Srikrishna (His Life and Teachings)

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The book Sri Krishna – his life and Teachings written by Dhirendra Nath Pal was presented to me 30 years back by Mr. Ramanathan Ex-Zamindar of Periyakulam, Madurai District (now Thani District). The Zamin palace has a big library with a large collection of books on various topics Tamil, English and Sanskrit. Scholars from various parts of this country frequently go there research. Similar collections of rare books are available in other Zamin and Raja’s Palaces. If scholars are sent to analyze the books in the palaces and reprint, many people will benefit therefrom.

The book on Krishna was Xeroxed and given to a few Swamijis. They were all praise for its contents and the devotion of the author Sri Dhirendra Nath Pall. I submit this book through the Bhavan’s Book University to the readers world-wide.

I am thankful to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for undertaking publication of this book under its Book University Series and also to my friends in Chennai who advised me to send this book to the Bhavan.

The Epics and Puranas occupy a unique position in the ageless Indian culture. It the valuable historical material relating to social life, from age are properly studied it will throw considerable light on the social evolution of our country.

The historical of Krishna the Poorna Purushottam is one of the most important, interesting, inspiring, fascinating, and elusive, topics in the Indian literature. To an orthodox Hindu Krishna is a reality and His mere name has been the saviour elevating spring of innumerable distressed souls during the last more then two thousand years. An ordinary Hindu is never concerned with the historicity of Krishna. To investigate this problem is a sacrilege according to him. It was only during the 18th century when the western canons of criticisms were applied to the problem that scholars doubted the historicity of Krishna and maintained that Krishna represented a syncretism of more than one person and a steady influx of papers and monographs began to gather round the problem.

The story of Krishna diverted of its miraculous, fabulous incredible and mythological elements clearly indicates that he was not only a human hero but also a Supreme God. He was born in the prison cell at Mathura as the eight sons of Devaki and Vasudeva. Immediately after birth he was taken to Gokula on the other side of Yamuna by Vasudeva with a bid to save Krishna from the clutches of Kamsa and fulfil the prediction of the Divine Sage Narada that Devaki’s eight issues will be the slayer of kamsa.

Krishna was brought up in Gokula as the child Nanda and Yashoda, whose daughter was substituted for Krishna. A few years after Krishna’s birth cowherds left Gokula on account of an onrush of ferocious wolves and settled in Vrindavan, where Krishna subjugated Kaliya and ordered him to leave the place. In Vrindavan Krishna established the practice of worshipping nature. His extraordinary exploits widespread popularity and great fame reached the ears of kamsa and he planned to kill through his wrestlers the Vrishni princes Krishna and Balarama after inviting them to Mathura to visit his court and attend a wrestling bout. Krishna and Balarama however killed the prize wrestlers. Krishna then slew the tyrant Kamsa himself and reinstated Kamsa’s father Ugrasena on the Mathura throne. Thereafter Krishna and Balarama left for kashi for their education but had to return soon on account of invasion of Mathura by Jarasandha the Magadha king who was Jarasandh’s invasions were resisted for some time, but finally the Yadavas left Mathura and settled in Dwarka.

Krishna appears in the Mahabharata at the time of Swayamvara of Draupadi. He was a friend philosopher and guide of the Pandavas and his sister Subhadra was married to Arjuna. Magadha king Jarasandha was killed by Bhima under Krishna’s directions. At the Rajasuya performed by the Pandavas Krishna was offered the first worship. This enraged the Chedi king Sisupala who heaped vile abuse upon Krishna and was killed by him. After the period of the Pandavas’ exile was over, Krishna acted as their emissary of peace to the Kaurava king Duryodhan but all his efforts at conciliation proved futile. In the great epic Mahabharata war, Krishna offered his personal help as a charioteer to Arjuna, while his army as preferred by Duryodhan joined the Kauravas. Krishna helped the Pandavas a number of times during the Great War. In fact it was mainly if not solely due to the important part played by Krishna in the Great War that the Pandavas emerged victorious.

Krishna retuned to Dwaraka after Yadhishthira was installed on the Hastinapura throne. He revived the stillborn child of Abhimanyu’s widow Uttara, later known as Parikshit. The last meeting of Krishna and the Pandavas was at the latter’s Asvamedha yaga. Towards the close of Krishna’s life there was a fratricidal struggle among the Yadavas in which practically the entire yadava males were destroyed. Then Krishna sent a messenger to Hastinapura inviting Arjuna to come to Dwarka and look after the women and children and asking them to accompany Arjuna, Krishna retired to the forest. Arjuna came to Dwaraka took with him the remnants of the Yadu family and installed Vajra, the only surviving grandson of Krishna on the throne of Mathura Krishna when in deep meditation, was hit by an arrow of a hunter who mistook him for a deer. Thus, passed away one of the grandest figures in ancient India.

