Hare Krishna
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Having attained certainty as to the real purport of the Veda, and gained direct knowledge by experience, you will be supremely content in the realization of the Self, and then . . . you will no longer be frustrated by obstacles. There [will be] peace in [your] heart and goodwill. [Srimad Bhagavatam, Book 11, Ch 7]
Old Puranic world picture
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| At the centre of an egg - |
The holy mountain Meru rises in the centre as well. It is wider at its top than at its base. There is no mountain that is like that - but Meru is "the calyx of the lotus flower that is this world", the old story goes. What is more, "Vishnu's navel-lotus here becomes the earth itself, Mt. Meru its central seed-cup, and the surround lands its petals." [Clh 27].
The Hindu trinity consists of Shiva, destroying agent and so on; Vishnu (fertiliser); and Brahma (originator, or emblematic expert). Brahma is the counterpart to the Christian concept of a creator-god, but much is different. One, he has to be drunk to manifest a world. Two, his origin is from the lotus in Vishnu's navel, at least in Vishnu tales of old. There are alternatives to such tales in Hindu mythology too. [Clh 30].
These are pictorial and rather figurative ideas.
Killing Many
Krishna the avatar is said to be Vishnu descended into human form for a while.
Krishna" means "black", "blue" even "dark brown". Professors Dimmitt and van
Buitenen explain him as "black", but there are other options. [Clh 101; Viom 1]And to recap from the previous page:
Krishna seems to have two separate personalities. He tricks two dynasties into giant self-destruction - and his own family is annihilated too. He betrays or tricks others so that they all die in the end. Two of his tasks on earth are to destroy a relative. He kidnaps and takes some thousand wives into his harem. [Clh 102-5]
Trying to play tuba might help
Resist the annihilating and harming-charming agent in your fields of life. Try out at your own risk and expense:- Play violently on the tuba when he is proselytising;
- Use candid language so as to hinder credulous ones to fall and get harmed.
- Hammer on the cures by being aligned with psychoanalytical theory.
Krishna and Dionysos Compared
An ancient reference that the Dionysos cult reached India
THE LATIN writer Ovid (43 BC - AD 17) writes in his Metamorphoses that the god Dionysos (later Bacchus) appears both with and without horns. Quote:He has conquered the East as far as the land where swarthy India is watered by remote Ganges' stream" [Met 94; Compare also the third paragraph of book 4 here, if you like]
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Now this gentle presence appears without his own horns in an orgy of gladness |
Wherever you go, young men's voices are raised in cheering, and women's voices join in the chorus ... hollow cymbals clash to the sound of the ... flute's shrill pipe.
The Theban women offered up their prayer to Bacchus, saying: "May your gracious and gentle presence be with us now!" [Met 95]
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| Krishna and Gopis (women) |
Ovid informs that the Dionysos cult reached India. In India many writers composed books that became the sources of one of the greatest changeling stories: The Bhagavatam. The changeling was Krishna.
There are orgies in the woods, and he blows his flute and brings rapture - like Dionysos - or the other way round.
Interestingly, like Achilles, Krishna has the heel as his week spot too.
The Danish Leo Hjortsoe takes us into the ritual ecstasy of Bacchus in a book on Greek gods and heros. The pre-Greek wine-god won adherents by his wine in the first rounds - He seems to be a glad giver, like Krishna, in a dreamlike or quite unreal peace, often worshipped by ecstatic dance. Dionysos shows up as coming from Mediterranean islands where vines were cultivated. He represents calm in the midst of anger, but not only that. [Gh 78-85]
What this amounts to, is to hint at some overlooked details for comparison.
Prejudiced People
In other passages he says to Arjuna that he is Arjuna himself, and so on. Note the selection above. What guarantee do we have that all these assertions are true to fact? It should pay to inspect well. Then you may also ask for conclusive proof, for Krishna says, "I am the conclusive truth (10:32)".
Ask for evidence that is not insignificant, for he asserts, "I am the Himalayas (10:25)", and they stand tall. And what about the Alps? He does not mention them in these Himalayan perspectives. Not the Rocky Mountains and Andes mountains and Kilimanjaro either.
These verses highlight another side to Krishna, the Godside. The question is how far these utterances are wild claims, unfounded claims, and claims derived from other scriptures like Upanishads, and edited onto Krishna on olden times. What stands out is that some verses in the Bhagavad Gita are attributed to him, yet are loans from Upanishads. There is good reason to be tolerant when encountering tall statements, though, for our own good. There is an American proverb that helps to explain why: "Twin fools; one doubts nothing, the other, everything." The sane person's attitude is worth fighting for. He or she says calmly in the face of great claims, "Maybe yes, mayby no, I don't know." In short, "Well-well -" Such an attitude goes a long way toward getting better at thinking and perhaps investigating things, just as it is done in science and by top-notch, unprejudiced scholars.
Thus, it is not wise to be intolerant to our loss, and it is not wise to be gullible to our loss either. Buddha has more to say on the attitude and practices to go for too. [LINK]
I should perhaps add that in great many cases we have to lay the matters aside as unproven, unresolved, specuation, undocumented, unsourced or whatever, without any firm conclusions. Keeping things in suspense when it is fit, is doing ourselves a favour, as it leaves the way open for further success, and hinders prejudice and too rash conclusions to blossom. Also:
If a person is capable of rectifying his erroneous judgments in the light of new evidence he is not prejudiced. - Gordon Allport, in The Nature of Prejudice, ch. 1.
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| "What sweet lore!" |
Some myths and folk tales are good for persons because we learn to align through many of them. And we may also learn to think our own thoughts by studying enigmas, and folklore contains very many. Some are in folk tales, others in good proverbs, and so on. It can be good for man to puzzle. But not all the time. Practical handling is even more important -
Some Ensnared Ones Are Bound through Prejudiced Ideas
There is reason to suggest that some ensnared ones think by their deep wishes, not the other way round:The reason seems to be that ideas are formed by mental associations, and associations are lust-contingent (id-related). Perhaps the words "libido" and "id" serve better than words like "lust" and "zest", but in the way they are used here, they suggest the same thing. And thoughts are results of composite (multiple) associations and chains of associations.
There you have it, a circle is completed: Many seem to form affective thoughts by some of their deep-set urges and wishes or motivations. One may have to confront various layers of deep urges or wishes in order to feel well, see clearly and handle this and that expertly. Clarity and cogent, rational thinking that is called objectivity, can rise through such processes or similar ones.
Birds of a Feather
If persons who live together have much similar problems without and within, and similar conditions in general, they may form ideas that resemble one another, because their deep-set problems block some idea-associations, favour others, and then the conditions may allow and even call for others. Thus patterning may set in and become fixed. Shared "block" prejudice can be one outcome.Consequently, suspect that some ideas that appeal to you, relate to inner problems, and that other ideas ensnare "birds of a feather" who group together and share cultural stereotypes, common prejudices, social climates (attitudes), and so on. Where there are rigidly held, over-biased opinions instead of rational inquiry, conditions are not ideal. Opinionation may work milder than brainwaishing and counter-brainwashing; yet it is not fully humane. How inner and out factors can influence and govern the thinking of many, is a fascinating subject. And tales people "buy" (accept, go for), may reflect stolen sanity somehow - too. [Sop]
Staunch persons who can investigate things rationally without too much prejudice and opinionation, may be found in the arts, the sciences and in everyday life. There are persons who dare to look into themselves or into the world quite free from bias. Some of these culture-enhancers may come up with ideas that scare others for a long time, and yet prove handy. Charles Darwin did, for example.
The noted psychologist Abraham Maslow found that persons with much self-knowledge (self-realized ones) had a clearer view than others, were better (more unbiased, less emotionally tinged) witnesses, and tended to be better exemplars of human beings. [LINK]
Sigmund Freud considered that id - and deep associations - may get blocked if the culture is openly repressive, and worked out a body of insightful ideas from that. Once again, we think by mental associations and should work tactfully to free ourselves - understand ourselves too - in order to view persons and happenings freely and as clearly as can be.
Defence mechanisms may set in and do havoc for the lack of it, and finer health aspects could be undermined. That is not an unfounded opinion, for mental and social repressions often take their toll and make a lot of people ill. In line with this, it is estimated by medical expertise that at least half of all common bodily diseases are psychocomatic, in that emotion stress is involved in over half of them. [Ams 461-7; Hi 505; cf. Puse].
Art and Its Products Have Good Sides and Drawbacks
If children are sound as they should be, they love funny stories that transcend or go beyond the habituated. The future scientist and thinker may get deprived for the lack of heart-warming, funny tales to learn from too. Here is a true story about Albert Einstein:In not a few cases good narratives also help to correct the minds of little darlings. Parents and other authority figures should not be alarming or scaring, as that could off-set health-giving developments. There is plenty of material on our pages that conform to these deeply embedded ideas somehow [Bruvik; Coe].br> Symbol crosses are not specially Christian. Cross symbols are found in Hinduism and ancent Egypt from long before the Common Era. The sound idea behind making idols and the like, is that many people get ensnared by such products of art and craft, and forget the maker. A story:A concerned mother once visited Albert Einstein to get his counsel on how to help her son become really good in maths. Exactly what was she to read for him to help him evolve into a prominent scientist?
"Folk tales," said Einstein.
"Okay," said the mother, "and after that?"
"More folk tales," said Einstein.
