KRISHNA MISUNDERSTOOD
It is evident from the Puranas that people of the time of Krishna did not recognize him, as he ought to be recognized. Some of our readers might say this couldn’t be possible; how could this be that people of the time didn’t recognize Krishna despite him showing so many miracles right from the time when he was a kid. When millions of people worship him now, how is it possible that those in his period were not doing the same.
Fact is that being on the side of Krishna in those times meant following a certain way of life. One had to be truthful, just and righteous, if one wished to come to Krishna’s side. He had to believe in One God to such an extent that all material things in life were to become immaterial. He had to improve his conduct and nature and, upon doing so, he had to work to remove evil from the society, even if it meant suffering material losses. Since the physical body was immaterial, as per Krishna, it didn’t matter if the person died in the pursuit.
Even today, if Krishna’s teachings are to be truly followed, many of his seemingly most ardent followers would desert him. As long as nothing is demanded in return, it is always easy to call oneself a believer or worshipper. Suppose Krishna was to come again and say that all his believers would henceforth consider fighting all injustice, evil and cruelty as their duty, even if it means giving a few sacrifices, just as Krishna himself did all through his life. How many of us would remain on Krishna’s side?
If Krishna would come to say that from now onwards all have to compulsorily spend a good portion of their earnings to feed the poor and take care of those who are ill or in need of attention, how many of us would be willing to do so? In fact, in all likelihood, Krishna would not accept our money, as a great portion of it is ill gotten, which we so heartily shower on Krishna’s idols. Some of the biggest spenders of charity are those who do not even think for a minute while earning whether their money is truthfully obtained or not. All is permissible in business or life, outside of the mandirs. Are these Krishna’s teachings?
If the story described in the Puranas is true, then Krishna’s own brother Satrajit and others doubted that Krishna might have killed his brother Prasena, to obtain the wonderful gem. The canard was spread to such an extent that Krishna, in order to quell all those views that were circulating, had to go to the forest, along with some of his Yadava friends. He followed the footprints of his brother’s horse, and then those of the lion who killed him, and then those of the king of bears who killed the lion, and reached the mouth of the cave. He went inside the cave where he had to fight for 21 days with Jambawat, the king of bears, for the possession of the gem. And the ‘intensity’ of his Yadava friend’s love for him can be understood by the fact that none accompanied Krishna inside the cave; they waited outside for seven days and then concluded that he must have met his death in the cavern. “It could not have required so many days,” they thought, “to overcome an enemy;” and accordingly departed and returned to Dwaraka, and announced that Krishna had been killed.
Can there be a greater proof required to tell that there were only a few who were truly on Krishna’s side when he was present as a person in this world? It is easy to say now that we are his followers, but let a time come when Krishna descends to test our integrity towards him and his God, and we would start finding excuses or errors. Isn’t it true that being with Krishna means accepting his message as true and leaving all attachments to the world to become one with God through the path shown by him? Yet, majority of his followers continue to be besotted with worldly desires.
Upon hearing of Krishna’s death, even his relatives performed all the obsequial rites suited to the occasion. Far better than them was Jambawat, who was self-confessedly born of brute origin and who realized Krishna’s virtues in the course of his fight and prostrated before him. Krishna told him that he had descended to take upon himself the burden of the earth and Jambawat offered to him his daughter Jambawati as wife and returned the Syamantaka jewel so that Krishna “could clear his reputation.”
Krishna returned the jewel to his brother and “was exonerated from the crime of which he had been falsely accused.” When Satrajit reflected that he had been the cause of the aspersion upon Krishna’s character, he gave his daughter Satyabhama to Krishna as wife. (Those who fight over gotra for marriage should note that Satrajit has been described as Krishna’s brother). But this too became cause of enmity and people like Akrura, Kritavarman and Satadhanwan became Krishna’s foes.
It is mentioned that Akrura, though conniving against Krishna, knew his greatness. This shows that despite the true knowledge, ego or self-interest often hinders the person’s coming to the right path.
Even Balabhadra, his brother, doubted Krishna’s intentions and was of the opinion that Krishna was pursuing Satadhanwan for material wealth. Balabhadra flew into a violent rage and said to Krishna, “Shame light upon you, to be thus greedy of wealth! I acknowledge no brotherhood with you. Here lies my path. Go whither you please; I have done with Dwaraka with you, with all our house. It is of no use to seek to impose upon me with thy perjuries.”
Does all this not prove our claim? Also it is worthwhile to note that while Gita is replete with the highest teachings relating to self and God, the incidents described about Krishna’s life in Puranas sometime belittle his personality. This is another reason why we wish to believe that Puranas are not the same and they went through editing at some point of time.
Chapter XV of the Vishnu Purana says that when the powerful being resided in this world of mortals, he had 16,100 wives. By these the Universal form, which is without beginning, had 180,000 sons.
Does this fit with your reason? They are hell-bent on proving Krishna as superhuman so that they do not have to follow his way of life. Even the idols that we worship show his childhood image; a time when he had not even started pronouncing his teachings.
The description in Vishnu Purana is not centred on wives alone. Sons too are mentioned. This refutes the argument given by those who claim that Krishna had several wives because they had been gifted to him. Krishna was also producing children and if we divide 180,000 sons with 16,100 wives, it would come to each wife having an average of more than 11 sons. Daughters are not counted because that was immaterial to the writer of Purana.
It is beyond the nature of a kind person like Krishna to marry a woman and leave her uncared and unloved. Accepting what has been said in the Purana would amount to accepting several more absurd theories. Krishna was to give 10 minutes each to 45 wives each day if he was to spend only 10 minutes each with his 16,100 wives during a year. Moreover, if we believe that he was spending 10 minutes each with 45 of his wives per day, it would amount to saying that Krishna was spending 450 minutes daily performing this chore, thereby meaning that seven-and-a-half hours daily were being spent catering to the needs of wives alone. This was when Krishna was giving only 10 minutes of his time in a year to each of his wives. Believe us, this is just one small reason which shows that the Puranas are not in their original form anymore and talk of myths and legends that have no roots in truth. The very fact that some of them talk of the temples, which were constructed as late as the 10th century A.D., also confirms our view. There are a lot many other proofs that can be given, so much so that an entire book can be written on the subject.
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