The Man the Most Attractive: Wonderful Stories of Krishna - Part 2

By Dr.King

This is a collection of wonderful stories of Krishna from the 5000-year-old Indian scripture namely the Bhagavata. The word Krishna literally means someone who attracts. He is believed to be the incarnation of God on earth.

In this part of the book, author discusses following episodes

Episode 1. Krishna – A darling of cowherd girls
Episode 2. Was Krishna a flirtatious boy?
Episode 3. Kamsa invites Krishna to Mathura!
Episode 4. Krishna in Mathura
Episode 5. Mathura after Kamsa’s death
Episode 6. Yadavas migrate to Dwarika
Episode 7. Krishna-Rukmini: A strange love story
Episode 8. Krishna accused of stealing a Gem!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr.King
• Release date: Nov 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463457641

Dr.King

Dr.King is an avid writer in the nonfictional category. In the past 3 decades he has written several books in the areas of philosophy, Yoga, religious practices, sculpture, gardening, and so on. His books often blend scientific outlook with traditional faiths and practices. His books especially in the area of ancient philosophy succinctly showcase volumes of ancient literature in a condensed form, providing very authentic, insightful and unbiased portrayal. These books are generally characterized as thought provoking, giving an incisive look at the otherwise difficult to understand topics. One can expect to find reliable information, devoid of glorification and hype that is typical in this category.

Book preview

A quick recap of Part 1

In the first part of this series we discussed the following.

Mother earth goes to heaven and pleads with the divine beings to rescue the innocent people in the world who have been the target of wicked people. The divine beings agree to help her. God promises to come down to earth by taking a human form.

God is born to princess Devaki in the Indian city of Mathura. Devaki’s brother, the wicked Kamsa had imprisoned her and her husband Vasudeva fearing that one of her kids could kill him. But with God’s help, Vasudeva manages to shift the newborn to Gokul a neighboring village of cowherds.

The kid grows up in Gokul as Krishna, under the care of his foster parents Nandagopa and Yashoda. Kamsa sends many wicked demons to kill Krishna but Krishna escapes all attempts on his life.

But when Kamsa’s attacks see no end, the elders in Gokul decide to move to Vrindavan, another secluded place on the banks of river Yamuna.

Krishna grows up as a young boy. Throughout, he keeps entertaining his parents with his playful sports while performing several miracles.

Now let us continue the story.

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Episode 1. Krishna – A darling of cowherd girls

F:\my_books\amazon\am_ancient_wisdom\cover_design\cover_logo_old.jpg Krishna is often portrayed as a ‘lover boy’! Probably, in any other religion, thinking about God as a lover boy is blasphemous! But not so for most Indians. They enjoy looking at Krishna as a very flirtatious, and even sometimes as a person who goes beyond all socially accepted norms when it comes to ‘love’.

This is because unlike the western world, where love often means ‘physical’ or carnal, it is not so in India. At least the Indian scriptures differentiate between physical, mental and spiritual forms of love. So, love is not a taboo word in Indian scriptures, not definitely in Bhagavata.

And we have our author Vyasa who started writing Bhagavata with the intention of conveying profound ideas in a language so close to the masses. So, obviously Vyasa cannot leave out ‘love’ even if it meant carnal, physical or even something that violates societal norms. That is because Vyasa’s audience is lay people for whom those things are very much part of their life.

But then, like a sugar-coated pill, Vyasa always makes it a point to turn the base level discussions into something very philosophical and thought provoking. Unfortunately, there are many who limit themselves to base level descriptions and either bring the God to their low level or start using God as an excuse for whatever transgressions they might indulge in. Many Gurus have fallen trap to such pitfalls and not only defamed themselves but also tarnished ancient Indian scriptures.

As I said earlier, Indians recognize various forms of devotion to God. It is not just the master-slave relation as commonly seen in non-Indian religions. It can be as a relation between two friends, between mother and her child, between teacher and disciple and so on. This relation can even be the relation between two lovers! Yes, between two lovers – lovers not in the general sense of the term but ‘lovers’ as often used in modern world between two adults.

That form of devotion is called ‘madhura bhaava’ in ancient Indian scriptures. Literally it means romantic relation with God.  The relation that a devotee has towards God as if the God were his/her lover – lover in the worldly sense.

There were many Indian saints, especially female, who worshiped God through this form of devotion. And that is never scorned upon in India. It is perfectly acceptable. Though many saints have warned that such a mode of devotion can be quite dangerous since it can derail a devotee and lead him/her more deeply into the worldly mire.

But Vyasa does not want to spare even such a strong emotion-based relation to God in his attempt to sugar coat his bitter philosophical pill.

With this in the background, let us move back to our Krishna story in Vrindavan.

Having performed several valorous acts, Krishna gradually became a hero in Vrindavan. More so among the young cowherd girls. These cowherd girls, though quite young, gradually developed infatuation towards Krishna. Without exception,