[Advaita-l] Krishna Thrishna-Krishna Jayanthi Thoughts

[Sriram Krishnamurthy]

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Source: http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume06/sss06-24.pdf
 Krishna thrishna
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Thirst for Krishna, for seeing Him, hearing Him, His Flute, for installing
Him in the heart, in the

mind, for grasping His Reality through the intellect--this thirst is the
healthiest, the most

conducive to peace. Devotion to Krishna is the chain by which the monkey
mind can be fastened

and subdued. Transmute all the desire with which the senses torment you into
the thirst for

Krishna and you are saved.
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Krish *means attract, draw, as in *aakarshana. *Even a confirmed protagonist
*of Adhwaitha, *(the

contemplation of the Universal Absolute without name and form), like
Madhusuudhana

Saraswathi confesses that the attraction for the playful child on the Yamuna
sands is irresistible.
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Leelashuka *declares that though the *Shaasthras *taught him the truth of
the Nameless Absolute,

his heart taught him to revere the Cowherd Boy with the Flute. He prays
that, when he draws his

last breath, the Fair Child of Brindhaavan with the Feather Flute and Flower
might smile on him

and bless him.

Krishna draws the mind away from sensory desires; that is another way in
which the draw

operates. He pulls the mind towards him and so, they are pulled away from
everything else, for

everything else is inferior, less valuable. He satisfies the deepest thirst
of man, for peace, joy and

wisdom. That is why He is *Meghashyaama---dark-*blue as the rain cloud. The
very sight of the

rain-laden cloud is so refreshing. He is lotus-eyed, lotus palmed,
lotus-soled; the lotus is

reminiscent of cool, calm, deep lakes of limpid water, the water that
quenches thirst. When
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Krishna-thrishna *is quenched, the highest *Aanandha *is attained; there is
no more need, no more

want, defect or decline. The urge to drink inferior drinks, that only feed
the thirst, disappears

when once the sweetness of *Krishna naama *and *Krishna bhaava *(name and
thought of Krishna)

are tasted. Sense objects are like sea water that can never allay thirst.
Raadha, Godha, Meera,

Chaithanya, Raamakrishna, Suurdas---they knew the nectarine taste of that
Name.
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Significance of Krishna's birth and growth
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The Raadha thathwam, *the real nature of Raadha can be understood only by
those who have

acquired that deep 'distressing' thirst for the Formful Aspect of the Lord,
and for the Divine Call

that resonates in the heart as the entrancing tune of the Flute.

Krishna is said to have been born in Gokula, He grew up in Brindhaavan, He
proceeded to

Mathura and He established His home finally at Dwaaraka. The significance of
this to the
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saadhaka *is, "Let Krishna be born in the Gokula of your Mind; let Him grow
and play prankishly

in the Brindhaavan of your Heart; let Him then be fixed in the *Chiththa *of
Mathura; and, finally,

let Him rule over the agitationless Consciousness as the Lord and Master of
Dhwaaraka." The
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Nirvikalpa aanandham *is the final result of His Kingdom established at
Dhwaaraka, in the

centre of the waves.

Krishna will get born in the mind of man only when three prerequisites are
attended to- Make the

mind *(manas), Bhakthimaya *(saturated with *Bhakthi. *Make the
intellect *(buddy),
*full *of Jnaana

deepthi, *(illumination of His glory), Make the body *(deha), the *instrument
for *Sathdharmaacharana
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(practice of *dharma, *of moral virtues). *Bhakthi *is the Raaja; Jnaana and
*

Vairaagya *are the two Aides-de-camp of this monarch. They are the guards
that ensure safety.

Unaccompanied by these two, the Raaja is not quite secure.
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Steps to cultivate thirst for Krishna
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The thirst for Krishna is a sign of health in the spiritual field. Not to
have it is a sign of *bhava
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roga--the fell disease that afflicts worldly persons, the symptoms being
grief, discontent, pain

and worry, even when wealth and health are endowed. That thirst can be
cultivated by the

reading of scriptures, the cultivation of congenial company, lessons from a
kind and considerate

Guru and regular practice of *japam. *Once it is acquired, the thirst itself
will lead you on to places

and persons able to quench it. That is the advantage of spiritual quest; the
first step makes the

second easy.

The bane of modern times is the value attached to a cynical destructive type
of judgement, by

fickle, feeble intellects. A doctor's prescription can be judged only by an
equally qualified or a

more qualified doctor, not by a patient suffering from the same or a
different illness. No person

afflicted with lust or envy or greed or attachment or egoism can pronounce
judgement on the

ethereal, formless, nameless principle that concretised as Krishna. Krishna
is described as blue in

physical colour, for, He is as deep and inscrutable as the sky; the blue is
the colour which the eye

comprehends, though the sky has no colour at all. So too, Krishna has no
colour or attributes but,

in order to comprehend Him, the mental eye attributes a colour.

Grace of Krishna can be won only by the good. The *Raakshasas *(demons) did
not get *Amritha
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(nectar); for they would have misused it. Knowledge in the wicked is power
misused for the

stratagems of hate and greed. Grace too is power and it has to be endowed on
the deserving only.

Therefore. character has to be sublimated into saturated piety and devotion.
Then only can Grace

be secured. Mere repetition of name, Krishna, will be of no use, unless the
contemplation of the

Glory of Krishna starts purifying the character at the same time.
Thus, *maanava
*(human)

becomes *Maadhava *(divine). *Mruthyu *(death) is changed into
*Amritha *(immortality).
Through
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thanmaya, *(saturated with Divinity), this *mrinmaya *(mud-filled body)
becomes *Chinmaya
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(saturated with Divine consciousness)---through saturation, this clod
becomes God. That is the

consummation of *Krishna-thrishna, *the thirst after God, which wells up in
one's own heart.
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Discourse at Madras

Sathya Sai Baaba

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