You have listened to the stories of Krishna, milky maidens running in the meadow, stolen sweets from the kitchen pots, childlike adventures on the banks of lazy rivers; you have listened to the tune of Krishna's flute and maybe you have swooned- ooh! Take me too, sweet Prince of Love.
But we cannot ignore the bow and arrow swung over his shoulder, the magical swirling discus poised on his index finger. Yes not only fun and games this life we live. Sometimes it gets very real, sometimes unbearably so.
Back in the time when India was the whole world and the whole world was India, that was the time that Krishna lived. And he was a spiritual master, he was a man, but he was so close to the Source of All, that the people saw him as a human form of God.
And back in that time, there came to be a great, epic war between two families, between five princely brothers and their cousins - all who wanted one kingdom for themselves. This epic story, of all that led up to the war, the war itself, and the aftermath, is called The Mahabharata, and everything that ever happened or will happen in Hindi human history is told in this most holy of Indian epics.
And at the peak of the story, the prince named Arjun, the most mighty and brave warrior of them all, trained like all of the five righteous prince-brothers by the highest and most refined teachers in all of the worldly, and otherworldly arts, whose mentor and guru was the great Krishna himself, loses his will to go on.
The war is about to begin and behind Arjun are all of his people and his people's people and the finest young warriors. All of his friends are ready to kill and to die, so many people behind and in front and all around, all about to, at the final cry of the conch shells, start this horrible mega battle which will bring unmeasurable suffering and destruction, and Arjun says, "How shall I do this thing and why?" And turning to Krishna, seated on his golden chariot alongside the prince, Arjun says "What good to me is this victory, what is there to be gained?"
And time stands still, and Krishna speaks. All around them the action has ceased and Krishna answers, speaking the pure and simple truth of our existence.
What Krishna says to Arjuna, became known as the Bhagawad Geeta, which is beloved wisdom read iall over India n the mornings and evenings and to people that are dying and among lovers when time permits. The Geeta is the essence of the divine wisdom of living.
"You are grieving over those not fit to be grieved for" said Krishna, "you speak like a wise man, but the real wise men do not grieve for either the living or the dead. Never did I exist, nor did you, nor these kings, nor shall we ever cease to exist in the future....
"...the objects that are perceived by the senses give rise to pleasure and pain, heat and cold, they are transient. Endure them heroically...anyone balanced in pleasure and pain, only such a person shall achieve liberation...those who consider the Self as the killer, and those who think that it is killed, both are ignorant, for the Self neither kills nor is killed."
"The self is never born, nor does it ever die; having once born before, it will not be born in the future. The self is unborn, eternal, imperishable and ageless. Though the body is slain, the self is not killed."
Krishna explains this to his student Arjun, as they both sit on Krishna's great chariot, the magnificent white horses at front. The battle cries and commotion around them have stopped and Arjuna is giving his teacher his full attention.
Krishna explains all of the methods to cut through the fantasy and fiction told to us by our five senses and through our mind, and all of the methods for understanding reality, for achieving a merger of our own hearts and minds with that which IS.
And in India, of all national treasures, the most cherished is the Geeta. There are parts of the Geets (shlokas) that are recited to the children as the go to sleep, shlokas that are known to all and remembered word by word even by those who cannot read or write.
And the information keeps going, over thousands of years the knowledge is held safe in this book.