Yugavani

Sri Krishna

The jnanis think of God without form. They don’t accept the Divine Incarnation. Praising Sri Krishna, Arjuna said, ‘Thou art Brahman Absolute.’ Sri Krishna replied, ‘Follow Me, and you will know whether or not I am Brahman Absolute.’ So saying, Sri Krishna led Arjuna to a certain place and asked him what he saw there. ‘I see a huge tree,’ said Arjuna, ‘and on it I notice fruits hanging like clusters of blackberries.’ Then Krishna said to Arjuna, ‘Come nearer and you will find that these are not clusters of blackberries, but clusters of innumerable Krishnas like Me, hanging from the tree.’ In other words, Divine Incarnations without number appear and disappear on the tree of the Absolute Brahman.

Do you know why images of Krishna or Kali are three and a half cubits high? Because of distance. Again, on account of distance the sun appears to be small. But if you go near it you will find the sun so big that you won’t be able to comprehend it. Why have images of Krishna and Kali a dark-blue colour? That too is on account of distance, like the water of a lake, which appears green, blue, or black from a distance. Go near, take the water in the palm of your hand, and you will find that it has no colour. The sky also appears blue from a distance. Go near and you will see that it has no colour at all.

Whether you accept Radha and Krishna, or not, please do accept their attraction for each other. Try to create that same yearning in your heart for God. Yearning is all you need in order to realize Him.

The gopis cherished escstatic love for Krishna. There are two elements in such love: ‘I-ness’ and ‘my-ness’. ‘I-ness’ is the feeling that Krishna will be ill if ‘I’ do not serve Him. In this attitude the devotee does not look upon his Ideal as God. ‘My-ness’ is to feel that the Beloved is ‘my’ own. The gopis had such a feeling of ‘my-ness’ toward Krishna that they would place their subtle bodies under His feet lest His soles should get hurt.

I went to Syamakunda and Radhakunda in a palanquin and got out to visit the holy Mount Govardhan. At the very sight of the mount I was overpowered with divine emotion and ran to the top. I lost all consciousness of the world around me. The residents of the place helped me to come down. On my way to the sacred pools of Syamakunda and Radhakunda, when I saw the meadows, the trees, the shrubs, the birds, and the deer, I was overcome with ecstasy. My clothes became wet with tears. I said: ‘O Krishna! Everything here is as it was in the olden days. You alone are absent.’

—Sri Ramakrishna