Becoming Krishna

by bunpeiris
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side. Rigveda 1-89-I [1]
“There are more things in heaven and and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Shakespeare
“She had always wanted words, she loved them, grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape. Whereas I thought words bent emotions like sticks in water.”― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Lovers’ infiniteness by John Donne		SONG: “I need more of you” by Bellamy Brothers
Poem	Interpretation	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B9HVXBxxIo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQKMVo6GkJM
If yet I have not all thy love, Dear, I shall never have it all; I cannot breathe one other sigh, to move, Nor can entreat one other tear to fall; All my treasure, which should purchase thee- Sighs, tears, and oaths, and letters- I have spent, Yet no more can be due to me, Than at the bargain made was meant; If then thy gift of love were partial, That some to me, some should to others fall, Dear, I shall never have thee all.	The poet says that he does not have all of his beloved’s love though he has tried to buy it using his “treasure” or fund of sighs, tears, oaths and letters. He speaks as though he and his lady had entered a bargain by which he has already got his “due”. But he thinks that she has more love left in her heart which is now being given to someone else. So sadly, he will not be able to possess her completely.	Hearts burning, like they were on fire, Flames changing our love to desire They, my heart is screamin to say: Girl, we got to go all the away. I need more of you, changin my rain into sun More of you, put on my blues on the run I need more of you, darling, I need more of you More, anything less wouldn’t do.

Master Nobody: Tell me, doesn’t the song sing the same plea that the poet let flow? Don’t they seem to sing from the same sheet of hymns?
Student Zaka: It seems to sing of the same, sir.
Master Nobody: Then, why do you say, irrelevant content are brought into the discussion?
Student Zaka: In this case, poem and song seems to sing of the same theme.
But when you bring in Mahabaratha into a lesson, we find it hard to follow. We guess it is not relevant.
Master Nobody: Now, if you find a quote from Mahabharata is irrelevant, if you see an episode from Mahabharata isn’t of any value in a discussion in literature, you have failed to see that literature is all about us: how we must live. See, Zaka, as the street story teller told Scheherazade, the narrator of 1001 Arabian nights, the stories tell us how to live.
As such, let noble thoughts come to us from every side.

Mahabharata, The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time.Yudhistra: ………………… Grandfather, tell us how to kill you.
Bhishma placed a hand on Yudhisthira’s shoulder: “O son of Pandu, as you say, I am invincible. When I take my weapons and my large bow in hand, I am incapable in being defeated in battle by the very gods with Indra at their head.
“Draupada’s valiant and wrathful son, who is known in your army as Shikandi-it is he who will cause my fall. Formerly he was a woman, as everyone knows. Therefore, I will not strike him, even if he attacks me. Place him in forefront of the fight and let Arjuna stand behind him. Only Arjuna or the illustrious Krishna can bring me down in battle. If Shikandi faces me I will not fight. Then it will be possible for Arjuna to slay me. Do this, O Yudhistara, and gain victory.

“In the realm of dharma, artha, kama, and moksha, (ethics, economic development, pleasure, and liberation), whatever is found in this epic may be found elsewhere, but what is not found here will be impossible to find” (Mahabharata, Adi Parva 56.33)

The Mahabharata, the world’s greatest and longest known epic poem [with 100,000 verses exceeds the Bible and all of Shakespeare’s plays put together] in any language is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. The Sanskrit epic written by Maharishi Vyasa [2] narrating the Kurukshetra War and fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes is ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey sung by Homer combined, or about four times the length of the Ramayana written by Maharishi Valmiki.
Mahabharata also presents philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four “goals of life” or purusharthas. Among the principal works and stories in the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita, During the time of Raj, the veteran colonial administrators would advise newcomers to the civil service to read one book if they wanted to grasp the essence of the ancient continent and its peoples: Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is more deeply woven into the fabric of Indian culture than any other story: it has cut into the Indian psyche to the very core. It’s influence in subcontinent-wide. It has brought about an array of divine beings to the forefront of the Hindu pantheon, led by Krishna or Vishnu. Indians in all strata of society, in their numerous languages, tosses about the sayings of millenniums old Mahabharata as if picked from the newspaper of the day; Bollywood drops names, bring in characters and imitates the heroism and courage. As they go on, it seems, the Indian languages find Mahabharata plays no second fiddle, when it comes to the idiomatic use of phrases from the King James Version of Bible in English. Beloved heroes of the Mahabharata are an unending source for the expectant Indian mothers hunting for Sanskrit names. Seemingly endless numbers of Indian children are named after the heroes, not to forget Sri Lanka’s indomitable Captain Cool who brought cricketing glory to the island in Lahore in 1996: Arjuna.
There goes the spread of Mahabarata. If Mahabharata is of no relevance to the humanity, no other work of literature would ever be.

“I have never seen a nation supporting another nation like that,”
Sunil Wettimuny recalled Pakistani supporters cheering the Sri Lankan side.

Pakistanis also protested against the injustice meted out to Sri Lankans In Australia by the Australians with a banner:

‘There was an umpire named Hair
Who has a body of an overgrown bear
With a brain as small as a Hare
Who treated Sri Lankans unfair’
Can you pen such a quatrain [4 line stanza] for fun?

Mahabharata also has a soothing effect on the Indian psyche: unlike Ramayana in which ten-head King Ravana of Lanka was killed by India’s Prince Rama, Mahabharata, owing to its complexity and range of content make no concessions to the extremists. Radical elements of India find no slogans to inflame million mutinies: it hasn’t been co-opted by the nationalist, fascist, Aryan-supremacy crowd that is ascendant in India at the moment.

There are many ways to read the Mahabharata: we can have several interpreatiations. You may argue on your own view.
[a] The Kurus and the Pandavas are sometimes said to represent forces that exist in each society and individual.
[b] Mahabharata is an allegory for a inner war between right and wrong. [allegory-2 levels: literal-story; symbolic- moral lesson]
[c] The story is a history of the Aryan conquest of much of Eurasia.
[d] Some would prefer to believe that the story was a vehicle to both educate and entertain the masses in camps and villages through
the ages, invented by thinkers of great imagination and polished over the centuries.
[e] It demonstrates how the good can be taken advantage of by the devious.
[f] It makes a compelling case for immersing oneself into the world as opposed to asceticism[the doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing self-denial, self-mortification, and the like].
[g] Most of all, as I see, Mahabhatha is a testimony to the inevitability of karma or destiny: we all are pre-programmed, said Krishna, one of the nine avatars of Lord Vishnu [5]:”O Arjuna, I am time itself, grown mature, capable of destroying the world, and now engaged in subduing it. Even without your effort, all the opposing warriors shall cease to exist. Therefore arise and win great glory, conquer your enemies, and enjoy a prosperous kingdom. They are already slain by me. You, O Arjuna, are merely the occasion. Kill Drona, Bhisma, Jayadratha, Karana, and all the other great warriors whom I have already doomed. Do not fear, but fight and conquer your enemies in battle.”

All kinsmen, all friends take sides, torn asunder over their conflicting loyalties and duties. Arjuna and Krishna discuss duty at length; he could hardly find his heart to wage war against his uncles and cousins and former teachers, but he must. As the destiny would have it, all the enemies of Five Pandavas would be killed. The five Pandavas led by righteous Yudishtara, who were deprived of their kingdom, would become victorious over their cousins Kauravas led by Duryodhana in the epic war. Destiny: pre-programmed.
Written by bunpeiris.