable, clinging on to our egos. We aren’t the doers but when would we realise this and enjoy the dance of life.

The other day I was telling a friend that we are all tenants meant to merry make in this soiree and leave when time is up. There is no ownership and no permanence and if this is internalised, our world will be a paradise without conflicts – both inner and outer, avarice, and savagery. But when will we accept this truth?

We have been escaping from reality because we are scared or we want to procrastinate till tomorrow, mindlessly. This mindlessness comes from overuse of mind. It is widely believed that we are living in an intellectual golden age. Are we and if so then do we foresee decline soon? What’s in store after the golden age?

The Flynn effect says that the average person today would have been considered a genius compared to someone born in 1919. Our IQ scores have been steadily increasing. But is intelligence the same as consciousness? Does one lead to the other?

With so much pettiness all around us – nations burning with egos, soil erupting with pain, trees slained, water chocked, humans slaughtering each other, where do you sense the IQ to be useful to us or the planet? Maybe we have reached peak intelligence. Scientists even say that intelligence is not necessary for survival. Earth did just fine during the first 4.5 billion years before humans existed.

Leave the delusion of being an omnipotent doer and surrender to the Supreme. Krishna is pragmatic and handholds us to the future. He is here to free us.

He says, नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः । न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ॥

“No weapon can even touch me”, “And neither can the fire burn me,” “It cannot be drenched by the water and it cannot be rendered dry by the winds.”

He is referring to the indestructible soul – immortal and eternal. It was with us before our birth and it will be with us after your birth, because it is we (or me), our (my) essential being. Only that which stays when the body leaves us. Everything else will stay back, even the breath. But we are in a self-destructive mode. Why? Because since we always look for self gains in everything we do in life, can’t we know that this will set us free. Free from all prisons: the prisons of the body, the prisons of the mind, the prisons that exist outside us. One moment of realisation and I can suddenly feel the freedom all over my body and mind.

‘Krishna’ means the highest state of consciousness. He is playful, he is diplomatic, he is savvy, and He is totally different. Everything is a game for Him. He is genuinely liberated; his liberation is absolute, without any lag. His liberation is steadfast because He knows all is a game. When all is a game and all is a dream, there is no reason to spoil the tenancy one is enjoying because of one’s birth in this beautiful world. He is not worried and bothered. Can’t be. He plays along life and yet remains completely detached. What is yours that you want to be attached to? This is the fundamental of our birth. So He plays the flute, dances with maidens. Love is an infinite stillness, a state of rootedness. Krishna has called this state of rootedness sthita-pragyna. One can be blissful if there is no mind. With mind comes the distractions and the derailment. That’s why the word ‘deranged’ signifies something significant. It goes contrarian to the natural “arrangement” of creation.

Krishna accepts life in all its hues and situations. He accepts life unconditionally and ungrudgingly. He accepts life as it is. It is a misconception that Krishna prefers only the flowers of life and distances from its thorns. Thorns exist for the protection of flowers and they are deeply connected with each other. They are united — members of the same family. He doesn’t discriminate.

Krishna not only accepts politics, but He also lives in the thick of politics without the least difficulty. We could live amidst the volatility if we understand His messages, indications and life because he donned the human role to alert us. His epic, Gita is a guide to live well and bid the world goodbye at the end of the tenancy. But we have decided to be the owners and go through the litigations of everyday life. We have Krishna and yet we are struggling.

Is this intelligence?