Krishna
Krishna Deity in Belfast
Krishna is a name of God which means the All-attractive Supreme Lord in (Sanskrit). Although He is considered to be the eighth avatar (descended form) of Vishnu, in reality He is the original source of all forms of God. Some of the events of Krishna's revealed pastimes on Earth are recounted in the historical epic, Mahabharata.
God appears among different cultures with various names, and Krishna is His original name.
Accounts of Krishna occur in a large number of devotional, religious, and poetical works. These works include the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavata Purana, and the Gita Govinda.
Devotion to God is called Bhakti.
Krishna is always enacting His lila, or loving divine play as the central Person of all existence.
He is ruler of the Yadavas at Mathura and also at Dwaraka, the husband of Rukmini, and a friend and ally of the Pandavas.
He is the charioteer and advisor of Arjuna, who teaches and instructs him in dharma in the Bhagavad Gita. Before the great battle of Kurukshetra starts, Arjuna loses heart with the prospect of fighting his cousins and other relatives for the kingdom. Krishna reminds him that he has done everything he could possibly do to avoid the battle, and that his duty is now to fight. This forms the basis of the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
ISKCON, sometimes called the Hare Krishna movement, is a branch of the movement started by Sri Krishna Chaitanya, and it was founded by His Divine Grace, AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Krishna's skin is the color syama, which is not a material color, but a spiritual one. Although there is no material counterpart for this color, it is often described as being like dark blue or bluish-black. This can be seen in His Deity form of Lord Jaganatha at Puri (Lord of the Universe).
Major aspects
Religious texts and literature
Summary of the pastimes of Krishna
This summary is derived from the Mahabharata, and the Harivamsaparva, an addendum to it.The appearance pastime of Krishna
Krishna is never subjected to birth, old age, disease, and death, as the materially conditioned souls are. He appears at will and enacts His pastimes for His pleasure and the pleasure of His devotees. Krishna appears in a prison cell at Mathura, in modern Haryana. His mother is Devaki and his father Vasudeva. Devaki was imprisoned because her brother Kamsa, the king, knew that a son of hers would be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he intended to kill her children as they were born. Krishna was smuggled out to be raised in the village of Gokula, in the forest of Vrindavan. Krishna at Vrindavan
Krishna the child, together with his brother Balarama and sister Subhadra, were raised by His foster mother Yasoda in a cow herding community within Vrindavan forest. He is known as Gopala, the cowherd because of His love of the cows. Krishna is mischievous and clever, stealing butter, breaking pots for ghee, and playing transcendental pranks. As His pastimes progress, His love for the Gopis and His other devotees is manifested very deeply.Krishna the prince
Krishna as a youth returns to Mathura, overthrows His uncle Kamsa, and becomes ruler of the Yadavas at Mathura. He also takes his Yadava subjects to Dwaraka (in modern Gujarat). He marries Rukmini, daughter of King Bhishmaka of Vidarbha (a region of central India).The Kurukshetra War
In the Mahabharata, Krishna is cousin to both sides in the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. But He effectively takes the Pandava side, the side of His saintly devotees, counseling and guiding them. He protects Draupadi when Dushasana tries to strip her in the court. He agrees to be the chariot driver for Arjuna in the great battle. After the battle, Krishna rules the Yadavas at Dwaraka with His wife Rukmini. Gita Govinda - the song of the cowherd
Certain literary works were important to later development of the bhakti traditions, including the Gita Govinda. This work was composed by Jayadeva Goswami in eastern India, in the 12th century AD. It elaborated part of the story of Krishna, and of one particular Gopi, called Radha, Who is factually nondifferent from Krishna, as His internal pleasure potency. The analogy of a fire and its energies of heat and light may be used to get a better understanding of Their nondifference from one another. He is like the fire, and She is like the light and heat emanating from that fire.Recent Krishna bhakti movements
The bhakti traditions include those promoted by Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (16th century in Bengal), Who is the Supreme Lord Krishna Himself appearing in the ecstatic loving mood of Radha.The name
The name and word in the original Sanskrit is written Kṛṣṇa in scholarly phonetic script. The original pronunciation included a vowalic 'r' in the middle. This resembles the pronunciation of the vowels in the first syllable of 'crystal' or 'Christmas' in some English dialects. In some modern Indian languages, the vowel 'i' has been introduced; in some other languages it may be replaced with a 'u' sound (Krushna). Krishna the All-attractive Supreme Lord
The Name Krishna means All attractive Supreme Lord in Sanskrit; it is related to similar words in other Indo-European languages meaning blackish. The name is sometimes erroneously translated as 'the blackish one.'Other names of Krishna
God is known by numerous other Holy names. The names of God are infinite in number, and they include the following:
