Krishna Gopeshvara: The Truth of Vrishnis (Book-1 of the Lord Krishna Trilogy)

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Krishna Gopeshvara was originally written in 2018, and presented the life of Bhagwan Krishna from a little before the time of his birth to the time of his departure for higher education, after killing Kamsa and liberating the people of Mathura. The book was written for the youth, who finds the Leela of Shri Krishna improbable, and looks for rational explanations. It was very well received, specially because the setting was fairly modern. Though the book remained faithful to the basic story of Shri Krishna, it did add a lot of imagination on the side of the villain. That is the reason I called it a 'historical fiction'.

Krishna Gopeshvara posited a clash of narratives. On one side there was Krishna and his all inclusive objective and scientific way, and on the other side was a deep dogma. Dogma is fictionally pre-sented as Kutil dharma, and bears resemblance to some Abrahamic religions today. The idea is to show that dogma has always been present in human societies, and exalted personalities like Krishna appear from time to time to reestablish Dharma.

Present clash of civilisations is the perfect setting for Krishna Gopeshvara to make a second coming. The cult of Jhankal bears stark similarities to similar cults today. This cult tries to appropriate the entire societal narrative for itself, supplanting Dharma, but finds Krishna blocking the way. As I had mentioned in the Introduction to first edition, the Krishna Story has beer intellectualized in the book.

According to the Nirukta part of Vedangas, every shloka can have 3 meanings according to the context - adhibhautika (gross/physical plane), ādhidaivika (divine/conscious palne), and ādhyatmika (spiritual/highest consciousness plane). As we know, symbolisms play a large part in carrying forth the spiritual messages of our ancient texts. It was done consciously as our ancients not only knew but also celebrated the differences among the humans. Krishna Gopeshvara brigs the divine leelas onto the physical plane into a gross form. I received feedback that this methodology not only satiated the rational longings of the youth and the elders, but also whetted their appetite to explore the higher planes.

Today's world, after more than six years of first edition presents even sharper polarisations, and more desperate desire on the part of darker forces to subdue the righteous. In this world, Shri Krishna's methods are more relevant than ever. Shri Rama' righteous conduct can work in a more ethical era, but we must re-member that Kali Yuga probably started on the last day of the Ma-habharata War. Shri Krishna does not let evil characters get away under any mistaken compassion. Sama, Dama, Danda, Bheda are all used by Shri Krishna to subdue the evil. The way he killed Kamsa in spite of some others asking him to forgive him is a lesson in point.

As can be seen through all his actions, he has a high discernment of good and evil, and uses every trick to subdue and finish the evil as well as evil-doer.

Krishna Gopeshvara is an education in how to confront dogmatic cults. I have to thank Garuda Prakashan and Sankrant Sanu for taking up the 2nd Edition. I must also thank the readers who made the book a success and enabled a second edition.

The seed of this work was sown in two discrete events. The first one was an argument in the family over Rasa Lila of Radha and Krishna. In any such argument, there is always a lingering doubt over the nature of the Rasa. I put forward the view that Krishna, after all, has not been christened as Yogeshvara for nothing. One of the family members of my generation disputed my statement, saying she had not heard of any such description. Now, my family and the extended family of in-laws are reasonably rooted in the Indic values. The discussion was within the people of my generation, not even among the youngsters. Even to them, I had to show the last shloka of the Bhagvadgita to prove my point. I was deeply surprised and even a bit troubled. If this was the state of affairs among people who recited some Sanskrit prayer every day, what should I expect from the next generation. Predictably, an investigation into the next generation yielded an even more dismal finding. Krishna, to them, was just a story - not very different from Harry Potter.

Jaipur sits on the edge of Brij Bhoomi. Greetings of Radhe Radhe, Giriraj Maharaj ki Jai, and Jai Shri Krishna are fairly common here. The second event took place around these greetings during one of my morning walks. One of my walking partners travels to Govardhan every month. Govardhan yatra is deeply ingrained in the culture of Eastern Rajasthan and Brij. People go around the Govardhan Parvat in the hope of an easy passage through their lives, peace and prosperity, and also mukti. Mukti, or liberation is a recurring theme in the spiritual value of this land the entire Bharatvarsha. Mukti is a deeply individual aspiration, as also a deeply spiritual one. The beauty of this quest for Mukti is that each individual has his own definition of his path. In many parts near Jaipur, this is centred on Krishna Bhakti. One day, we got into a discussion on the lore surrounding Govardhan. The legend is well known - how Krishna defied Indra, how Indra got angry, brought torrents of rain to punish Nanda's people, and how the young Krishna, not more than nine or ten years of age at that time, lifted up the Govardhan Hill on his little finger to shelter his people for seven days and nights - all very improbable to the modern mind. As I tried digging deeper into the lore, I realised that our people had no idea of the Yogeshvara aspect of Krishna. I tried to reason with them to discover the rational aspects of the Govardhan story, and the seed grew.

These two events, and the fact that I was rather lightly occupied in my profession, led to a journey of discovery that finds its culmination in the present work. As I travelled through India, I saw Krishna's imprint on the land, From Vallabhacharya in the deep south, to Gīta Govinda of Jayadev - virtually the song of Odisha, to Dwarka in the west, and the North East, where he is said to have rescued sixteen thousand girls from captivity and gave them his name as husband in order to salvage their honour, and to Manipur and Bengal, it is the yogic quality of Krishna that throws his followers, devotees and yogis into raptures. A multi-dimensional personality of a million colours.

The Bhagwadgī ta has always intrigued me. The sheer reach of its profundity - cosmic in its breadth, and atomic in its effect, has never ceased to amaze me. Gita as the milk of the cow of Upanishads, milked by the cowherd Krishna, is another abiding image that pervades India. The strands of thoughts woven within the Gita are verily like the infinite cosmos. There is no end to the flight of thought that the lift provided by Gita cannot travel to. It grows on you as you read it again and again. You can be an ordinary devotee, or a yogi, or a person like me looking for