The escape clause?

Fair dues warning: This is a spiritual post. Please leave if you are easily offended. 

Krishna demolishing Kansa

I heard a talk from a Hindu scholar recently. He was narrating the story of Krishna and the troubling times he was born into. Rather, the Protector of the Universe, Vishnu, manifested himself as Krishna to maintain law and order. Too many influential people were abusing their positions to create chaos, which needed to be curbed.

Krishna's immediate duty was to defeat Kansa, his uncle, a demonic King. Trouble started when Kansa married off his sister, Devaki, to Vasudeva. Deep inside, Kansa intended to usurp Vasudeva's land. At the wedding, a prophecy was heard that Devaki's eighth child would be the reason for Kansa's defeat. Kansa imprisoned the couple, and Devaki's seven children were all killed at birth. Why all the other births, too, not just the eighth? Somebody alerted Kansa that the seven siblings could rally behind the eighth to attack him.

When the eighth child was finally born on an auspicious star on a wet rainy night, the hypnotic illusion of Vishnu came into full force. With sleeping guards and extremely lax security, a child was born, taken out of prison, transported across River Ganga, swapped with another baby, a baby girl, born at the same time, and returned to Devaki's cell. The baby girl cried only when it arrived at its destination, alerting the guards. The palace was alerted, but by the time Kansa laid his hands on the baby, he knew he had been duped. Was the prophecy wrong? The eighth born turned out to be a girl! Kansa tried to smash the baby on the wall. Surprise, surprise. The baby girl turned out to be Goddess Kaali, who announced that Kansa’s assassin was safe on the other side of the river and that his days were numbered.

Kansa spent the rest of his days thinking of Krishna, turning every corner and looking for his assailant. Long story short, Kansa sent so many adversaries to finish off young Krishna, but in vain. When Kansa was finally killed, it is said he attained moksha (released from the curse of rebirth) because Krishna was always on his mind, thinking of Krishna day and night.

Ravana

The same thing is said to have happened to Ravana. After kidnapping Sita, keeping her captive, and wooing her, he was shocked when Hanuman arrived in his supposedly safe cocoon. Hanuman created a ruckus by burning Lanka. It was a warning to Ravana that the end was nay. Rama was coming sooner than he thought. Just like Kansa, Ravana went into alert mode. 

Despite being the sorcerer and the erudite person he was, the fear of Rama and the accompanying Vanara army sank in. Ravana shuddered. What carnage could the rest do if one representative could do such damage? Every minute that followed, he was compelled to think of Rama and only Rama. Again, Ravana was defeated but also attained moksha because Rama was always at the tip of his tongue and immersed deep in his thoughts. 

My feeble mind does not comprehend all these. These great tyrants, despite all their evil deeds, the pain and suffering they inflicted upon others, and the trail of destruction left behind, escaped the dreaded curse of reincarnation because they went on thinking and chanting the Lord's name. It is a rather lazy way of cutting the queue, surpassing all others who went the problematic way of collecting brownie points and spiralling through birth after birth to attain salvation. In my mind, katas (sermons) like these are the crossroads where itihasa (history), tattva (philosophy) and sciences morph into myths. The scriptures tell about Rama and Krishna's dates of birth indirectly through constellation positions, permitting accurate dating of certain events. This information can be fed through astronomical apps to verify the presence of such a constellation. Astronomical calculations had verified it to be correct. Their births probably happened. That is science. But I am not so sure about others. My blinkers are still on, and I may not be ready to receive the essence of the nectar of the Lord's divine wisdom. But I persevere...

(P.S. I had been under the impression that the law of karma works like Newton's Third Law of Motion. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You reap what you sow. Perhaps this escape route to erase one's sins is reactionary to what the Catholic Church was preaching at that time in India. A sincere confession under the name of the Lord cleans the slate. Fearing losing their congregation to the order side where something else is offered to the Law of Karma, the stakeholders may have relented. Instead of uttering ‘Hail Mary’ thrice and absolving your sins, they offered the chanting of ‘Hari Krishna Hari Rama’ indefinitely.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

It's so easy to fall in love?

