Lord Krishna free essay sample

Lord Krishna Lord Krishna is a Hindu deity, which is worshipped all around the world. He is represented as the Supreme Being. He was born at midnight, on the eighth day of the gloomy half of the month Bhadrapada (August-September), in the year 3228 BCS, Krishna was born into the royal family of Princess Devaki and her husband Vasudeva. They lived in Mathura, which was the capital of Yadavas. The king of Mathura was Kamsa, the brother of Devaki. He had gained the thrown by imprisoning his father. And, due to a prophecy which said Devaki’s eighth son will kill him. He locked the couple into a cell, and killed the first six children; the seventh child was lost due to a miscarriage and the eighth child was born, Krishna. â€Å"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activates does not, upon leaving the body, take birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna† (Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita). We will write a custom essay sample on Lord Krishna or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Krishna’s aggressive character, as portrayed in the Bhagavad-Gita and Mahabharata, has many components he is seen as statesman, philosopher, husband, friend, warrior, leader, charioteer, guru, and lord. Hindus all over the world know these characteristics of Krishna, but his life, as a child and a young lover are more prominent. In artwork such as paintings and sculptures Krishna is easily recognized through a few symbolic representations. He is a dark and dashing young individual; his skin color represents new formed rain clouds, it tends to be a deep velvety blue color, of a peacock or lotus. His eyes are also lotus-like, they are big and elegant. Krishna’s eyes have many powers; they are comforting and refreshing with loving emotions. His eyes attracted Sri Radha and the gopis around him. Gopis refer to Krishna’s cowherd girlfriends, amongst whom Radha is ultimate. Rasa lila is a popular dance often performed in rural parts of India. This dance was derived from Krishna’s stories of him playing with the gopis of Vrindavana. Krishna and the gopis were also idealized in poetry. Krishna attracts individuals by playing his harmonious flute, which is always either perched at his reddish lips (while playing the flute, one of his legs is always bent, while the other one is holding the flute to his lips), or confidently positioned in his colorful sash. He is usually depicted wearing a gold/yellow dhoti a garment which is traditional men’s wear in India; usually a piece of unstitched cloth in the shape of a rectangle. He also wears earrings which dangle to his music, an elegant peacock feathered headpiece, and a fresh flower garland around his neck. His body is known to compliment all the ornaments rather than the other way around, due to his remarkable posture and form. Figure 1-1 Figure 1-1 (above), depicts all the details and ornaments of Lord Krishna. Krishna’s name literally means â€Å"the all-attractive one,† this is noteworthy because it promotes the idea that God is the living being that attracts everyone. People, who are unaware of him as a person, are fascinated by him because of his heavenly qualities eternality, influence, or understanding. This is not only in the case of Krishna or Hinduism, because even if you look at the word God, it is derived from the German word goot which means â€Å"the good one. † Astrologically calculated, Janamashtami is marked as Krishna’s birth date either July 18th, or July 21st 3228 BCE. Krishna’s father, Vasudeva believed that Kamsa would have Krishna killed. Therefore Vasudeva had Krishna immediately taken out of the prison cell by Yasoda and Wanda the foster parents of Krishna. Two of his of his other siblings were able to survive as well Balarama, Devaki’s seventh child who was transferred to the womb of Rohini, Vasudeva’s first wife, and Subhadra the daughter of Vasudeva and Rohini and was born much later to Krishna and Balarama. Krishna was known to be born without sexual union, rather by â€Å"mental transmission† from the mind of Vasudeva into the womb of Devaki. Krishna never appears to age or grow old in his depictions this brought about a debate on whether or not he actually has a real/material body, as in the Mahabharata, he is clearly shown subject to the limitations of nature. (Essential Hinduism, by Steven J. Rosen) Amongst the earliest texts in which descriptions of Krishna were present, was Mahabharata, is he is depicted in many of its main stories. Mahabharata shows Krishna as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu god of wealth and prosperity. Krishna was an advisor to the warrior-hero Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita. A later part of the Mahabharata called the Harivamsa, illustrates some of the earliest depictions of Krishna’s childhood. Nand and Yashoda lived in Vrindavana, because Nanda was the head of the community of cow herders. Krishna was extremely mischievous as a child, as tell myths and stories of Krishna’s youth. He was called a Makhan Chor butter thief as he loved eating butter and would just sneak it and then eat it. Other pranks of his included his attempts to take his life, as well as his role as a guardian of the people of a town called Vrindavana. Krishna has also killed demons sent for his life by Kamsa. He tamed the snake Kaliya who had poisoned the Yamuna River, killing the cowherds. Krishna is many times shown dancing on Kaliya in Hindu art. In order to protect Vrindavana’s natives from persecution by Indra and the devastation of the land of Govardhan, Krishna is also said to have lifted the Govardhan hill and defeated Indra the kings of the rain. This spiritual movement triggered by Krishna, contained something which went against the orthodox forms of worship of Vedic gods like Indra. The Play of God: visions of the life of Krishna, by Vanamali) Krishna killed his uncle Kamsa on his way back to Mathura. He did so after being fed up with the numerous death threats from Kamsa and the men he sent. Krishna put Kamsa’s father, Ugrasena, back as king of the Yadavas and himself became prince at the court. In addition, he became a friend of Arjuna and other Pandava princes, also his cousins, of the Kuru kingdom. Kr ishna later took his Yadava citizens to a city called Dwaraka where he established his own kingdom. Krishna married princess of Vidarbha, Rukmini. He abducted Rukmini from her wedding. Krishna was believed to have had 16,108 wives; eight of these were the main ones; three of which included: Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati. According to customs of the time, captive women were looked down upon and would not be able to ever get married. Therefore to save their honor, Krishna actually married 16,100 young women who were being held captive by a demon, Narakasura. Krishna killed Narakasura and freed the maidens and gave them back their status in society. Krishna’s wives are all said to be forms of goddess Lakshmi. Kurukshetra is the battle field where the war in Mahabharata was fought, between the Kauravas and Pandavas, also known as the Kurukshetra War. Krishna gave the opportunity for both sides Kauravas and Pandavas to choose between having either his army, or Krishna himself. His only condition was that Krishna himself would not raise any weapon. Arjuna, on the Pandavas side, chose to have Krishna on their side. Duryodhana, chief of the Kauravas, on the other hand chose Krishna’s army. Krishna decides to be Arjuna’s charioteer, as being a charioteer would not call for the raising of any weapons. However as Arjuna arrives at the battlefield (Kurukshetra), he sees that his oponents/enemies are his family his grandfather, cousins, and other loved ones, Arjuna suddenly becomes hesitant about fighting. This is the point when Krishna comes in as advises Arjuna about the battle and explains to him how in the battlefield, there is no such thing as family; as of now, they are all enemies/opponents. Krishna explains his sermon, or the concept of Karma the idea of doing one’s duty, and not waiting on destiny. This conversation became a serious discussion which was later compiled as what is known as the Bhagavad-Gita. In essence, Krishna is perceived differently from text to text, whether it be a statesman, husband, lord, or guru. He was a man of vast intelligence with some words of wisdom to offer as well. He believed that when all becomes evil in the world and is out of human control, God takes birth to handle it. Krishna was a firm follower of Karma; he believed that one should do their duty, and not depend on destiny don’t assume or expect results, as you will only receive results after having done your duty.