Krishna: The Supreme
The Birth-
Birth of Lord Krishna is a tale to tell. Krishna was born in the month of "Bhadrapad" with "Krishn Paksh" having the "Ashtami Tithi and Rohini Nakshatra" at exactly midnight. Lord Krishna was an avatar of Lord Vishnu, one of the "Tridevs". The Tridevs, also known as Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are the three main gods of Hinduism.
Lord Krishna was born to Mata Devaki and Pita Vasudev, mother Devaki was the sister of king Kamsa, the king of Mathura. On the day of which Devaki and Vasudev got married, shortly after the ceremony when they were ready to leave, an oracle was heard that the eight child of Devaki would be the one to end him and his rule.
As soon as Kamsa heard this, he imprisoned Devaki and Vasudev, leaving both of them horrified and worried for their future children knowing how Kamsa was. Shortly after, Devaki gave birth to her first son, who was killed by the hands of Kamsa. The other five had the same fate while the seventh child, "Balarama", the avatar of "Adi Shesha"who is considered to be the bed where Lord Vishnu along with his consort Goddess Laxmi rest. Balaram is known as the elder brother of Lord Krishna, he was divinely transferred to the womb of Mata Rohini, the wife of Nand Maharaj.
When Lord Krishna was born from the womb of Devaki, he revealed his divine form to his parents and ordered his father, Vasudev to take him to "Gokul". He placed all the guards of the cell under a spell of slumber and the gates of the cell were now open. Vasudev put his son in a basket and set out for Gokul. As soon as he reached the banks of the holy river, "Yamuna". He knew that in order to reach Gokul, he would have to travel through the Yamuna, which was deep and cold. Sensing Lord Krishna's presence, the holy river drifted apart into two parts to make way for Vasudev. It was storming heavily, the divine snake "Adi Shesh" with it's hood were protecting baby Krishna from the rain, to touch the pious feet of Krishna. Yamuna rose more in height and soon was blessed by the Lord.
Vasudev reached Gokul shortly after and placed Krishna near Mother Yashoda, the wife of Nand Maharaj and had to swap Krishna with the daughter of Nanda and Yashoda who was born on the same day. After he was back safely, the guards woke up from their slumber and heard the faint cries of a baby and rushed to inform their king. Kamsa was now excited to finally put an end to the eight child's life, upon entering his sister's cell, he found a baby scooped up near Devaki. He snatched the child even after multiple protests from his sister and saw that the child was a female, had not been specified of the gender, he hurled her against a rock. But the daughter of Yashoda was no ordinary child, she was "Yogmaya" who had now transformed into the eight handed goddess she was and yelled "You fool Kamsa, the person you are looking for and your destroyer has already been born elsewhere." saying this, she vanished into thin air.
In Gokul-
The beautiful Krishna and Balaram were the apple of everyone's eyes. Sage Garga was going to name the two children. He names the son of Rohini as Balaram and the son of Yashoda as Krishna. Yashodanandan was extremely beautiful with a dark complexion and curly hair, with the most calming eyes anyone could ever have. The two were everything Gokul could ask for but their happiness was short lived as Putana, the friend of Maharaja Kamsa was raising havoc everywhere trying to find Krishna. Upon finally finding him, she took the form of a beautiful woman, some may even assume that she was a celestial from the land of Indra, the king of the god's. She came to Yashoda's doorstep to bless Krishna and feed him her milk. Yashoda happily agreed and handed Krishna to her, shortly after, she was alerted by the scream of that beautiful lady who had now taken her original form as Putana. Krishna had bit her, knowing who she was. Kamsa later sent many of his demon friends in order to attempt to kill Krishna but all their efforts went in vain.
In Vrindavan-
Krishna was in Gokul for only about 3 years and later moved to "Vrindavan" the place where Maharaj Vrishbhanu and his wife after years of being childless finally found a baby girl on a lotus and adopted her, she was immensely beautiful but to her parents plight, she had not yet opened her eyes. On her naming ceremony, Maharaj Nand along with his wives and Krishna and Balrama were present. The girl with all the beauty of the world was given the name "Radha". While everyone was talking, little Krishna crawled to her crib and touched her palms and to everyone's surprise, she had finally opened her eyes. Maharaj Vrishbhanu and his wife were extremely delighted and asked the sages why had their daughter had only now opened her eyes due to the touch of Krishna. To which the sages explained that "Vrishbhanu, your daughter had not opened her eyes till now as their was no sight of Krishna, perhaps she wanted to see him first when she opened her eyes.", everyone including RadhaKrishn were delighted.
Then started the leela's of Krishna, which included the Govardhan Leela, the making of the Kund's and many more. Radha and Krishna were inseparable but loved to quarrel. Both of them often with the Gopis performed "Raas". A display of their undying love for eachother, where they sang and danced under the moonlight and Krishna played his flute. The same moon we are under today was a witness to their Raas.
Mathura-
But again, Dharm had to be followed and Krishna and Balaram had to leave for Mathura to save their parents and the world from Kamsa, Krishna leaving his parents. Vrindavanwasi's or the people of Vrindavan and his dear Radha behind had to leave for Mathura. All of them were severely hurt by seeing Krishna leaving but Radha carried so much pain and hurt in her eyes and her heart longed for her lover as she watched the carriage take her Krishna away from her.
Upon finally reaching Mathura, he overthrows his uncle Kamsa and finally kills him. He then again reinstates "Ugrasen" the father of Kamsa as the king of Mathura and frees his parents from the cell where they had spent fourteen years of their life.
