One Who is Like the Sky! Krishna in Literature

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That twinkle in the eyes and curly hair! And a smile which was said to have driven all in the three worlds crazy! Crazy with love. Imagine if there was a real beloved child like that in our midst! Even before his mischiefs or his saving of the world began, he made everyone fall in love with him.

करारविन्देन पदारविन्दं
मुखारविन्दे विनिवेशयन्तम् ।
वटस्य पत्रस्य पुटे शयानं
बालं मुकुन्दं मनसा स्मरामि ॥१॥

I remember that child Krishna in my mind who was lying on a banyan leaf, sucking his lotus like big toe which he was holding with his lotus like hands.

From the 7^th century CE, when Sage Markandeya wrote that, till today, every young child has become Krishna in his mother’s eyes.

Poet Jaydev has immortalized the love between Radha and Krishna in his Gita Govinda. It has been interpreted as a symbolic discourse about the physical existence and the ultimate union with the Godhead, and also as a dedication to Krishna and Radha, the ‘yugal roop’ in the Bhakti tradition. Even poet Jaydev begins with description of child Krishna.

पदच्छेद : मेघैः मेदुरम् अंबरम् वन भुवः श्यामाः तमाल द्रुमैः नक्तम्
भीरुः अयम् त्वम् एव तत् इमम् राधे गृहम् प्रापय इत्थम् नन्द निदेशितः…

‘Clouds are thickening in the sky, and the Tamala trees are darkening the forest. Night is drawing near and Krishna is afraid. Radha, you alone can take him home’, instructed Nanda…

In many of Krishna’s childhood stories, this same timid Krishna, sucked life out of Putana, killed Trinavarta, Aghasura and Bakasura – all demons. This Krishna also helped his family by taking the cattle to pastures for feeding. This Krishna was the affectionate and caring friend of other young cowherds. It was this Krishna who invited wrath of Gokul housewives whose butter he stole for himself and his friends. And not to forget the jumping into the Yamuna and defeating Kaaliya Naga.

These are stories of child Krishna’s adventures any child would get fascinated with. There is no other supreme god who has had such a life! Most of them seem to have had very protected lives in their palaces! Krishna was in the middle of us common people, living their lives. No wonder Krishna has been every child’s hero. Did he ever rest? Not really. He had to grow up and go to Mathura, help Trivakra straighten her back, and find Kamsa and annihilate him.

The grown up Krishna had to leave his childhood far behind. But, his immense capacity for love and affection only grew with age. Krishna’s bonds of friendship were deep and full of love and understanding, as described by K.M. Munshi in his Krishnavatar. His friendship with Uddhava would make any person want a friendship like that – of having a friend who asks nothing in return, of complete surrender to just being a friend where words are not necessary. Krishna’s friendship with Draupadi has made many women crave for such a friendship. His friendship with Sudama only speaks to us of patience to wait for the other person’s return ‘gift’. And his friendship with Jatayu is a saga of love and kindness. There is no one except Krishna who brings to us the meaning of friendship between equals. Not of master and servant like others have presented us with.

And, love, the ultimate, ideal of love is personified in Krishna’s relationship with Radha. No matter where life took him, he always had her in his heart. No matter other women came in his life. Radha remained a constant tune of his entire existence.

Radha’s love for Krishna is explained through a simple story of Krishna once suffering a headache which did not go away. Visiting sage Narada’s solution of placing a foot on his forehead by a person who loved him most, brought no results. Everyone of his family claimed to love him most, but was also afraid of going to hell by putting their foot on his forehead as he was known to them as God. Lying in bed with closed eyes and left alone, Krishna suddenly felt a cool breeze and then extreme peace and calm. Only Radha could make him feel that, he thought. Opening his eyes in this realization, Krishna only caught glimpse of the end of a saree disappearing out of the door. She came, she placed her foot on his forehead without worrying about going to hell, and she left.

Vivekananda begins his philosophical discourse in Raj Yoga by explaining three kinds of love, the highest being that of Radha, the selfless love. It is only Krishna who could arouse such love.

Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali poems invoke a visions of pure love, the pain of separation and the inner desire to be one with Him. Influenced by the Vaishnav songs of Chaitanya’s followers, in his mystical song offerings, Tagore writes,

‘..but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals;

and this strong mercy has been wrought into

my life through and through..’

But not for nothing. Tagore continues,

Day by day thou art making me worthy of

Thy full acceptance by refusing me ever and anon,

Saving me from perils of weak, uncertain desire.’

This too is Krishna!

Mexican poet Octavio Paz visited India in search of the dark Kadamba forests, and meeting the then arid Yamuna, wrote a poem. English poet T.S. Eliot has interpreted Gita in a poetic fashion.

In order to arrive at what you do not know

You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.

In order to possess what you do not possess

You must go by the way of dispossession.

No matter where we go, we are surrounded by Krishna. One must be stubbornly blind not to see that. No matter what our age, he keeps inspiring us to be our best. He inspires us not to run away from life and responsibilities. Living our lives is our greatest ‘sadhana’, he tells us. He inspires us to love everything, trees and air and water and animals and people.

In Munshi’s ‘Krishnavtara’, when Krishna had disappeared in the ‘paataal lok’, Shaibya used to stand on the shores of Dwarka’s ocean, and gaze far, as if she would bring him back with the intensity of her gaze. Maybe an intense gaze born within our hearts can bring him to us too.