Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of the god Vishnu. Krishna is central to many of the main stories of the epic. Krishna plays his flute and the gopis come immediately, from whatever they were. Krishna and his divine flute. Krishna is a cosmic musician, and the tune he creates by playing his transcendental flute is embodied with cosmic energy. As Krishna’s divine flute calls at any time of the day or night, nature, which is mesmerized by the captivating celestial tune, responds: Lakes and rivers overflow with water. We’ve all grown up listening to stories of Lord Krishna. He’s a butter thief, a mischief-maker, an exuberant imp with the literal ability to move mountains. He’s also very romantic and plays the flute with divine grace. He’s also a god, you learn as you grow older. So you think you know him – but actually no one does. The story of Krishna from start to finish is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, with anecdotes from here, there and everywhere. In his new book, Shyam, mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik finally puts together the whole story of Krishna. What you will read below is not an excerpt from the book, but eight things that Devdutt himself learned about one of Hinduism’s most popular gods. Krishna as Arjun’s charioteer ( Illustration: Devdutt Pattanaik ) Krishna’s story comes to us in fragments via Sanskrit literature, first in the Mahabharata (that speaks of Krishna’s adulthood amongst the Pandavas), then in the Harivamsa (that speaks of his pastoral foster family), then in the Vishnu Purana (that refers to him as Vishnu’s avatar), then the now popular Shrimad Bhagavata Purana (that refers to the dance with milkmaids at night) and the Geet Govind of Jayadeva (that introduces us elaborately to Radha). Of course, Krishna’s story may have been transmitted in its entirety orally for thousands of years before being put down in writing. That we will never know. What we do know is that the Mahabharata reached its final textual form about 2,000 years ago, Harivamsa around 1,700 years ago, Vishnu Purana around 1,500 years ago, the final layers of the Bhagavata Purana came together 1,000 years ago, and the Geet Govind about 800 years ago. Simbolos patrios de alemania. Baby Krishna with Yashoda, Nanda and the cows ( Illustration: Devdutt Pattanaik ) Few retell the story of Krishna from birth to death sequentially, as they do for Ram. Of course, the devout will never say Ram, or, Krishna died! They will speak of their descent from Vaikuntha as avatars, and their return to Vaikuntha. Ram is different from Krishna because Ram does not know he is Vishnu, while Krishna does. Ram is the seventh avatar and Krishna is the eighth in popular traditions. For Krishna devotees, Krishna is the greater avatar of Vishnu. The greatest even: the complete avatar ( poorna-avatar), the most perfect personal manifestation (saguna brahman) of the impersonal divine ( nirguna brahman).
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