NAME 57

Krṣṇa means dark or dark blue. Viṣṇu’s famous incarnation is Krṣṇa avatar. Krṣṇa had dark blue complexion. Blue is said to be the colour of the eternity. Sky is a typical example. He is known as the master of the universe because of His famous teaching Bhagavad Gita. It is said that the name Krṣṇa signifies bliss or the one who recites the name Krṣṇa attains the state of bliss.

The word Krishna means in Sanskrit ‘the dark’. The Truth that is intellectually appreciated, but spiritually not apprehended, is considered as ‘veiled behind some darkness’. The root Krish means Existence (Sat) and na means Bliss (Aananda).

So says Vyasa in Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva. Therefore Krishna (Krish+na) means Existence- Bliss (Sat-Aananda). Thus, the very name divine, ‘Krishna’, represents the Supreme Paramatma. Or, because of His dark-blue complexion He is called as Krishna. Mahabharata Shanti Parva says, “As My colour is dark-blue, I am called Krishna, O Arjuna.”

Krshami Prthivim Partha Bhutva Karshnayaso Halah |

Krshno Varnasca Me Yasmat Tasmat Krshno’ham Arjuna ||

In Mahabharata, we find Krishna explaining Himself to Arjuna ‘when the earth becomes shelled in by its hard crux I shall turn myself into an iron plough-share and shall plough the earth. Apart from the above meaning Krishna also means the Enchanter of all His devotees (Akarshana). Truth is One which irresistibly attracts everybody towards Itself. Commentators have interpreted this significance in a more attractive context. They conclude that Krishna means One who sweeps away the sins in the heart of those who meditate upon Him.

Truth has got a magnetism to attract to itself all the ego and ego-centric passions of the individual. In this sense viewed, we need not consider Krishna as a deity of the farmyard in the agricultural estates. The Lord ploughs the hard stupidities in us and prepares the heart-field, weeding out all the poisonous growths of sin, and cultivates therein-pure Bliss which is of the nature of Reality.

The Truth that is intellectually appreciated, but spiritually not apprehended, is considered as ‘veiled behind some darkness’.

The root Krish means Existence (Sattaa) and na means Bliss (Aananda). So says Vyasa in Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva 70, 5. Therefore Krishna (Krish+na) means Existence- Bliss (Sattaa-Aananda). Thus, the very name divine, ‘Krishna’, represents the Supreme Paramaatman.

Or, because of His dark-blue complexion He is called as Krishna. Mahabharata Santi Parva 343 says, “As My colour is dark-blue, I am called Krishna, O Arjuna.”

In Mahabharata, we find Krishna explaining Himself to Arjuna ‘when the earth becomes shelled in by its hard crux I shall turn myself into an iron plough-share and shall plough the earth.

Apart from the above meaning Krishna also means the Enchanter of all His devotees (Aakarshana). Truth is One which irresistibly attracts everybody towards Itself. Commentators have interpreted this significance in a more attractive context. They conclude that Krishna means One who sweeps away the sins in the heart of those who meditate upon Him.

Truth has got a magnetism to attract to Itself all the ego and ego-centric passions of the individual. In this sense viewed, we need not consider Krishna as a deity of the farmyard in the agricultural estates. The Lord ploughs the hard stupidities in us and prepares the heart-field, weeding out all the poisonous growths of sin, and cultivates therein-pure Bliss which is of the nature of Reality.

५7. ॐ कृष्णाय नमः |

57. OM Kr̥ṣṇāya Namaḥ

 Krishnah – One who is always in a State of Bliss.

This Nama has two meanings:

One who is always in a state of Bliss (with His sport of Creation etc.)

According to Sri Adi Sankara, ‘Krish’ stands for existence or Sat and ‘Na’ stands for bliss or Ananda. So Krishna denotes a Sachidaananda Svaroopi or someone permanently in a state of Bliss.

Sri Parasara Bhattar interprets ‘Krishi’ as a receptacle or container or ground (Bhu or Bhumi i.e. land) and ‘Na’ stands for bliss.  So Krishna means receptacle of joy because of His constant engagement in the Sport of Creation.

The second meaning of Krishna is:

One who has a dark-blue complexion.