Dwarka-
After the fall of Kamsa, Krishna leads all the Yadava's to Dwarka, the city which Krishna had built. Krishna then meets with the Pandav Prince, the greatest of the greats, the third Kaunteya, Mahanayak Arjuna. Where he and the prince form a strong friendship, apart from him being the Pandava's cousin, he had a special spot for Arjuna in his heart.
The Pandavas-
The Pandava's were Krishna's cousins and the children of the "Kuru Vansh". The Pandava's father was Samrat Pandu of Hastinapur, he was married to Maharani Kunti and Madri. The Pandava's were also celestial children of the God's.
Yudhisthira- The first Pandav, the first child of Pandu and Kunti
Bheema- The second Pandav, the second child of Pandu and Kunti
Arjuna- The third Pandav, the third child of Pandu and Kunti
Nakula- The fourth Pandav, the elder twin child of Pandu and Madri
Sahadeva- The fifth Pandav, the younger twin child of Pandu and Madri
The Pandava's all had one common wife, Maharani Draupadi, the daughter of King Draupad of Panchal. Who was won by Arjuna at her swayamvar and had to be shared among the five due to the order of her mother in law Kunti.
Krishna's Wives-
Krishna had 16108 wives but the main eight or the "Ashtabharyas" were:
Maharani Rukmini- The first wife and the daughter of King Bhishmak.
Mahrani Satyabhama- The second wife and the daughter of Satyajit
Maharani Jambavati- The third wife and the daughter of Jambavan.
Maharani Kalindi- The fourth wife and the daughter of Surya Dev.
Maharani Nagnajiti- The fifth wife and the daughter of King Nangnajit.
Maharani Mitravinda- The sixth wife and the daughter of King Shivi.
Maharani Lakshmana- The seventh wife and the daughter of the King of Madra.
Maharani Bhadra- The eighth wife and the daughter of King Drishtaketu.
These are the eight main consorts of Krishna who all are known to be an avatar of Devi Laxmi, the eternal consort of Vishnu. Krishna's other 16100 wives are the girls he saved form a demon named "Narakasura" and married them after they said that the society will not accept them.
The Disrobing of Draupadi-
Samrat Yudhishthira and his wife Samragi Draupadi along with the other Pandavas were called to Hastinapur from their kingdom Indraprastha for a game of dice. In which, the King of Gandhar, Shakuni who was Queen Gandhari's brother along with his nephew Duryodhan, the eldest Kaurava. Tricked Yudhisthira into staking his wealth, kingdom, his brothers, himself and in the end their wife, the Empress and fireborn Draupadi.
Now considered as slaves, the second Kaurav, Dusshasan dragged the Empress into the Dyut Sabha and the Kauravas insulted her, Duryodhan ordered her to sit on his lap due to which Bheema vowed that he will break Duryodhan's lap. Draupadi enraged yelled at the court of the most righteous men in the world but all her words were unheard. Her humiliation hit the peak when the second Kaurava dared to disrobe her, her helpless husbands could not come to her aid. She yelled and yelled but no one could stop the Adharm happening. The helpless Draupadi who was the bestfriend of Krishna turned to him for help. While sobbing she said "O Govinda, help me", Krishna whose tears had escaped his eyes, runned to help her. It was him, the cowherd, who had saved her from the world's greatest humiliation.
The Pandavas were then sent to exile.
Mahabharat-
The great war which went on for 18 days, the war which led to millions of deaths, each death hurting Krishna the most, everyone of the Kuru Vansha except the Pandava had died.
The greatest war in history of mankind is a reminder daily that dharm will always win.
The After effects-
The eldest Pandav was now seated on the throne of Hastinapur due to which so many lives had to be sacrificed. There was delight all over, but the grieving mother of the Kauravas, Queen Gandhari has chosen to curse Krishna.
"O Krishna, you could have easily stopped the war but you did not do that, instead you watched my 100 sons go to the abode of Yama. I, Queen Gandhari, the grieving mother of her 100 dead sons curse you that in the manner my Vansh has ended, so will yours. Your Yadav Vansh will kill each other, the same way Pandavas and Kauravas did to each other, your city Dwarka will drown in exactly 36 years."
Krishna who is the "JagatPitah", who has also mourned for all the lives which were lost as all of them were his children, all of the world is his creation. He happily took her curse.
And as per the curse, the Yadav Vansh came to an end by them killing each other and the holy city of Dwarka submerged in the water.
Krishna was resting under a tree after witnessing everything, a hunter named Jara thought that Krishna's feet was that of a deer and shot it's arrow which struck the Lord's feet and blood started oozing out. Jara realising what he had done, begged for forgiveness, which Krishna happily gave him as his death was bound to happen and no one can control fate, not even the almighty. Krishna happily passed away, and that was the end of his avatar on Earth. He returned to Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu, as the Lord himself.
We often blame Krishna for not stopping something or doing something but we fail to understand that he also has feelings, he feels a lot more than what we as an individual do. He is the father of the entire universe, all the creatures on Earth are his children. He also cries with us, he also laughs with us, he is everywhere. He is in you, he is in me. We are his children, his creation.
On Janmashtami, we celebrate his birth only but now we should start celebrating what all he has done for us. He has forgiven you multiple times because he knows what you are going through, he is always there for you, all you need to do is call out to him and yell "O Kanha, please help me, please help your child for I am stuck and I need you, I need your help, your mercy. O Krishna, help me." and he will come running faster than wind. He loves you so much.
HARE KRISHNA !!
-krishndasi anvayi.