Lord Krishna

Namaste Friends,

    One of the purposes behind celebrating Krishna Jayanti is to develop devotion and surrender unto Lord Krishna’s Lotus feet.

How do we develop that devotion and surrender?

    In the episode of Droupadi Vastraharan (when Droupadi is about to be forcefully stripped of her garments in the court of Kauravas) in the Mahabharata, Droupadi turns to various courtiers and elders in the court for help. When she does not get help from anyone, in complete surrender, she finally turns to Lord Krishna. The Lord rushes to her aid immediately. Assuming a form of the provider of clothes, He saves Droupadi’s honor by providing clothing to her. Thus, complete surrender unto The Lord is the only way to get true help in our problems.

Belief: Learning about The Lord, His features, glory and life events help develop the firm belief, which is the first step towards devotion unto Him.

    Click on the links below to learn more about Lord Krishna:

• Origin and Meaning

• Purpose of His Incarnating

• Special Features of Lord Krishna

• His weapon: the Sudarshan Chakra

• The One Who possesses the attributes of God

• The Implied Meaning of His relationship with Radha and the Gopis

• The Mahabharata and Bhagavat Gita

• Renunciation of His body (Samadhi)

• A chronology of His life events

Faith: To develop this kind of surrender, first the faith that only The Lord can help us has to develop. To develop faith, regular spiritual practice is necessary. The appropriate spiritual practice brings development of faith that comes from first hand spiritual experiences of God’s presence. Just as the dollar is the working currency in the US, faith is the working currency needed in Spirituality.

Spiritual emotion: As one continues spiritual practice with faith, one starts developing spiritual emotion or an intense love for God and intense awareness of His existence. It is emotion beyond the five senses, mind and intellect. Gratitude and Bliss are awakened at the time of awakening of spiritual emotion.

    The saying goes, “Where there is spiritual emotion there is God.” In other words, spiritual emotion is the direct experience of God. One can make conscious efforts to awaken and increase spiritual emotion, which is key to rapid progress towards deep, unfailing devotion unto God.

- Based on the Sanatan organization’s publication
‘Science of Spirituality: Vol. 8 – Vishnu and His Forms’
Compiled by His Holiness (H.H.) Dr. Jayant Athavale
and Dr. (Mrs.) Kunda Athavale