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atom bomb, bhagvada Gita, Bhagwad Gita, choice, festivals, gandhiji, interpretation, kansa, Krishn, Krishna, kurukshetra, non-violence, oppenheimer, perspective, war & philosophy
Bhagwad Gita inspired Robert Oppenheimer for Hiroshima-Nagasaki’s ‘Liitle Boy & Fat Man’ atom bombs.
Bhagwad Gita inspired M.K. Gandhi’s Ahimsa (Non-violence movement) as a strategy for India’s freedom struggle.
One source. Polar interpretations.
Bhagwad Gita is a Rorschach test. So is its orator, Krishn.
On the eve of Janmashthami (Krishn’s birthday), let us try to explore the Krishn Rorschach.
He plunged through the entire gamut of human roles and tasted life down to its last drop.
As a child, he was the naughtiest baby, often requiring to be scolded, punished, admonished and tied down. 
As a teenager, he waylaid the gopis ,stole their garments and summoned them for midnight frolics using his flute just as the pied piper mesmerized mice. ( Rats, I know this is a terrible comparison!) 
He led and encouraged his young gang to be ‘accessories in butter theft’.
He was a connoisseur of feminine temptations and married multiple women. To be precise, 16,008 wives. 
He killed his own blood relatives– Uncle Kansa
and cousin Shishupal. It was a trailor-preview from him, the ‘Lead by example’ demonstration for the eventual ‘Violence for a just cause’ Kurukshetra.
Unsavory specimens of humanity find their unlikely hero in Krishn – the eve-teasers, the thiefs, the criminals, the terrorists (Who is to decide their cause is unjust once they are brainwashed into believing it is ‘just’? )
Colorful aspects of Krishn’s life get celebrated: Namely, Rang-panchmi and Dahi-handi/ Gopal-kala becomes ground for drenching passerbyes (willing or unwilling), for hurling balloons (filled with water, or blinding chemical dyes, or mud!!), for bingeing on bhang, for gambling, for eve-teasing, for chaos, traffic jams.
To this date, any male with a battery of female admirers is termed ‘Kanhaiyya’. Today, killing blood relatives is justified on any passing whim.
The easier aspects of Human Krishn get either hailed, practiced (but with a devilish twist of their own) or celebrated with gutso & glee.
The other, more difficult to emulate aspects of his persona are conveniently ascribed to his Divine form. Safely pushed onto God Krishn, so that human beings are automatically absolved of all efforts to emulate him!
Fortunately there is Gita Jayanti celebrated at Kurukshetra (click on link) in Nov-Dec. 
http://blessingsonthenet.com/indian-festival/festival/id/173/kurukshetra-festival/.
But, of course, it never attained the popularity status of the more raucous and marketable Rang panchmi & Govinda.
B. Gita is NOT a religious text. It is a lifestyle guide, a manual that accepts ‘Situations may not alter. Your attitude to the situation may alter it.’
Unfortunately, it sits as mute witness to perjury and injustice. Or else it gets sandwiched in petty battles between Hinduist politicians (I am sure 90% have not read a page of it ) and ‘alternate interpreters’, like Wendy Donniger (click here for a satyr on Donniger fiasco).
Krishn’s entire life is an open book. He seems to be saying, ‘Here I am; this is Me.’
There is the casanova, carefree, naughty, romantic Krishn. There also is the articulate, wise, onus-taker , diplomatic Guide and philosopher Krishn. Which aspect we chose to emulate and which to celebrate is a challenge he has thrown us. 
As Irawati Karve says in Yuganta, (click here for book review) ‘He did not merely preach the Bhagwad Gita. He lived it.’
Impractical Dreamer 
Thanks for the wonderful post on Lord Krishna. Happy Janmashtami Day.
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You are always the first to post a comment. Thank you so much! Happy Janmashtami to you too.
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I have the advantage in time difference. California is 12 1/2 hours behind India. You usually publish in the evening/night time. That is morning time for me. But most importantly, I look forward to reading your posts.
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Aww, that is so sweet of you!
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Lovely post. As usual. The one scene from the televised version of yesteryear that remains clear in the mind is the actor playing Shakuni telling actor playing Duryodhan, “Woh Krisn hai. Woh shabd jaal phenkega …”
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Ah, yes. The magic of words!
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Your writing tells about your intellectual interests. Would love to be in your company through your blogs. About learning from the Gita, it is build on the foundation that could be condensed as, “What we see is what we want to see”.
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Hi Swati
you are most welcome here. I am still dilly-dallying about God, but so many aspects of Gita make sense. And there are principles there which are practically applicable and which make life’s blows easier to handle.
Yes, Gita is very amenable to distortions and misinterpretations. Your condensed saying says it all.
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Beautiful post, and thought provoking. You are right, people so easily use Lord Krishn to excuse their bad habits. It is really to hard to understand Him. And the misinterpretations of his deeds and his words make things worse.
And I agree with you 100%, Geeta is not a religious book. I have not read it whole yet, I’m afraid to say that fiction books keep on tempting me away from it 😦
But I can see that if one can follow even a little portion of its teachings, one can manage to live a happier and more satisfied life. And the world would be a more peaceful place.
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Thank you.
He was such a wordsmith …and an enigma even when playing with words. He said in B. Gita, ‘Influential men should conduct themselves impeccably, because lesser mortals tend to imitate them.’
He now demonstrates to us that people emulate exactly what is convenient to them.
The first time I read B. Gita, I was not at all impressed or convinced. It seemed full of contradictions and platitudes. I finally attended a course where verse upon verse was explained. Now I think it is the most practical guidance ever.
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