Radha-Krishna: How Ignorance and Passion have Led to Abusive License On This Relationship!

Nothing in spiritual and religious history has been so distorted and abused as the life of Sri Krishna – who has been known as the complete human being within the Dharmic history.  Unfortunately, the problem for most Hindus is that they themselves understand their own spiritual history from the drawings and minds of third-rate calendar artists!  The calendar artists have regularly and always shown Radha-Krishna as adults.  And almost every artist in modern times, has taken ample artistic license to depict the whole relationship as per their convenience and feeling.  The relationship of Krishna with every being is very personal, therefore the artistic license on how people viewed their love with Krishna was appropriate.   But this is the era where the raunchiest and abusive things done in the name of relationships and “love” is considered to be fine.  So, people are not taking liberty with the “artistic license” today – where the artist approached Krishna with complete love.  They are instead taking liberty of ABUSIVE LICENSE with Krishna now.  And that is where it has become important to put the whole story of Krishna and Radha in proper context.

Abusive License with Radha-Krishna Relationship

Just this month, Prashant Bhushan, the ex-AAP leader and a prominent Indian lawyer called Krishna an “eve-teaser”.  He later deleted that tweet.

He later apologized and deleted the tweet – saying it was inappropriately phrased!

This is not a one-time utterance of a stupid politician who feels his secular credentials are enhanced by abusing someone like Krishna who is considered God by Hindus.  In fact, the disease is so widespread that even the Indian Supreme Court said something abusive about Krishna in their judgment in March 2010 stating that Krishna and Radha had a “live-in” relationship!

“When two adult people want to live together what is the offence. Does it amount to an offence? Living together is not an offence. It cannot be an offence,” said a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice Deepak Verma and Justice B S Chauhan.  Drawing an analogy from the Hindu mythology, the court said, even Lord Krishna and Radha lived together.

Context of Krishna and Gopis and Radha

Most of the references to Krishna and his relationship – specially the Raas-Leelas – with the local girls, Gopis, and Radha comes from the scripture Srimad Bhagavatam.  In fact, she has been just alluded to.

It is important to remember that Krishna was merely 10 years old when he left Nandgram and went to Mathura.  The references in Srimad Bhagavatam are pretty clear on the age of the Krishna (and his elder brother, Balaram).  Krishna was 10 years and 7 months when he left for Mathura.  What could a kid living in a small village in India could have done in those days?  And, here we are talking about a kid who was less than 10 years for most part.

References from Bhagavatam

Uddhava says the following at the time when Krishna kills Kamsa.  Basically he is stating that Krishna was 11 years old when he killed Kamsa.  Krishna killed Kamsa on the Shivaratri day after his 10th birthday.

(3.2.25)

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being prayed to by Brahmā to bring welfare to the earth, was begotten by Vasudeva in the womb of his wife Devakī in the prison of the King of Bhoja.

(3.2.26)

Thereafter, His father, being afraid of Kaḿsa, brought Him to the cow pastures of Mahārāja Nanda, and there He lived for eleven years like a covered flame with His elder brother, Baladeva.

Also people in Mathura are discussing about both Balaram and Krishna and describing them:

(10.44.8)

What comparison can there be between these two professional wrestlers, with limbs as strong as lightning bolts and bodies resembling mighty mountains, and these two young, immature boys with exceedingly tender limbs?

Problem lies With Hindus and With the Abusers

Whether one is interested in Spirituality or with Hinduism as a belief system, it is extremely important that one makes her/himself available to the consciousness that can help enhance oneself.  Krishna has been an extraordinary being.  For last many centuries, when women were stuck inside the houses and did not have the freedom to go out and pursue Spiritual path like men could in many ways, Krishna was a major game-changer.  Krishna has been known for his “love for Gopis and Radha” and also as a “loving son”.  Countless women around the world – specially in India – have devoted their entire life to Krishna, either loving him as their son or as their loving partner without any intereference from anyone.

Just as in his life, where Krishna performed marriage to 16,100 women who were slaves to Narakasura and provided them acceptability in society as Krishna’s wives and enhanced their lives, he did enhance many women devotees by just being specially available to them in a loving relationship – either as a son or as a loving partner.  Meera’s or Chaitanya’s Krishna is not available to anyone but them.  And to them, Krishna was not an imagination, but their life’s energy.  To a devotee the idea of love and devotion can become larger than life.

So many women over the past so many centuries and millennia have loved Krishna as a divine partner or as a son – the two relations (love and son) that women can beyond their own physical selves – and found the path to enlightenment!

Over the last few centuries – and specially in the last century – the idea of Krishna (and other beings like Ram and Shiva) has been dictated more by distortions of some 3rd rate artist or fictional writers sans any spiritual work.  Rhetoric, titillation and outlet of personal choices have been used to define Krishna.  Hindus, who consider themselves passionate, are probably the most to blame.  They have created an idea of Krishna – without the requisite work on themselves to know the immensity of Krishna’s being – and have thrown their passion behind it.  Passion without adequate knowledge or understanding is as damaging as the work by abusers.  For, one does not know what he is defending and the other, does not care what he is abusing.  Both work from the point of ignorance!  Ignorance can only beget ignorance.  Passionate Hindus without any time for spiritual work – indeed antagonism to it for most part – have, in many ways, made people like Prashant Bhushans possible.