Hindu

Krishna

HinduMathura, India736 quotes· 10 sources

Lord Krishna is a beloved deity of Hinduism, revered as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and, in many traditions, as the Supreme God himself. Adored as the divine teacher of the Bhagavad Gita, he embodies love, compassion, and the joyful play of the divine.

Lord Krishna is one of the most cherished and widely worshipped deities of Hinduism, revered across the world as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and, within the Vaishnava traditions, honoured as Svayam Bhagavan, God in his own complete and supreme form. Known by many loving names such as Govinda, Madhava, and Gopala, he is celebrated as the God of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love. His life, woven through the great epics and sacred scriptures of India, continues to inspire countless devotees through its rare blend of cosmic majesty and intimate human warmth. According to tradition, Krishna was born in Mathura to Devaki and Vasudeva of the Vrishni lineage. His birth is remembered as a moment of divine grace: carried across the Yamuna River on the night of his arrival, the infant Krishna was lovingly raised by his foster parents Yashoda and Nanda in the pastoral villages of Gokul and Vrindavan. There, amid cowherds, milkmaids, and the gentle rhythms of village life, the stories of his childhood blossomed. Affectionately called Makhan Chor, the butter thief, the young Krishna delighted all around him with his playful charm. A beloved episode tells of how he lifted the great Govardhana Hill to shelter the villagers from a fierce storm, a vivid expression of his protective grace. These tales embody the Hindu concept of lila, the divine play undertaken not for gain but for sheer joy. In Vrindavan, Krishna became the heart of one of the world's most tender devotional traditions through his enchanting bond with the gopis, the milkmaids, and especially with his beloved Radha. Their love, expressed in the poetic Rasa Lila, came to symbolise the soul's longing for union with the divine and inspired enduring works such as Jayadeva's Gita Govinda. As an adult, Krishna returned to Mathura and later established the radiant coastal city of Dwarka, where he reigned as a wise and beloved prince. The Bhagavata Purana names his principal consorts, including Rukmini and Satyabhama, all understood in tradition as manifestations of the goddess Lakshmi. Krishna's most consequential role unfolds in the great epic Mahabharata, where he serves as charioteer and counsellor to the prince Arjuna. On the eve of a great trial of duty, when Arjuna is overcome by sorrow and uncertainty, Krishna's response becomes one of humanity's most treasured spiritual dialogues: the Bhagavad Gita. In this luminous discourse, Krishna addresses the deepest questions of duty, action, and liberation. He teaches that one should fulfil one's responsibilities according to one's nature, performing right action without attachment to its fruits. He reveals the immortality of the soul, the unity of the individual self with ultimate reality, and the loving accessibility of the divine to all who approach with sincere hearts. The Gita harmonises several paths to the divine that flow through Krishna's teachings: dharma, the path of righteous duty; karma yoga, the path of selfless action; bhakti yoga, the path of loving devotion; and jnana yoga, the path of wisdom. Across the centuries, great philosophers interpreted his message through varied frameworks of devotion and metaphysics, yet a single radiant theme unites them all, that Krishna is divine love itself, and that human longing reflects the eternal play between the soul and the supreme. Krishna's sacred image is among the most recognisable in the world: depicted with serene blue or dark complexion, playing the bamboo flute, crowned with a peacock feather, and standing in the graceful three-bend Tribhanga pose, often surrounded by cows or dancing joyfully with the gopis. After fulfilling his earthly mission, tradition holds that he departed his mortal form in peace, returning to his transcendent abode, his life remembered with reverence and devotion. Krishna's legacy is vast and living. His birth is joyfully celebrated each year as Krishna Janmashtami, observed especially in the sacred cities of Mathura and Vrindavan with fasting, devotional singing, night vigils, and festive reenactments. From the seventh century onward, beginning with the South Indian Alvar saints, devotion to Krishna helped shape the great Bhakti movement, which made heartfelt, personal love of the divine accessible to people of every background. Beloved poet-saints such as Meera poured their longing for Krishna into songs still sung today. In the modern era, movements such as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness have carried his devotion to communities across the globe. Enduring as the heart of Vaishnavism, Hinduism's largest devotional tradition, Lord Krishna remains a timeless presence, bridging the cosmic and the intimate, and offering to all who seek him a vision of the divine as supremely personal, loving, and near.

Wisdom

Krishna told Arjuna that having even one occult power would prevent him from realizing God.

The Blessed Lord said: You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, yet you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

श्रीभगवानुवाच | अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे | गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ||२-११||

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men; nor will any of us ever cease to exist hereafter.

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः | न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ||२-१२||

Just as the embodied self passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so it passes into another body. The wise are not deluded by this.

देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा | तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ||२-१३||

Contacts with the objects of sense, Kaunteya, give rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are impermanent. Endure them, Bharata.

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः | आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ||२-१४||

The person whom these do not disturb, O best of men, who is steady in pain and pleasure alike, is fit for immortality.

यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ | समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ||२-१५||

Of the unreal there is no being; of the real there is no ceasing to be. The truth about both of these has been perceived by the seers of reality.

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः | उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः ||२-१६||

Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. No one can bring about the destruction of that imperishable reality.

अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् | विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ||२-१७||

These bodies of the eternal embodied self are said to come to an end, but the self itself is indestructible and immeasurable. Therefore fight, Bharata.

अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ताः शरीरिणः | अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत ||२-१८||

One who thinks this self a slayer, and one who thinks it slain, neither understands. It neither slays nor is slain.

य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् | उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ||२-१९||

It is never born, nor does it ever die; having once existed, it never ceases to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, and ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः | अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ||२-२०||

One who knows this self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and imperishable, how can that person, Partha, kill anyone or cause anyone to be killed?

वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् | कथं स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ||२-२१||

Just as a person casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so the embodied self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि | तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा- न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ||२-२२||

Weapons do not cut it, fire does not burn it, water does not wet it, and wind does not dry it.

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः | न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः ||२-२३||

It cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, unmoving, and everlasting.

अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च | नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ||२-२४||

It is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable, and unchanging. Therefore, knowing it to be so, you should not grieve.

अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते | तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि ||२-२५||

For death is certain for the born, and birth is certain for the dead. Therefore you should not grieve over what is unavoidable.

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च | तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ||२-२७||

Beings are unmanifest in their beginnings, manifest in their middle states, and unmanifest again at their end, Bharata. What cause for grief is there in this?

अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत | अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ||२-२८||

One sees the self as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet even after hearing, no one truly knows it.

आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन- माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्यः | आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः शृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् ||२-२९||

The embodied self within the body of every being is eternal and cannot be slain, Bharata. Therefore you should not grieve for any being.

देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत | तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ||२-३०||