“My dear father, I am very respectfully and humbly inquiring. What is this arrangement? Why you are busy in making some sacrificial ceremony, what is the reason, and what is the result? For whose benefit is it and by what means will it be accomplished?” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.24.3)

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कथ्यतां मे पित: कोऽयं सम्भ्रमो व उपागत:
किं फलं कस्य वोद्देश: केन वा साध्यते मख:

kathyatāṁ me pitaḥ ko ’yaṁ
sambhramo va upāgataḥ
kiṁ phalaṁ kasya voddeśaḥ
kena vā sādhyate makhaḥ

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is under no obligation to listen to anyone. There are no rules that apply to Him. He creates the material and spiritual worlds, in the first place. Dharma is ultimately for understanding Him, for connecting with Him, for returning to the proper way.

Otherwise, we are suffering from illusion. We mistake a rope for a snake. We chase after enjoyment that is temporary in nature. We consider different ways to satisfy desires. Based on the outcomes, we might then pass along our formula for success to others. The problem is that there is no lasting happiness.

आद्यन्तवन्त एवैषां लोका: कर्मविनिर्मिता:
दु:खोदर्कास्तमोनिष्ठा: क्षुद्रा मन्दा: शुचार्पिता:

ādy-anta-vanta evaiṣāṁ
lokāḥ karma-vinirmitāḥ
duḥkhodarkās tamo-niṣṭhāḥ
kṣudrā mandāḥ śucārpitāḥ

“All the persons I have just mentioned obtain temporary fruits from their material work. Indeed, the meager and miserable situations they achieve bring future unhappiness and are based on ignorance. Even while enjoying the fruits of their work, such persons are filled with lamentation.” (Lord Krishna, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 11.14.11)

The way to find joy, to experience the real reason for an existence, is to connect with God. He is ultimately a person, though there are different ways to realize Him. In the avatara of Shri Krishna, we get visual evidence of the supreme standing, the proof that God does not have to follow the rules.

1. Stealing butter

We shouldn’t have to resort to religion to keep from stealing. We shouldn’t have to rely on a scriptural text to remind us to extend a general respect for the property of others. We should not require a commandment written in stone to warn us against stealing. It is common sense that if we wish for others to respect our property rights, we should offer the same courtesy in return.

At the same time, for parents it is endearing to see children go after what they want. The determination in overcoming obstacles shows that they are really after something. As a child living in the farm community of Gokula-Vrindavana, Krishna is known to break into the homes of the neighbors. He specifically looks for butter. He is not so easily dissuaded. If the parents try to keep the butter high up on the shelves, Krishna and His friends find a way to reach up.

2. Dancing with young girls

Many of the young gopis in the community are married. There is chastity to consider. Marriage is the best mechanism for dousing the flames of kama, which otherwise rage as soon as men and women meet. The more kama goes uncontrolled, the more problems there will be. Birth itself, which repeats in the cycle fueled by karma, has kama at the source.

But if someone wants to associate with Krishna, He will not prevent the relationship due to the rules applying to society. This kind of kama, though manifesting in the obvious place of a woman desiring the association of a man, is actually bhakti in nature. It is devotion of the rasa known as madhurya. Krishna obliges the desires of the gopis by meeting with them in the middle of the night, during the brightest moon of the year, Sharada Purnima.

3. Creating new worship

Krishna Himself advises against creating new kinds of worship. Respect is everything in Vedic culture. If we simply follow the standard that others have set, our path towards liberation is easy. If we make up new rituals and regulations based on whims, we are doomed. We are then following the way of the asura, who is against dharma.

य: शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य वर्तते कामकारत:
न स सिद्धिमवाप्‍नोति न सुखं न परां गतिम्

yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya
vartate kāma-kārataḥ
na sa siddhim avāpnoti
na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim

“But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 16.23)

Since Krishna is the highest object of worship, if He starts something new, then the tradition is legitimate. He personally instituted Govardhana Puja. This was done through insistence and persuasion. He began with the innocent question of “kim phalam.” Just what was the fruit the people were expecting to see in carrying through with the worship of Indra, who is the king of heaven?

Whatever the justification, the same could be accomplished by worshiping the nearby Govardhana Hill. This appeared to violate the very principle of respecting scriptural injunctions. The people dutifully followed, because they had so much love for Krishna.

4. Running from the battlefield

Enough already. Like that insect which refuses to go away, Jarasandha kept attacking Krishna. In the last instance, Krishna and His brother Balarama decided to flee the battlefield. This was the excuse needed to erect the city of gates known as Dvaraka.

Leaving the battlefield in this way went against the code of conduct for a kshatriya warrior. Was Krishna a vaishya or a kshatriya? Was He a farm boy or a warrior? No one could really pin Him down. Krishna left Himself open to much criticism.

5. Marrying thousands of women

In the proper implementation, even marriage can be a period of life where purification of consciousness takes place. It is a way to advance. It is known as the grihastha-ashrama. There is work, to produce fruits, but the husband-wife combination ideally divests interest in the outcome. They work with detachment to set an example for others, who may not be so inclined towards renunciation.

सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसङ्‍‍ग्रहम्

saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso
yathā kurvanti bhārata
kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś
cikīrṣur loka-saṅgraham

“As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, similarly the learned may also act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.25)

A man should be satisfied with one wife. If the occasion calls for it, if there is no conflict with the prevailing customs tied to time and circumstance, then a capable leader may accept more than one wife. But sixteen-thousand? Does that not indicate a sinful tendency? Why go to such extremes?

With Shri Krishna, the catalyst is more of a need to rescue than to associate. If thousands of distressed women, abused and held captive by a wicked character, should ask for protection, why would the Supreme Lord deny the request? He is known as the swift deliverer from birth and death, and in marrying thousands of queens to be kept safely and comfortably in individual palaces in Dvaraka, Krishna shows that there is no limit to the number of people who can be delivered.

ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि
मयि सन्न्यस्य मत्-पराः
अनन्येनैव योगेन
मां ध्यायन्त उपासते
तेषाम् अहं समुद्धर्ता
मृत्यु-संसार-सागरात्
भवामि न चिरात् पार्थ
मय्य् आवेशित-चेतसाम्

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

“For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Pritha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.6-7)

…

The son of Devaki might not behave as the ideal man, but He is the ideal object of worship. He does not limit Himself. He is not restricted by the conventions followed by the society at large. If someone approaches Him, He will reciprocate. He breaks from His stance as the neutral, witnessing bird, as described in the Upanishads.

“The Vedas, like the Mundaka Upanishad, as well as the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, compare the soul and the Supersoul to two friendly birds sitting on the same tree. One of the birds (the individual atomic soul) is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird (Krishna) is simply watching His friend. Of these two birds—although they are the same in quality—one is captivated by the fruits of the material tree, while the other is simply witnessing the activities of His friend. Krishna is the witnessing bird, and Arjuna is the eating bird.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 2.22 Purport)

In the process, Krishna will absorb any of the negative impact. He protected the people from the retaliation of Indra in the aftermath of the first Govardhana Puja. His promise to Arjuna, in the recommendation to abandon all other forms of religion, is backed up by His deeds from His time in this manifest realm. Those deeds are studied and celebrated to this day.

In Closing:

Celebrated to this day,
Deeds more to say.

That to rules never bound,
As object of dharma found.

Where Govardhana Puja to start,
And from battlefield to depart.

Thousands of queens to save,
As ideal God to behave.

Categories: kim phalam, the five

Tags: dailyprompt, dharma, hare krishna, krishna lila, poem, poems, poetry