Krishna, the Great God
Lord Vishnu, the greatest God of protection and nourishment, has taken the form of Krishna, a revered avatar. He is said to be his ninth manifestation and maybe his greatest. Krishna embodied compassion, kindness, knowledge, power, and the greatest level of awareness throughout his existence and played numerous significant roles. While stories hold that this incarnation occurred during the Dwapara Yuga period, Krishna is also thought to have resided in the northern and western regions of the country, in what are now known as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, circa 3200 BC.
The Incredible Journey of Krishna
The term “Krishna” means “black or dark,” therefore he is the dark-complexioned Lord who brought light into so many people’s lives via his words and acts and who later earned the moniker. In order to eradicate evil, punish the wicked, mentor the virtuous, and create dharma—the moral way of life—Krishna came to earth. He did this by both doing it and preaching it. He was a charming newborn, a natural prodigy, and an extraordinary mind who, from the moment of his birth, attracted adoration and adulation.
The extraordinary life of Krishna is extolled and discussed in detail in the Bhagavatha Puran. As the eighth child of Vasudeva and Devaki, who were imprisoned by the ruthless demon Kamsa, the demon became alarmed by a prophesy that he would be destroyed by his own sister Devaki’s eighth child and gave birth to him in a jail at Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. Krishna’s birth itself was an adventure since the Asura had previously brutally killed six of their babies and had moved the seventh as a foetus to another womb. He was secretly transported by his father, at his father’s command, across the flooded Yamuna to the safety of village Gokul, where he was raised by his foster parents Nandagopa and Yasodha, along with his older brother Balarama, among cowherds. He was born on a stormy mid-night in Lord Vishnu’s full form, with four hands and holding conch and discuss. There, Krishna lived a modest and lovable life, charming the Gopis with his alluring Rasa Kreeta, the divine dance, mesmerising the simple folk with his bewitching childish antics, aweing people with his superhuman heroic feats like dancing on a deadly serpent and holding aloft a mountain to save the people from torrential rains, and simultaneously stunning Kamsa by destroying the demons he sent to kill him, one after the other. When Krishna eventually made his way back to Mathura, he killed Kamsa, put a stop to his dreadful rule, freed his parents from jail, and freed the populace from dreadful persecution.
After becoming an expert in the scriptures and martial arts, Krishna moved his capital to Gujarat’s seaside Dwaraka, where he also married the princess Rukmini and other women. By offering to take on the role of Arjuna’s charioteer and giving him, as well as the rest of the world, eternal wisdom in the form of the Bhagvad Gita on the bloody battle field, Krishna also greatly aided the righteous Pandava princes in their fight against their evil cousins, helped them win the war, and helped them reclaim their lost kingdom. Krishna grew into a Jagatguru, the unrivalled global teacher, as a result.
Later, when his own Yadava clan developed an air of superiority and self-destruction due to internal warfare, Krishna came to the conclusion that it was time for him to go from this world. He left this world by his own volition by being struck in the foot by an arrow that a hunter had unintentionally fired, and he then went back to his heavenly home. Thus, the extraordinary life of a Yuga Purush—the great epoch creator—came to a conclusion. It should come as no surprise that Krishna’s departure coincided with the end of the Dwapara Yuga and the beginning of the succeeding Kali Yuga.
Hindu Mantra
The mantra used to invoke Lord Krishna is “Om Kleem Krishnaya Namaha.” This straightforward prayer is known as the Mools Mantra, the fundamental or first mantra of the Lord. This phrase, which translates to “Prayers to Lord Krishna,” is thought to be a strong invocation that, among other things, may give one a magnetic appeal and fill the heart with love.