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Is Krishna Real?

There are many sorts of clouds.

Paramahansa Yogananda teaches that Krishna and Jesus are behind him: he had visions of them both. A little scepticism: Are visions of a fairy-tale troll the fit proof you need that it exists? Here is a page on Yogananda visions: [LINK]
How certain is it that it is a real Krishna that is seen in a vision? [cf Yoga Sutras 3;36-37]
Searching for evidence, you may find there are mentions of a Krishna in the instructive, old Upanishads. They are religio-philosophical works mainly. Three of them spend some lines on Krishna, and the rest do not mention him. The three mentions in Sixty Upanishads of the Veda [So] are:

Ghora Angirasa has explained it to Krishna, the son of Devaki" ... he was free from thirst [commonly understood as desire] - Chandogya Upanishad 7.6 [So 115]
So pious was Devaki's son ... [he perceived] him who dwell in all beings ... - Narayana Upanishad 5. [So 805] - it is a minor upanishad. - The Narayana Upanishad's fifth verse makes use of the older Atmabodha Upanishad passage. [So 803, 807-8]

The authors of Classical Hindu Mythology [Clh], professors J. A. B. van Buitenen and Cornelia Dimmitt, think he could have existed, because the medieval Harivamsa tales seem to speak about him so well - but those tales are not exactly history works. Anyhow, the two translators give Krishna the benefit of doubt. And Poul Tuxen, a Danish professor who translated the Bhagavad Gita into Danish [Wy], also considers that we cannot rule out that there was a historical Krishna.
Maybe you consider the long epic poem of Mahabharata about the marring war that Krishna is involved in, as proof. Consider Dr Poul Tuxen's [Wy] points then:

The Mahabharata grew considerably in time.
Words in the Bhagavad Gita that appear in it, were added in the course of time - over many centuries.

More on Krishna: [LINK]
The Bhagavad Gita: [LINK]

Literature
Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Theosophical, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]
Clh: Dimmit, Cornelia and van Buitenen, J. A. B. trs: Classical Hindu Mythology. Temple University. Philadelphia, 1978.
Mmw: Ganguli, K., tr. The Mahabharata, Vols 1-12. 4th ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1981. Online
So: Deussen, Paul, tr. Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Vols 1-2. Varanasi: Banarsidass, 1980.
Wy: Tuxen, Poul, tr. Bhagavadgita. Herrens Ord. København: Gyldendal, 1962.

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