Lord Krishna, who is believed to be the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu, is a highly adored God whose stories are lovingly recited and listened to with an enthusiastic spirit everywhere. Be it a grandparent or a parent fondly reading the brightly illustrated mythological story books of Lord Krishna to their tiny tots or a spiritual teacher imparting the knowledge of the deep teachings behind His actions, the tales of the Lord are heard with mesmerisation by every person irrespective of his / her age. As the legends of Lord Krishna portray Him as taking an incarnation of a human being who had tried to teach the masses about different kinds of necessary values through playful, funny and faithful deeds, people could easily learn and understand about His sentiments and thereby admire and worship Him with utmost devotion. With His human nature, Lord Krishna has captivated and taught many lessons of life to the world. For this reason, life coaches or motivational speakers today often take references from the tales of Lord Krishna to give inspirational advice to people through offline or online lecture series. Apart from His human actions, His figures or statues which depict Him as having beautiful features also charms every devotee of Him. Meanwhile, the Vaishnava tradition of the Bhakti movement, which rose to prominence in the fifteenth century, depicted Lord Krishna as the Supreme Deity who can be worshipped by singing songs without the need to follow complex religious rituals. Many Vaishnavite saints of yore composed beautiful devotional poems in their local languages in praise of Lord Krishna where they had described about His beauty and teachings. With the help of different musical instruments, these saints wandered over various corners of India singing their poems or songs passionately thereby captivating the minds of many people who had to found it difficult to understand the meaning of the scriptures as it was written in Sanskrit. When the actual meaning of the religious scriptures came alive in simple words through the poems, the Bhakti or the idea of worshipping the Lord devotedly arose. Apart from these rich soulful poems which are considered sacred even today, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) or the Hare Krishna movement which started in 1966 in New York by Swami Prabhupada was also responsible for taking the great teachings of Lord Krishna to the global platform. Today, there are a number of domestic and international followers of the ISCKON movement. Due to a good number of religious movements which arose with the aim of spreading the teachings of Lord Krishna and awaken deep devotion for Him, He came to be a highly adored deity.
Some of the human like ways in which Lord Krishna has been able to charm everyone-
AS A FRIEND
The story of the unconditional friendship between Lord Krishna and Sudama has been eulogized by everybody. It is well-known how the Lord had come out of his castle in Dwarka in an ecstatic condition and without a proper dress code just to meet His friend who had shown up at the gates. Although many an eyebrows were raised among the people, the Lord heartily welcomed his poor friend Sudama to the castle, lavishly enjoyed the small meal which His friend had brought for Him and sent Sudama back to his place by handsomely rewarding him and his family. Meanwhile, the tale of the way in which Lord Krishna had protected the dignity of His friend Draupadi in her dire situation in the court at Hastinapura is highlighted brilliantly in the epic Mahabharata. When everybody had guiltily ignored the pleas of Draupadi, Lord Krishna emerged as her true friend and protected her in her grave hour of need by miraculously sending heaps of clothes to cover her body at her time of disrobing by Dushashana.
AS A TEACHER
Lord Krishna had beautifully taught Arjun about the essence of Bhagavad Gita at the beginning of the Mahabharata War. When the third Pandava brother had lamented about the need for killing his dear ones, Lord Krishna had enlightened him about the presence of the indestructible soul. He had also been a good adviser to the five Pandava brothers and had helped them out of their troubles inflicted upon them by the Kauravas. Lord Krishna is also famous for teaching various meanings through His funny and naughty childhood acts. From the tale of the breaking of butter pots teaching us about the importance of team work to His passionate love for playing the flute and looking after the cows lovingly telling us about the need for loving our jobs, the stories of the Lord is instrumental in our everyday lives.
AS A LOVER
The stories of Radha and the other cowherd girls (Gopis) pining for the eagerness of meeting Lord Krishna and continuously worshipping to meet Him is a well depicted in the Rasleela tales. It is also a well eulogized tale as to how Lord Krishna had managed to charm the cowherd girls making them dance with the soothing tunes of His flute and thereby blessing them for their selfless devotion. Meanwhile, the tales of how the Rajput princess Meerabai totally ignored gossipmongers and continue to passionately devote her time in worshipping Lord Krishna helped her in gaining salvation is also widely known. Many Vaishnavite saints and the ISCKON movement teaches us how Bhakti or the act of worshipping the Lord selflessly can help us in gaining mental peace and fulfil our work fruitfully.
AS A PROTECTOR
From protecting the residents of Vrindavan against the evil demons or forces to maintaining the dignity of Draupadi and shielding the Pandavas from the wicked acts of the Kauravas, Lord Krishna is highly praised as an eternal guardian of the masses. The songs or poems composed in praise of Lord Krishna narrates His protection of the devotees in detail. Most tales of Lord Krishna tells how He had killed His enemies and had forgiven them when they had managed to repent for their misdeeds at their last stage.
By teaching so many life lessons in an interesting way, Lord Krishna had managed to enthrall every human being since centuries and will continue to do so. May the Lord shower His blessings upon you all. Happy Janmasthami!