The word ‘Krishna’ literally means dark colour. We have seen in the Dhyana shlokas the Lord is described as ‘Megha Shyaamam or Megha Varnam or Ambuda Shyaamam – dark blue like the rain-bearing cloud’. Andal in her Thiruppavai in her first Pasuram describes the Lord as ‘Kaar Meni Sengan Kadhir Madhiyam pol Mugathaan’ – One who is with a dark cloud-like complexion, Lotus red eyed and lustrous face shining like the Sun and calm like the Moon.

The Nama ‘Krishna’ can also be interpreted as ‘Akarshana’ or someone with magnetic attraction. Sarvaṃ karotīti Kr̥ṣṇaḥ – The One who does everything. Daityān karṣatīti vā He who overpowers Daityās (evil doers). Kr̥ṣṇavarṇa tvādvā He is with dark complexion.

Kr̥ṣirbhū vācakaḥ śabdo ṇaśca nirvr̥ti vācakaḥ,

Kr̥ṣṇastadbhāvayogācca kr̥ṣṇo bhavati śāśvataḥ. (5)

Mahābhārata – Udyoga parva, Sanatsujāta parva, 70

He is called Kr̥ṣṇa because He unites in Himself what are implied by the two words ‘Kr̥ṣ’ which signifies existence and ‘ṇa’ which denotes ‘eternal peace’.

Kr̥ṣāmi medinīṃ pārtha bhūtvā kārˈṣṇāyaso halaḥ,

Kr̥ṣṇo varṇaśca me yasmāt tasmāt kr̥ṣṇo’ha marjunā. (5)

Mahābhārata – Śānti parva, Mokṣadharma parva, 342

O Arjunā! I till the Earth, assuming the form of a large plowshare of black iron. And because my complexion is black, therefore am I called by the name of Kr̥ṣṇa.

Tam adbhutaṃ bālakam ambujekṣaṇaṃ caturbhujaṃ śańkhagadādyudāyudham,

Śrīvatsalakṣmaṃ galaśobhikaustubhaṃ pītāmbaraṃ sāndrapayodasaubhagam. (9)

Mahārhavaidūryakirīṭakuṇḍalatviṣā pariṣvaktasahasrakuntalam,

Uddāmakāñcyańgadakańkaṇādibhir Virocamānaṃ vasudeva aikṣata. (10).

Śrīmad Bhāgavata – Canto 10, Chapter 3

Vasudeva then saw the newborn child. The child then appeared to him in a wonderful form with lotus like eyes and who bore in His four hands the four weapons Śańkha (Conch), Cakra (Disc), Gadā (Mace) and Padma (Lotus). On His chest was the mark of Śrīvatsa and on His neck the brilliant Kaustubha gem. Dressed in yellow, His body blackish like a dense cloud, His scattered hair fully grown, and His helmet and earrings sparkling uncommonly with the valuable gem Vaidūrya. He was decorated with a brilliant belt, armlets, bangles and other ornaments, appeared very wonderful.

INTERPRETATION GUIDED BY SANT VANI (WORDS OF SAINTS)

Kṛṣṇaḥ (also name 550)

(1) The ever joyous. He who is the epitome and manifestation of Sacchidānanda (सच्चिदानंद) – “sat“,“chit” and “ananda”

(2) The one of blue-black colour. The ‘dark-complexioned‘ one who has the quality of ākarṣaṇa (attraction).

(3) He, who is the ‘receptacle/vessel’ of supreme joy.

(4) He, who delights in the sport of his own Līlā – the divine play.

The name Kṛṣṇa (Krishna) can be split into two says the Mahabharata; Chapter-70 of the Udyoga Parva

The root Kṛṣ (Krish) stands for sat (सत्); pure-existence, the eternal reality/truth and ṇa stands for ānanda (आनन्द) Bliss-absolute, pure-unadulterated-joy that is everlasting.

The verbal root ‘Kṛṣ’ means sat, existence. ‘na’ means ānanda. In other words He is sat-cit-ānanda svabhāva. One could interpret this thus:

In order for us to experience that bliss, the everlasting joy that is Kṛṣṇa, we have to connect our chit (चित्) i.e. consciousness or awareness with the pure-existence-bliss that is Kṛṣṇa and that state of equilibrium is Sacchidānanda (सच्चिदानंद) and reflective of this name of the Supreme being.

Lord Vishnu is called Kṛṣṇa because He is always sat-ānanda-ātmaka, of the nature of both existence and joy.

