Very,
Very few human beings ever get to be placed in as complex situations as Krishna was placed.
In one human being's life,
Going through the variety of situations that he went through is generally… it doesn't happen to most,
Most human beings.
And in all these situations that he was faced with,
The clarity of vision that he exhibited and the certainty about his ability to discern as to what is true and what is not true,
The clarity that he brought to people around him,
People began to experiencing like god-like.
So he was proclaimed as an incarnation and a complete incarnation.
If you… for those of you who are not familiar with this,
They talk about nine incarnations.
I want you to understand this is what I am going to say now is much before Charles Darwin came.
So the first incarnation was Mathya-avatara,
That means god appeared in the form of a fish.
And you know Charles Darwin went about proving the first form of life on the planet were water life,
Fish.
And the next incarnation is Kurma-avatara,
That means it's a turtle,
It's an amphibious animal,
Half water,
Half length.
Charles Darwin said this also.
The third incarnation is Paraha-avatara,
Which is in the form of a pig,
A gross mammal.
And the fourth incarnation is Narasimha-avatara,
That is half man and half animal.
The next one is Vamana-avatara,
A dwarf,
Human form but a dwarf.
The next one is Parashurama,
A full grown man but an extremely violent man,
A great fighter.
We will meet him shortly here also.
Krishna meets him so he is still alive.
So Parashurama is a fighting man.
He even lopped off the head of his own mother,
A very violent man.
The next one is Rama-avatara,
A very peaceful one but very uni-dimensional kind of man.
The next is Krishna-avatara,
A very multi-dimensional human being.
So Krishna-avatara was considered as a complete avatara or a complete incarnation of God,
Not just one aspect.
As a tribute to the multi-dimensional nature of who he was and though he himself never claimed it,
Even if he had not claimed it,
People around him naturally identified him as divine.
In this identification that people attach to him,
The whole culture evolved around this identity of Krishna being a complete incarnation of the divine.
When we say Krishna,
The essence of who he is,
He is an irrepressible child,
A terrible prankster.
An enchanting flute player,
A graceful dancer,
An irresistible lover,
A truly valiant warrior,
A ruthless wancisher of his foes,
A man who left a broken heart in every home,
An astute statesman and kingmaker,
A thorough gentleman,
A yogi of the highest order and the most colorful incarnation.
Krishna is seen and perceived and understood and experienced in many,
Many different ways by different people.
Duryodhana,
Through the eyes of Duryodhana.
For those of you who do not know the background,
I will be,
Because unless you understand the whole tapestry of the story and the situation in which he existed,
Many aspects of who he is will be missed.
So we will go into it,
But right now Duryodhana is a man because of certain situations into which he was placed insecure,
Angry,
Jealous,
Greedy and feeling wronged all his life.
And because of actions which came forth from his greed and anger,
He became the key for destruction of his whole race.
In Duryodhana's words,
He is a smiling rogue if there was ever 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,
Play with little children.
Who says he is God?
That's Duryodhana's perception.
Shakuni – the very embodiment of deception and cunning.
Shakuni says,
Let us suppose he is God,
So what?
What can a God do?
God can only please those devotees who please him.
Let him be God.
I don't like him and when you don't like somebody,
You must praise them.
That's a deceit.
His childhood lover,
A milkmaid,
A simple woman of the village,
But with such unfaltering love and devotion,
She has become so big that today you cannot talk of Krishna without Radhe.
We don't say Krishna Radhe,
We say Radhe Krishna.
She has become a simple village woman.
She has become as significant as Krishna or little more significant than him.
She said Krishna is with me.
He is always with me.
Wherever he is,
Whoever he is with,
He is still with me.
That's her perception.
Vaanteya – a youth who was the Garuda chief's eldest son living on the mountains of Gomantak.
A sprightly youth because of a certain ailment became totally crippled.
This crippled youth after he met Krishna,
Krishna made him walk.
So Vaanteya said,
He is God,
He is God,
He is God.
A krura,
An uncle of Krishna,
A wise and saintly being,
Expressed his perception of Krishna this way.
Krishna,
When I look at him,
This strange young boy,
I see the sun,
The moon and the seven stars whirling around him.
When he speaks,
He sounds like the voice of the eternal.
He is the hope.
If there is hope in this world,
He is the hope.
Sikandin,
A tortured human being because of a certain situation within himself,
Right from his child.
This is an absolutely tortured soul.
So Sikandin said,
Krishna never gave me any hope but when he is there,
The breeze of hope touches everybody.
I can go on like this.
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,
So many things he is.
If we want to taste an essence of what it means when we say Krishna,
The consciousness that we refer to as Krishna,
If we have to be touched by this,
We need Leela.
Here we are for the Leela.
Leela means it is the path of the playful.
This is not for the serious times,
Are you?
Because when I say playfulness,
We are not here just to play,
We are here to explore the most profound and the most serious aspect of life but playfully,
Conduct that playfully.
Otherwise Krishna won't be there.
The reason why the most profound dimensions of life have missed,
Have been missed by the vast population in the world is because they do not know how to be playful.
If you want to explore this path playfully,
If you want to be playful,
You need a heartful of love,
A joyful mind and a vibrant body,
Otherwise there is no Leela.
If one has to explore the most profound dimensions of life in a playful way,
They must be willing to play with their awareness,
With their imagination,
With their memory,
With their life,
With their death.
They are willing to play with everything,
Only them,
Leela.
Leela does not mean just dancing with somebody,
You are willing to dance with death,
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 the last moment of your death,
Only then there is Leela.