"And after that?" the mother asked again.
"Still more folk tales," answered Einstein. [Evo 11; also in Brms]
"Alas. Yes, Father," replied the dying man, "it was I who made him."
Iconoclasm in Christianity - and Krishna
Artist-made icons and images of Krishna often contain interesting symbols. But icons have their prejudiced opponents in some Western Circles, who have a long history of iconoclasm. Iconoclasm [Greek: 'image breaking'] means opposition to religious use of images, as in the stark Biblical:"You shall have no other gods before [besides] me.Does this suggest a thousand reincarnations for those the Bible's God love? That is one interpretation. To be shown love for a thousand generations you have to live a thousand generations - Otherwise, what folks have had great blessings for 30,000 years so far? A bet: none. Who can tell? Is the command of keeping the Canaanite slave forever worth keeping at all? You have to decide. In Hinduism it is thought to be better to get out of the wheel of births and death into Freedom, Moksha, which is purported to be better than God's alleged thousand-generations blessings anyway.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments." - Exodus 20:3-6.
Regardless of that central religious command for Hebrews, veneration of pictures and statues symbolizing holy figures, Christian doctrine, and biblical events was an early feature of Christian worship, and images and crucifixes became common, for Gentile Christians had only four things to stand by: "No to blood food, no to adultery, no to food from idol sacrifices, and no to food for non-killed animals," roughly said [Acts 15; 21:25]. But opponents of the use of pictures and statues claimed they led to idolatry. Canon 36 of the Synod of Elvira (c. 305) was one of the earliest to prohibit images in churches, "lest that which is worshiped and venerated be depicted on the walls."
The Trullan Synod (692) of the Third Council of Constantinople approved of the use of images, and thus the debate was joined again. It was most pronounced in Asia Minor, and especially around Constantinople, in the 700s and 800s, during the reigns of several iconoclastic Byzantine emperors. The iconoclastic movement was paralleled by iconoclasm in Islam, Judaism, and Manichaeism.
Eastern Iconoclasm was opposed in the West by popes.
Iconoclasm was rejected at the Second Council of Nicea in 787, but ended only during the minority of the Byzantine emperor Michael III (842-67), when icons were brought back to the churches in solemn procession one Spring day in 842.
The iconoclastic controversy stimulated Byzantine artists to strive for spiritual revelation in religious art rather than for naturalistic representation.
Iconoclasm was also a feature of the Protestant Reformation. Puritans were especially hostile to the use of religious images, and some Protestants still consider their use idolatrous. What should be avoided, is on one hand the iconoclams that represses, and on the other hand the cultish image worship that blocks higher thinking. Enjoyment of pictures has to steer betwen these two Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla and Charybdis were two sea monsters of Greek mythology. They were situated on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy. They were so close to each other that they were a threat to passing sailors.
Scylla was a creature who dwelt in a rock, and regularly ate sailors. Charybdis had a single gaping mouth that sucked in huge quantities of water and belched them out three times a day, creating whirlpools. Odysseus was forced to choose which monster to confront while passing through the strait; he opted to pass by Scylla and lose only a few sailors, rather than risk the loss of his entire ship into the whirlpool. Jason and the Argonauts were able to navigate through without incident, helped by Hera, while Aeneas was able to bypass the deadly strait altogether.
Yes, in many a Christian's eye the hand-made idol king is always abominable deep within. Yet he worships icons and Jesus pictures against a Commandment.
Sources: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001, s.v. "Iconoclasm", and the Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Iconoclasm".
Martin Luther, former monk
In most versions of his smaller cathecism Martin Luther left out the commandment against imagery (above). He did so because he too found God's commandment to be not good enough. Earlier, the Western Roman Church had said that images of Mary, saints and so on - images and statues - were all right. The question is then: which saints and golden-hued ones to include?Proper measures in this terrain are educative, helpful, and work toward gains in wisdom. Eventually the process of going into mankind-fit materiel helps self-esteem. There is reason to get entertained. That is one more thing that is overtly helpful about folk tale classics and some notorious tales from later times too.
Kings of Jews
King Krishna is not a king of Jews, and may be OK for that reason too. As for the Biblical "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below" - it seems that Krishna as a fable monster - half dolphin, half crocodile [Bvg 10:31, Wy 69] - escapes this definition, escapes it. And the gargoyles of churches do too. And besides, if you buy the idol, you do not fall under the commandment against making it, which was told to Jews and counted only for Jews.Also, it should be wise to adjust to what actually happened in Christianity. First, Jesus and later the Church dispensed with Sabbath ("Saturday") rest (one commandment). Later all the apostles and the Holy Spirit dropped circumcision too (another Old Testament token of being one of God's people was dropped), and so on. Only three requirements were left for non-Jewish followers in addition to no to eating blood food. See the Alpish Acts 15 and 21:25 in the matter and be freer.