Bhagwan Śrī Kṛṣṇa is a purna avatāra of Vishnu. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is presented as one who is always happy, unperturbed and always dancing to music. He is the one, who ākarsati, attracts, everyone to Himself. What is it that attracts everyone, that draws everyone? Whatever makes one acceptable to oneself, in the presence of whom one feels unconditionally loved and accepted, that thing or person becomes the object of attraction.

Sri Aurobindo captures this quality of ākarṣaṇa in this poem on Kṛṣṇa:

The story of Śrī Kṛṣṇah‘s life is inspiring. Even before he took on a human form, there were attempts to kill him and much through his childhood, the attempts to kill him by none other than his Uncle Kamsa continued. He grew up in the loving house of Yashoda and Nand Baba and faced many difficulties due to constant attacks by Kamsa.

In the Gita dhyana sloka, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is referred to as the Jagad Guru, the teacher of the world. A teacher of the world can be a teacher of the world because he has a universal message. Without this message, the search of one‘s life cannot come to an end.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa was Arjuna’s buddy. Yet, when Arjuna discovered the student in him and asked Kṛṣṇa to guide him, Krsna taught him and through Arjuna, us. Kṛṣṇa did not refuse him nor did he promise to teach him once the battle was over. He did not ask Arjuna to believe him nor gave him a technique nor gave him advice on war strategy. In the midst of the battlefield, amidst the sounds of kettledrums, war trumpets etc, Kṛṣṇa taught Arjuna brahmavidya and yoga shastra. When one lives a life of dharma, there will be no conflict and hence there will be a path paved to Sat chit ānanda.

But the ultimate source of ānanda is Kṛṣṇa, because it is the svarūpa of the Lord and the svarūpa of oneself. The uniqueness of our culture is that one can relate to the Lord in any way one is comfortable.

Many women worship Krsna in his child form while there are others who relate to his form as a Gopi Sakhi. There is no blasphemy involved. Any form of bhakti, devotion draws you closer. When bhakti fulfills its purpose in the recognition of oneness, there is no separation anymore.

Sri Aurobindo, gives the example of Radha whose love for Kṛṣṇa was so complete that it had penetrated into and manifested in every part of her being – physical, mental, spiritual:

“Radha is the personification of the absolute love for the Divine, total and integral in all parts of the being from the highest spiritual to the physical, bringing the absolute self-giving and total consecration of all the being and calling down into the body and the most material nature the supreme ānanda.”

Kṛṣṇa-varṇātmakatvāt–Kṛṣṇa means blue-black and Lord Vishnu is called Kṛṣṇa because of the colour of his skin being dark with blueish hue. This form is given for upāsana. In the Mahābhārat, Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna, ‘I am so called because my colour is Kṛṣṇa, blue black’ ( MB.Śān.342.79). Blue because it depicts the immensity of his infinite existence like the blue sky and the blue ocean.

Kṛṣṇa also stands for the dark-complexioned one and this could be interpreted as the “veil of darkness that is just a cover for the supreme truth that exists within and beyond.”

Kṛṣṇa also means, one who has the quality of ākarṣaṇa (attraction) – magnetism that makes it impossible for anyone to get away from his ‘sway’ – he draws “his” people to him and keeps them in the web of his Līlā. That Supreme master of the senses – Hṛṣīkēśa, the holder of the reins of the body-chariot, controller of the horse-senses – the great Kṣetrajña (the knower of the ‘field’) in the kṣétra of the human body.

“Form is not an independent phenomenon. It is a product of sight and sense. If one is blind, one cannot see forms. And if one is unconscious, one cannot perceive any form.” – Om Swami

https://os.me/qa-the-supreme-truth-the-ultimate-form/

“Faith is heart’s wisdom. It’s what your mind can’t grasp but your heart knows. Give it a place in your life and you’ll fly with a thousand wings. Higher and swifter. Across the seas, beyond the skies.” – Om Swami

One can write pages after pages on Krishna yet not be able to fathom the depth of the Lord. One can only dissolve in him in love and Bhakti.

For a human being to just live in joy and love every day, from the moment he wakes up in the morning till he falls asleep at night, is a tremendous sadhana. People smile when someone is around, but if you look at them when they are alone and feel unobserved, the kind of depressed face they make says everything about them. A great percentage of people suffer by themselves in their mind.

