Where there’s bhakti, there’s Krishna

Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati bharata, Abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham, Paritranaya sadhunang vinashay cha dushkritam, Dharmasansthapanarthay sambhavami yuge yuge

Krishna makes three prominent promises in this sloka. First, whenever there is decay of righteousness, he would take an avatar in the form of a saint and secure his disciples. Second, he would end evil for good, and third, through his avatar only righteousness shall prevail. In other words, it could be understood as an event when the brilliance of Krishna consciousness within our inner soul, would be so radiant that the evil that incarcerates our rebirths and deaths within us will be redeemed. More like, whenever the negatives and desires within us are at their peak, a guru comes in our life to invoke the positivity within and liberate us.

The story of Krishna’s birth that when Kansa’s terror was at its peak, Krishna took an avatar and in those moments all the guards that stood with evil had lost their consciousness and eventually Krishna’s rule prevailed, depicts the same.

Bhakti or devotion is the medium for communicating and conjuring the pure consciousness or Krishna within. This bhakti is the warmth of love that melts solidified ego mounted on our pure feelings. When bhakti is offered by the devotee, he is covered with oceans of unconditional love. God or guru, revel in the happiness of their disciples and expect nothing in return. Luckiest are those surrounded by such genuine love that knows none but to give. The overflowing love makes up for every loss in life.

One such lucky devotee was Arjuna. Once, Shiva and Parvati were discussing about who could be the supremist devotee and decided upon Arjuna. They then planned to meet Arjuna to confirm the same. Disguised, they reached the palace of Arjuna where the responsible security guard informed Shiva and Parvati that Arjuna had retired for the day. Since Shiva and Parvati were eager to meet him they started reminiscing of Krishna and beseeched him to wake Arjuna so that they could meet him. Krishna had to oblige. When he appeared in Arjuna’s room, he saw Rukmini fanning Arjuna to sleep. When Krishna got close to Arjuna, he could hear some sounds emanating from Arjuna’s feet. On getting closer, he heard the pores of his legs exhaling, “Krishna, Krishna, Krishna!” When Krishna moved towards his body, or fingertips or ears even split ends of Arjuna’s hair, all that Krishna could hear was, “Krishna, Krishna, Krishna!” and that sound of bhakti was so intoxicating that Krishna didn’t want it to stop and asked Rukmini to hand over the hand-fan to Krishna so that Krishna would make sure that Arjuna is most comfortable.

Shiva was now getting anxious and asked Brahma to wake Arjuna and welcome them in the chamber. When Brahma appeared in Arjuna’s room, he was astonished to see ecstatic Krishna fanning Arjuna. He also had the same experience and was stupefied by Arjuna’s bhakti bhava. Finally, Shiva had to ask Naradji to wake Arjuna. Naradji, who was more than happy to assist, arrived and started dancing and singing in bliss of the scenario.

Now Shiva and Parvati revealed themselves and entered the chamber themselves to witness the euphoria. Struck by the utter magic Shiva and Parvati lost themselves in the spellbinding bhakti bhava and started enjoying.

Such is the power of bhakti that it can make gods and goddesses merry around us. Where there is masti of bhakti, there is Krishna! Sadguru Rameshji is a modern age spiritual guru and the force behind Poorna Ananda, a Hyderabad-based centre for spiritual evolution and joyful living. He can be contacted at www.poornaananda.org