When we say Krishna, the essence of
who he is, he is :
Krishna has been seen, perceived,
understood and experienced in many different ways by different people.
For example, in Duryodhana’s words, Krishna is a “smiling rogue if there ever was one. He can eat, he can drink, he can sing, he can dance. He can make love, he can fight, he can gossip with old women, and play with little children. Who says he’s God?” That was Duryodhana’s perception. 
Krishna’s childhood lover Radhe, who
became so big that you cannot talk of Krishna without Radhe – we don’t say
“Krishna Radhe,” we say, “Radhe Krishna” – she said, “Krishna is with me. He is
always with me wherever he is. Whoever he is with, he is still with me.” That
was her perception.
Shikandin, who because of a certain
situation within himself was an absolutely tortured soul right from his
childhood said, “Krishna never gave me any hope. But when he is there, the
breeze of hope touches everybody.”
Different
people saw different facets of who he is. For some, he is God. For some, he is
a crook. For some, he is a lover. For some, he is a fighter. He is so many
things. If we want to taste an essence of what it means when we say Krishna, if
we want to be touched by the consciousness that we refer to as Krishna, we need
Leela. Leela means, it is the path of the playful – we explore the most
profound and the most serious aspects of life, but playfully. Otherwise Krishna
won’t be there. The reason why the most profound dimensions of life have been
missed by a vast population of the world is because they do not know how to be
playful.
To explore this path playfully, you
need a heart full of love, a joyful mind, and a vibrant body. Only then there
is Leela. To explore the most profound dimensions of life in a playful way, you
must be willing to play with your awareness, with your imagination, with your
memory, with your life, with your death. If you are willing to play with
everything, only then there is Leela. Leela does not mean just dancing with
somebody. It means you are willing to dance with life. You are willing to dance
with your enemy, you are willing to dance with the one whom you love, you are
willing to dance at the moment of your death. Only then there is Leela.
 
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Janmasthami & Teachers' Day.
Coincidently today is 5th Sept., Teachers' Day and also Birth Day of Lord Krishna. Krishna the 8th incarnation of Lord Vishnu is not just a divine entity but a whole consciousness.” Krishna is the only person in the history of human consciousness who is tremendously in love with life, with the poetry of life, with the music of life, with dance of life. He is not at all life-negative, he is very affirmative. And he accepts life as it is; he does not put god and the world as opposites.” When I read Bhagvad Gita or The song Divine it transformed my way of life. We , who do not see Krishna just as a God , see his as a yogi, a philosopher and a teacher. He is the greatest scientist and engineer . 
When Arjuna asked, ‘Who is considered more
perfect – those devotees who worship you and are thus always united with you in
love, or those who worship the eternal and indestructible and unmanifest?’
The
Lord said, ‘Those who surrender themselves to me and fix their total devotion on me and worship me
eternally with their minds absorbed in me, I consider them to be the most
devoted to me. However, those who are devoted to the unmanifest, that which is
beyond all senses, all pervading, they also attain me. But those who are
absorbed in the unmanifest face excessive tribulation, as for the embodied
being the path of that course is difficult to tread. But, O Arjuna, those whose
minds are absorbed in me in total faith and who are engaged in devotional
service unto me, for them I give deliverance from the cycle of birth and
death.’”
You cannot experience that which is
unmanifest – you can only believe in it. Even if you believe in the unmanifest,
it is going to be very difficult for you to develop and keep up intense love
and devotion towards that which is not. It is so much easier for you to hold
your focus of devotion towards that which is. At the same time, he says, “If
someone is capable of holding their devotion to the unmanifest, they will also
attain me.” When he says “me,” he is not talking about himself as an
individual, he is talking about that dimension which includes both the manifest
and the unmanifest. “If someone takes that route, they will also come to me,
but it involves much tribulation,” because directing your emotions towards
something that is not here is difficult for you. You need a form, a shape, a
name – something that you can relate to in order to steadily keep up your
devotion.
“As for the embodied being, the path
of that course is difficult to tread.” This means, if you, as a being who has a
body and an intellectual discretion, dedicate yourself to an unmanifest
dimension of existence, every day, your intellect will question whether you are
really going somewhere or wasting your time. For beings who are not embodied,
it is more of a possibility, because they do not have to struggle with their
intellect – they go by their tendencies. If they are spiritually oriented, they
generally orient themselves towards the unmanifest – not out of conscious
choice but out of their tendencies. Therefore, for a disembodied
being, a being who is beyond the limitations of the five
elements, who is beyond the limitations and the discretion of the
intellect, that is a more suitable path. But for an embodied being, it is
better to direct your emotions towards something that you can relate to. That
is why he says, being focused on him as a live person, it is much easier to
attain. Looking for the unmanifest can become a philosophical drama within
yourself, without you making an inch of progress.
“But, O Arjuna, those whose minds are
absorbed in me in total faith and who are engaged in devotional service unto
me, for them I give deliverance from the cycle of birth and death.”
This not only Krishna said – any being who is fully realized always says this
in one way or another. When people ask me questions like, “Will I get mukti in this janma [birth]?” I tell
them, “Just get onto my bus. You don’t have to drive – you just sit in the
bus.” But your ego is such that you want to do the driving too. There are many
people who sit in the backseat and keep driving – usually, they only apply
brakes.
If you are in a certain presence, your
attainment at the last moment is not an issue. The question is how beautifully
you live the remaining part of your life. Even if you have lived a stupid life,
still ultimate release will not be an issue once you are in a certain presence,
unless you really screw it up in the final moments of your life. If even at the
last moment, you do not have the necessary sense and you get into a huge sense
of anger, hatred, or desire, life may perpetuate itself. Otherwise, once you
made the mistake of sitting with me, when you die, you will be dead for good.
That is what he says here too. What he actually says is, “If at least for one moment, you are truly
absorbed in me, you will attain.”
He tells Arjuna, “Don’t bother about
the result of the war. You are here. You have to fight. Whether you win or not
is a question of capabilities and other factors. Just fight, and do it well. If
you win, enjoy the kingdom. If you die, anyway I ensure your ultimate
wellbeing.” Again he is making clear that when it comes to external situations,
he cannot ensure everything. With the internal, there is absolute guarantee.
But he says, “I will make sure there will be no more birth for you.” This is
true with me too. I can ensure that you will not have another birth, but I
cannot ensure that you will have a breakfast tomorrow. That may look ridiculous
to a logical mind, “If you can ensure such a big thing, why can’t you ensure
the breakfast?” That is the reality of life. I cannot ensure tomorrow’s
breakfast for you, but I can ensure your ultimate wellbeing. When it comes to
inner dimensions, I can completely take charge. When it comes to outside
situations, there is no guarantee – everyone has to strive.
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