Krishna and His Leela (Telugu, 2020)
Netflix

Even though this film has just been released, it has kicked up such a storm over the cyberworld. Hashtags like #BoycottNetflix and #KrishnaAndHisLeela are trending. People are calling @NetflixIndia Hinduphobic, citing many of its latest productions apathetic to the Hindu sentiments. Films like Sacred Games, Bulbul, Ghoul, Delhi Crimes and Leila have allegedly denigrated the Hindu deities. In this offering, is it a merely by chance that the main character's name coincides with the protagonist of the epic Mahabharata? Krishna in the movie is an indecisive chap who conveniently two-times his two girlfriends whose names just happens to be Lord Krishna's two of His eight queen-consorts, Radha and Satya. There is a third girl whose name sounds similar to Rukmini.

The fact that the protagonist pushed the boundary of public 'Indian' decency that ired viewers more. In most Indian movies, the story of a hero is only allowed to be engaged in relationships with more than one partner only when it is a comedy film or for actors in villainous roles. Still, engaging in sexual relations with more than one is taboo. Sex is revered a special status that is only reserved for that one true love. If a hero sacrificing his true love to marry someone else to defend social mores, that is alright, but not a wilfully two-timing. Characters with godly names and pushing the social boundaries is a tad too much for the public liking.

Ashtabharya (8 consort-queen) with Krishna -
19th Century Mysore painting.

It seems portrayal of Jesus Christ as a nose-ring bearing lesbian woman by Paris Jackson (daughter of the King of Pop) in a new movie 'Habit' is not okay. We all know what happened to Salman Rushdie when his satire 'Satanic Verses' mocked the Prophet. The Hindus are the harmless punching backs. Even the local stand-up comedy scene is bountiful with jokes with all religions except Islam for fear of being accused of being Islamophobic and of bearing the brunt of the rage of its believers.

A few new trends are seen in the lifestyles of the young adults as the norm, as suggested here. Once one is of a certain age, there is a strong compulsion to explore and prove their sexual identity as well as to fulfil their sexual appetite. Living off their relatively well-heeled parent(s), they do not need to think of their essential day-to-day survival needs. Maybe sexual prowesses has become another basic tenet to prove their existence. Their future is the last thing they consider. Time just passes by as they search in vain their passion, their raison d'être, as they drag their sorry ass slugging through one frustrating task after another. Did I mention alcohol flows like a river at every insignificant moment of their life? True, they drink occasionally, but every occasion is a reason to get drunk.

Overindulgence in intoxicants is not seen as a sign of being irresponsible but of living life to the max. At least that is what the media and celluloid pseudo-world seem to glorify. It is as though they deserve it, they earned it for all the troubles and difficulties they go through in modern life. Every generation thinks they had it tough and the generation before and after them had it on a platter.

Maybe this is the subtle way how the East India Company with its Scottish doctor-trader, Dr William Jardin, defeated the mighty Chinese around the time before the Opium Wars. They basically weakened the Chinese bureaucracy and machinery into becoming drug addicts. Like a bacteriophage, the British took over the driver's seat and the whole car, i.e. Hong Kong as the entire Chinese machinery was paralysed. In their subtle way again, the entrepreneurs of the world have made beer-drinking and football game revelry synonymous. Is this a secret ploy by the anarchist to weaken mankind and turn us all to obedient automatons.

The movie also questions that perhaps the male gender, often accused of showing its toxicity through its patriarchal set of social rules, have gone all mellow. To conform to political correctness, not to rock the status quo or create ripples in a perceived stable society, they have to just take dictation to what the fairer sex recites. Yes, you can; no, I feel violated; I will tell you when; stop means stop are the buzz words that define the dynamics of modern boy-girl relationships.

Me, glad the rat race is ending as I set into the horizon.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

A different time?

A unique painting: Krishna points out the Eid moon. 17th century, possibly by Hamid Ruknuddin from Bikaner, Rajasthan.

"Krishna Sights the Eid Moon," artist unknown, probably late 16th or 17th century. Did you know that Muslim artists in Mughal India produced many exquisite paintings of Krishna? Of course, the scene here is a historical impossibility, since Krishna, if he existed, predated Islam. But in this painting, and in the many other paintings that depict Vedic devotional themes using Persian/Mughal techniques, we see evidence of a time when religion was not the rigid, codified thing it is now. This India existed, in fact, until recently. And this syncretic approach to faith was the norm across Southeast Asia too, in what is now Indonesia and Malaysia. Something to think about this Hari Raya/Eid.

