Bhagavan Sri Krishna – The Divine Perfection : Swami Krishnananda.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, July 8, 2021. 7:00.AM.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we think of perfection, we will not be able to completely think it even in our own minds though there is a longing for it. It is not any aspect of perfection for which we are asking or longing. It is a perfection that has to be perfect in every aspect. For this purpose, we may have to envisage the structure of life itself. It is a perfection of life that we are aspiring for, and not merely a perfection of the body or perfection of the governmental system or perfection of the community or the perfection of some particular vocation in life, etc., though that is also something which forms part of our aspiration. There is a grand totality of concept which we always try to entertain in our minds. Many a time it is so large that it cannot be contained in our minds. It slips from our very longing itself. Very rarely can we contemplate such a thoroughness of aspiration in our minds. That is why our activities in life do not always succeed completely. We have an unconscious urge from within ourselves for a conscious realisation of something which seems to be beckoning us from the front, which keeps us always in a state of anxiety and restlessness, making us move from place to place in search of things we do not want, yet agonising us from within ourselves.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, to mention two of the epics of the world, are magnificent edifices of artistic achievement. But only an artist can achieve that perfection; the layman cannot understand it, and even an appreciation of it is difficult. A magnificent painting, for instance, can be appreciated only by an equally great painter. A person who is not acquainted with the secrets and the principles of art and aesthetics may not be able to appreciate the paintings of Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci or Ravi Varma, etc. We will only say it is a beautiful picture and go away, but the man’s genius is there and he has painted not merely a pattern through colours but a picture of human mystery.

One such Master has come down to our memories today – the great Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata and many other scriptures attributed to him like the Brahmasutra, the Srimad Bhagavata, the Puranas, and so on. Very few even among Indians themselves may be aware of the magnitude of the achievement he has projected forth in his personality and in his writings. He was perhaps the first great unifier of India’s culture, the first great personality, to our memories at least, who attempted a consolidation of cultures and thrilled people’s spirits by presenting before them a picture of what they are actually longing for. He was not unaware of the futility of logical acumen and scientific presentations, so he turned to another line of approach altogether, which is the line adopted by all great poets and epic writers who knew the depths of human nature and the profundities of the mystery of creation.

In this great work of art which is the achievement of Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, he centralises his theme in the personality of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, who is the spokesman of the Bhagavadgita, which is the pendant in the garland of the whole Mahabharata. The Bhagavadgita is a small microscopic Mahabharata by itself, and its spokesman is Bhagavan Sri Krishna. In his personality, the author of the Mahabharata, or the Gita, as we may say, has brought into focus the total aspirations of all humanity, a perfection which could not otherwise be explained than by a style of presentation and a language which will simply rouse us into the empyrean of delight. This is the work of art. The mystery of art, the peculiarity of art, the greatness of art is that it simply ravages us completely. It enraptures us, catches our spirit at the very roots, and we do not know where we stand at that time. It happens sometimes when we look at a vast ocean, or when we look at the full moon in a clear sky, which are principles of art. We are ravaged and possessed by a spirit which is not merely logical, and which is more than human. Such was the picture that was presented in the personality of Bhagavan Sri Krishna.

I was chatting with some friends the other day when I put a question whether anybody has written a biography of Bhagavan Sri Krishna. We came to the conclusion nobody has written it, and perhaps nobody will write it. The reason is that it is impossible to conceive the many-sidedness of this personality because anyone who tries to write a biography of such a person has to rise to that level of perfection of thinking, which is ordinarily not possible. And if one attempts to think in such a thoroughness and completeness and many-sidedness, the mind may get stunned and any kind of writing will be impossible. It is impossible to write the beauty of the ocean. We can only appreciate it by looking at it. We want to see it again and again, and we want to be there always. The thundering waves that dash upon the shores, ebbing and flowing, catching our spirits – we do not know how they work, but they do work. We enjoy the sunset, we enjoy the sunrise, we enjoy the magnificent brilliance of the orb of the sun at midday. We do not know how it happens, or why is it that we appreciate it. Art cannot be explained. It is an explanation by itself. Everything can be explained, but art cannot be explained because it is not science. That is why we call it art. Science can be explained, not art. So here we have the perfect art of presentation – the magnificence of the Bhagavadgita, the magnificence of the personality of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, and the magnificence of the Mahabharata.

The consciousness of there being such a perfection everywhere is what we call the attainment of true yoga, mastery in yoga. Though this perfection is present everywhere, it has not become a content of our consciousness. When we are awakened to the presence of such a mysterious magnificence in life, we become divinities overnight. God reveals himself immediately.  One example before us, among many others, of the conceivable pattern of this divine perfection that is possible is the history of the advent of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, whose incarnation we celebrate today, known as Sri Krishna Janmasthami.

*******

=========================================================================