Mixing with people is more like a festival, but being is always in aloneness. If you make yourself into a beautiful being, just to sit in solitude is fantastic. To be loving every moment of your life – not only if a certain situation occurs, or if you see a certain– if you are simply loving, indiscriminately, your intelligence blossoms in a completely different way. In making choices, intelligence gets crippled. To be loving is not a gift to someone else. It is a beautiful thing for yourself. It is the pleasantness of your system – your emotion, mind, and body naturally become pleasant. And there is substantial scientific evidence to prove today that only when your system is pleasant, your intelligence functions at its best.

The One In Perfect Tune

You will see, if your heart beats 60 times per minute when you are restful, you are in tune with the planet. It can go up and down during activity, but if you are above 60 in restfulness, you are a little lost. Most people are between 65 and 75 when they are healthy and well. If you do some simple yogic practices like Surya Namaskar and Shambhavi Mahamudra during the Kundalini Sadhna for about 18 months, for sure it will be 60 – you will be in tune. When you are in tune, being loving and joyful, being like a flower is natural, because that is how the being is made. This being is not made to be depressed and sick. It is made to flourish.

This was Krishna’s sadhana – he was in perfect tune with life around him.

No matter what kind of games he played as a child, he was in fabulous tune. The fact that everyone still loved him though he stole butter from people’s homes and pulled all kinds of pranks on them, means that somehow he got them in tune with himself. Only when you feel in tune with someone, you will feel pleasant in their presence. If you do not feel in tune, you will feel unpleasant if you just look at them. Both pleasantness and unpleasantness can happen with the same person. When you are in tune with that person and you look at him or her, there will be pleasantness. At times when you are not in tune, there will be unpleasantness – they don’t have to do anything wrong for that to happen.

Until the age of 16, Krishna’s sadhana was to be in tune with life around him. Then his Guru Sandipani came and reminded him that his life was not just about playing around, that there was a bigger purpose to it. Krishna struggled a bit with that. He loved the village he lived in, and everyone loved him. He was totally involved with everyone and everything around him – man, woman, animal, and child. He said, “I don’t need any great purpose. I just like to be in this village. I like the cows, the cowherds, the gopis. I want to dance and sing with them.” But Sandipani said, “You have to stand up because this is the purpose for which you were born. This needs to happen.”

Until he was 22, he did intense spiritual sadhana. He also did weapon training and became a great wrestler.

Krishna went and stood on a small hill that is known as Govardhan Hill. When he came down, he was not the boy he used to be. He went up the hill as a playful village boy and came down with a different gravity about himself. People looked at him in shock. They knew something phenomenal had happened, but however phenomenal it was, they knew they were going to lose him. When they looked at him, he still looked back at them smiling, but there was no prankful naughtiness in his eyes – there was vision. He saw things that they could not even imagine.

After the reminder, his first exploit was to kill his uncle Kamsa and end his tyranny over the Yadavas. Then he withdrew into the ashram of his Guru Sandipani, along with his brother Balarama and cousin Uddhava, and lived the life of a brahmachari for the next seven years. Until he was 22, he did intense spiritual sadhana. He also did weapon training and became a great wrestler. In spite of that, he did not become all muscle, like Arjuna and Bhima.

Sadhana of a Different Nature

Krishna remained gentle and tender because his sadhana was of a different dimension and nature. Sandipani designed it in such a way that it was largely internal. Since Krishna did not belong to Dwapara Yuga – he lived and acted like he belonged to Satya Yuga – everything happened on a mental level for him. Sandipani did not need to open his mouth to give an instruction. All was conveyed mentally; all was grasped mentally; all was attained mentally.

Krishna did not become muscular because his sadhana was purely mental, and he displayed that in a million different ways in his life.

When they came out of their sadhana, there was a distinct difference between Krishna and his brother. While Balarama became huge and muscular, Krishna physically remained the way he was. Balarama used to taunt him, “Maybe you did nothing. I have been working hard. I have become a great warrior. How come you still look like this?” But still, in the wrestling ring or an archery contest, no one could take on Krishna. As a swordsman, very few people could come anywhere near him. But he did not become muscular because his sadhana was purely mental, and he displayed that in a million different ways in his life.

Please watch two beautiful bhajans from 2.14.07 min onwards

The Hare Krishna Maha Mantra has 16 words. Divine Mother’s highest Mantra has 16 letters. Swamiji in Bhagwat Katha says though the mantra cannot be shared as it’s like disrobing the Goddess but understand that the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra also has 16 words and is as powerful. Bhagvat Gita is Brahmā Vidya – This is said by Bhagwan himself and it’s Divine Mother’s Mantra which is called Vidya.