Kings of Jews
It is with kings as with conformity: Some forms of conformity are blessings, others are not. Some kings are good, but Bible kings are bad and hidden punishments of their peoples or neighbours, says 1 Samuel 8. It does not matter how regal they look, as they misbehave. But what does it matter anyway?:"Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again". [Amos 5:2] "You are destroyed, O Israel . . . In my anger I gave you a king". [Hosea 13:9,11]These Bible passages and some others show that God once put an end to the kingdom of Israel with its ten tribes, once and for all, and that Jesus was all on a wild goose chase when he allegedly came to save such lost sheep [Matthew 10:6; 15:24] - for they were long gone, says the Old Testament. Can you believe that?
Other kings count and can be far better. That is one old attitude. Yogis may be called kings or rajas by followers, as a token of reverence, and fear does not have to go into it. We find "great king", or maharaja, as one of these tokens of esteem. There are some cultural differences in the world still. And we do not have to consider great titles as notorious bad omens, now that the kings of Israel and God's real, own people are long-gonners, as the Bible says.
Still, there is reason to take care: The greater the bigwig over others tries to be, the lesser is the reciprocal, alloted parts of the majority and public. There is that danger.
And by the way, genuine friendliness may be at stake behind the curtains where title fervour has set in and works in the minds of compensating men and women.
Those who compensate for lack of self-confidence, often seek to prop up themselves some way or other. It should be wise to give ourselves the benefit of doubt, all in all. We might conform to solid and polite manners anyhow.
Another and stubbornly upheld mechanism is that of vicarious aggrandisements that may be set to roll on: The higher the top dog, the less and more vicarious or more rudimentary the self-esteem and self-perpetuated satisfaction of bullied underdog followers could get. In the long run their inner maneuvres could take them to inferior situations and positions where they feel worthy by being associated with bigwigs, with people that count.
Mantra Teachings
A great love may find the first name of the loved one to be well enough. In mantra meditation there is a quite similar thing going on, namely using only a seed (bija) mantra without ado.God said to Moses, "I'M I'M". "I'M, I'M" is a most holy name [Exodus 3:14-15; Genesis 4:26]. But in mantra-yoga each one is to find a perfect mantra for him or her too, explains Shankaracharya Brahmananda Saraswati.
You do not need Krishna if going to Brahman is what you really are after, say Upanishads and yoga books.According to the injunction of the Vedic Shastras, do japa (the silent repetition of a Mantra) dhyana (meditation) etc, for mining the treasure is truly the way to discover Paramatma. [Droplets]
Krishna Understand from any experienced sadguru (true guru) the mantra and meditation method of your ishta [favourable god/goddess]; regularly spend some time at ishta mantra japa [repetition of the mantra of the well chosen one - the god/goddess] and necessarily engage in meditation.
There is no doubt that siddhi (perfections) comes from doing japa. [Quotations]At night you should certainly do 10-15 minutes of japa [mantra repetition] of the ishta mantra [etc] before sleeping. [108 Discourses]
Chanting of mantras has several stages. Contemplation too are of many kinds such as internal-external, concrete, subtle and ultra subtle. [Booklet of Quotations] [Link to all]
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Literature
Ams: Atkinson, Richard, et al. Introduction to Psychology. 9th ed. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1987.
Brms: Zipes, Jack. Breaking the Magic Spell. Reprint. New York: Routledge, 1992.
Bvg: Sivananda, Swami, tr. The Bhagavad Gita. Shivanandanagar: The Divine Life Trust Society, 2003. [oaks.nvg.org/bhagavad-gita.html].
Clh: Dimmit, Cornelia, and J. A. B. van Buitenen, trs. Classical Hindu Mythology. Philadelphia: Temple University, 1978.
Coe: Bruner, Jerome. The Culture of Education. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Dus: Brudal, Paul. Det ubevisste språket. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1984.
Gh: Hjortsø, Leo. Græske guder og helte. 2. utg. København: Politiken, 1984.
Hi: Smith, Carolyn D., ed, et al. Hilgard's Introduction to Psychology. 14th ed. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth, 2003.
Met: Ovid. The Metamorphoses. Translated by Mary Innes. London: Penguin, 1955.
Pusb: Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. 3rd ed. New York, HarperCollins, 1987.
Sh: Raghunathan, N., tr. Srimad Bhagavatam, Vols 1-2. Madras: Vighneswara, 1976.
Sop: Smith, Eliot R., and Diane M. Mackie. Social Psychology. 2nd ed. Hove: Psychology Press, 2000.
Wy: Tuxen, Poul, tr. Bhagavadgita. Herrens Ord. København: Gyldendal, 1962.
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