Any way you like it!

One man's perception of certain of an event may differ to another's. Just like that his understanding of a part of scriptures may vary. He may cherry pick what he wants to see and the part that is favourable to his agenda.

I recently heard yet another interpretation of the iconic event of Bhagavad-Gita. The discourse between Arjuna, the warrior who got cold feet on the eve of a deathly duel and his confidante, Krishna, to most people, is an intelligent dialogue on the purpose of life and existence. Looking at it from another angle, it is psychotherapy.

Imagine a student pinning all his hopes to sit for an important public examination. This examination is so significant to him as it is the only way for him to escape the shackles of poverty and hopelessness. His family has put all their faith in him to succeed. The student has been doing well all through his life but somehow, this time it feels different. The pressure is too over-bearing. The thought of his whole life being decided on a single examination seem ludicrous. He grows cold feet.

Imagine a senior person who has seen it all comes to the rescue. He literally tells him to snap out of it only to realise that that method does not work. He starts counselling him on purpose of his path in life and ways to make sense of it all as well as the correct method to take things at a stride as they come.

As in Bhagavad-Gita, the opening of the content of your heart is therapeutic. Our fears, sometimes arise from the same mind that is supposed to protect us from external dangers. It is akin to the fences that were erected to guard our crops which start feeding on the produce.

Advice meant only for others?

By Devdutt Pattanaik 

Konark Sun Temple

One of the most disturbing stories that we find it the Puranas is the story of Krishna's son Samba, whose mother was the bear-princes, Jambavati.

 He dupes his father's junior wives by disguising himself as Krishna and is cursed by Krishna that he will suffer from a skin disease that will enable his wives to distinguish father and son. Samba is cured after he builds temples to the sun. All sun temples in India, from Konark in Odisha to Modhera in Gujarat to Markand in Kashmir, are attributed to this son of Krishna.

Samba also attempts to kidnap Duryodhana's daughter and this leads to war between the Kauravas and the Yadavas. Peace is restored, and the marriage is solemnised, only after Balarama, Krishna's elder brother, and Samba's uncle, in a fit of fury threatens to drag Hastinapur into the sea. 

Then there is the story of Samba pretending to be a pregnant woman and duping sages who were visiting Dwaraka. They sages were not amused and cursed Samba that he would give birth to an iron mace that would be responsible for the end of the Yadu clan. 

Must not Krishna's son be as noble and divine and wise and loving as Krishna? But that is not so. Samba comes with his own personality and his own destiny over which Krishna has no influence. Or does he? 

Can we wonder if Samba was a product of his father's neglect? For was not Krishna spending most of his time with Arjuna and the Pandavas and in the politics of Kuru-kshetra?

There are hardly any stories of Krishna as father. He is a friend, philosopher and guide to Arjuna, but the only stories of father and son are of tension, rage and violence. 

In conversations about corporations, we often forget about the other half of our lives, the personal one. 

As more and more people are working 24x7, thanks to Internet, and smart devices, the lines between professional and personal, work and life are getting blurred. In fact, people feel noble when they sacrifice family for work and guilty when they take a holiday to take care of their family. 

Family is not seen as achievement. Children are not seen as purpose. They are seen as obligations, duties, by-products of existence, even collateral damage.  

We admire leaders who sacrifice family for a 'larger' cause. Like freedom fighters who neglect their wives and children. Like business men and entrepreneurs and consultants who spend most of their time in office.

With the rise of feminism, women are also working. Parenting has been outsourced to maids, teachers, computers, video-games and grandparents.

 Women who work in the office have not been compensated by their husbands spending more time at home. Instead women are made to feel guilty for not being good mothers. No one questions men for not being good fathers. Eventually, the office wins. Absent parents rationalise how office is more important than the children: we need the money, the children eventually grow up, surely our needs are also important. 

Many great Krishnas in the workplace discover that they have nurtured Samba at home: sons who either follow destructive paths as they seek attention, or sons who make their way away from parents, as they have grown used to not having them around. Who wins?

Corporations were supposed to create wealth for the family. Now families are creating only workers for the corporation. 

We have many more Krishnas in this generation and maybe many Sambas in the next.

http://indiaopines.com/samba-lord-krishna-son/