There is now a general consensus of opinion in favour of the historicity of Krishna. Many also hold the view that Vasudeva, the Yadava hero the cowherd boy Krishna in Gokula the counselor of the Pandavas and the great philosopher of the Bhagavad-Gita or in short Krishna of the Puranas and Krishna of the Mahabharata were one and the same person.

This book Sri Krishna: His Life and Teaching is a sincere attempt by the learned author, the late revered Dhirendra Nath Pal to write an account of the life and career of Sri Krishna on a Historical basis. This was written in 1890s and was first published in 1899 and the second edition came out in 1901.

A century later precisely in 2001 one of our well-wishes Shri S. Ramanathan, Chennai approached us with a copy of this book which was presented to him thirty years ago by the Zamindar of Periyakulam (Theni dist.. Tamil Nadu). Shri Ramanathan wanted the Bhavan to publish this rare book under its Book University Series for the benefit of our millions of readers.

Since the Bhavan’s objective is to promote education, art, culture and ethics and this book is in the very line of its objective our Editorial Board after scrutiny of the Manuscript felt that if this well-written book is published it will be worthy addition to the widely acclaimed Bhavan’s Book University Series. The Bhavan is beholden to Shri Ramanathan.

The Bhavan humbly offers this book to our esteemed readers and we hope and pray that this may be extremely useful and may help them appreciating the inherent strength and inexhaustible wealth which lie behind our ancient culture.

It is due to the very kind encouragement that my countrymen and many eminent European gentlemen were pleased to extend towards my work that I have able to bring out so soon a Second Edition.

I have a word to say about the spelling of the proper names and Sanskrit words used in this work. In fact no universal standard of orthography exists in spelling Sanskrit words. They are spelt differently by different oriental scholars. As this work is intended for the people, I have spelt the words in a way as it would be easy for them to pronounce. I know the proper way of putting the name of the subject of my narrative is Sree Krishna, but I have made it Sri Krishna to make it easier to pronounce. I have followed this rule all through this work and I hope I shall be excused for it by the scholars.

I place the Second Edition of my humble work before the public with the hope that it will receive from them the same generous reception as they were so kind to bestow upon its first Edition.

This little work is a humble attempt to write an account of the life and career of Sri Krishna on a historical basis. He is on the one hand, worshipped and adored by millions of men as an Incarnation of God while on the other he is considered by the great oriental scholars of Europe to be a myth – a creation of poesy. None has been ever so misunderstood or misjudged. The greatest of all men ever born is now made to appear in a thousand and one lights, for hundreds of poets have painted him as each of them believed him to be. Thus the world has been deprived of knowing one whose wonderful career and more wonderful teachings should be read, studied and followed by the entire human race.

The account of his life and career now lies buried in a mass of ancient Sanskrit literature. Though some eminent scholars of Europe have explore this vast sea of the Hindu lore and embodied their thought in works of great merit, researches and scholarship yet they are but little read by the general public. They remain confined exclusively to the scholars and students. It is for the first time that a humble attempt has been made in this work to paint Krishna as he really was and to place him before the modern world in its reigning language and in as popular a form as possible. We do not know how far we have been able to attain success but we sincerely hope far we shall be favored with a patient hearing and shall nor be defined the kind patronage of the generous public.

In placing the second part of my humble work before the public, I have very little to say expect that I sincerely hope they will kindly peruse this little book India’s greatest Man and God is Sri Krishna India’s greatest Religion and faith is Sri Krishna any Sri Krishna is the Loftiest Ideal of the world. He is the greatest source of Universal Brotherhood and Everlasting Felicity. Therefore I earnestly and most sincerely ask all my readers to put aside their preconceived misconceptions and prejudices and read this humble work.

I humbly beg to state that I have writing nothing in this book that is my own nor have I created a new Krishna out of my fancy. I have humbly tried to unearth the great Krishna who now lies buried under a mass of fiction with which the Puranas and the Mahabharata have been filled up by subsequent writers in the course of many hundreds of years. By putting the searching light of history analysis and logic it would not be difficult for any of my readers it they care to wade through the great sea of the Sanskrit lore to find out which portions of it are fictions are stories and which are after interpolations Krishna as delineated in this little book I humbly believe is Krishna of the original Puranas and the Mahabharata and Krishna as he really was. Let not my readers from hasty conclusions let them study the great life and career of the most wonderful Man, if man could possibly rise to be so high – of the world with all seriousness with all attention and care with all devotion let them try to appreciate and grasp and feel the inconceivable character of Sri Krishna and I have not the least doubt they would cry as did Arjuna on the holy field of Kurushetra.

“My salutation to you in front; my salutation to you from behind my salutation to you from every side. You are immeasurable you are inconceivable you are all”.

I tender my best thanks to all those great scholars and library men who have so kindly encourage me by their flattering letters. My best thanks are also due to those of my eminent countrymen and great Englishmen who have kindly purchased copies of my work.