Is Krishna a god or wot?

[camouflage]

Now I'm no Hindu, but I did pick up the Bagavad Ghita once and had a read, (the little Oxford Translation version mind, as my ancient sanscrit is abit rusty) and I came away deeply touched and inspired and with the distinct impression (well, easy certainty really) that Krishna isn't actually a god. Let me rephrase that- it never occured to me that 'Krishna' was supposed to be a 'god' now.

I got the impression Krishna is more like a term for infinity, possibility, all time and all space. The mutiversitude of transeverythingyness. The whole Bagavad Ghita seemed to be an anthropomorphisation of something that's not really possible to humanise (en-goddify)... but maybe I'm wrong. Afterall if millions of Hindus think of Krishna as a flute-playing blue bloke with magical fairy powers (or- a god) then who am I to argue.

Or maybe this kind of transendantal glimpsing of infinity type concept always ends up as mere religion whenever some dude comes back from forty days wandering in the desert without food and little water and then tries with wild eyes to describe what whacky out-there thoughts occured to them during the course of all those nights naked beneath the billions of stars above.

One verse in the Ghita comes back to me now whenever I notice Krishna reffered to as a Hindu god

"Those who love the gods shall go to the gods, those who love me shall come to me".

Maybe it's the same kind of thing when muslims and christians claim their religions aren't religions or something? Happily, despite being impressed by the Ghita I felt no particular inclination to shave my head, wear orange robes and go singing and dancing down Oxford Street but all the same... what is Krishna actually supposed to be, does anyone actually know?

 

[ViolentPanda]

IIRC Krishna is an avatar of Brahma, as is Shiva.

 

[muckypup]

the gods symbolise the various attributes of divinity, at the core of hinduism is oneness.

Interestingly, at the point of independence there was a tussle involving Ghandi and other leading hindu intellectuals on the nature of religious education. Ghandi, the colonial stoodge that he was, insisted that the abstract concept of oneness was too complex for simple village folk and deification along with caste hierarchy must reign

I think the debate is chronicled in Amartya Sen's brilliant book 'the argumentative indian'

 

[muckypup]

This Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Absolute Reality called Brahman (not to be confused with the creator God Brahmā) is said to be eternal, genderless, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and ultimately indescribable in the human language. It can be at best described as infinite Being, infinite Consciousness and infinite Bliss. Brahman is regarded as the source and essence of the material universe. It is pure being. Brahman manifests as Hiranyagarbha, the "world soul", which also can take many forms or manifestations of the thousands of gods. It was deemed a singular substrate from which all that is arises, and debuts with this verse:

from wiki

 

[Yetman]

I was gonna say Krishna is an avatar of Shiva - although I've read many stories about him growing up from a baby, so he isnt 'just' an avatar.

He has an image as well, surely he's a god then?

 

[camouflage]

So that settles that, Krishna is a God, FACT.

Five post settlement in a thread about religion in the theory, philosophy & history forum.

Not bad.

Let's all pat ourselves on the back.

 

[fudgefactorfive]

I got the impression Krishna is more like a term for infinity, possibility, all time and all space. The mutiversitude of transeverythingyness. The whole Bagavad Ghita seemed to be an anthropomorphisation of something that's not really possible to humanise (en-goddify)... but maybe I'm wrong. Afterall if millions of Hindus think of Krishna as a flute-playing blue bloke with magical fairy powers (or- a god) then who am I to argue.

you're foreigner

i thought he was an avatar of Vishnu the Preserver - who is himself part of the Trinity of Creation, Preservation and Destruction which is itself totally generated out of brahman. Never quite got that, whether everything is Brahma, and if so, how come he's in a Trinity with two blokes he gives rise to. But then, that's how the universe goes innit, first there is creation, because that's what first means - over there, in the past.

Mostly Krishna shags cowgirls iirc and does a fair amount of charioteering

god isn't really a good word for what the hindu gods are, I have some wicked comics which are basically Deva vs. Asura

I don't like to believe that Krishna is a real god because that would mean that Tesco's is a real god too

 

[fudgefactorfive]

Maybe it's the same kind of thing when muslims and christians claim their religions aren't religions or something? Happily, despite being impressed by the Ghita I felt no particular inclination to shave my head, wear orange robes and go singing and dancing down Oxford Street but all the same... what is Krishna actually supposed to be, does anyone actually know?

he was kind of like the greek Pan a lot of the time - I here refer the honourable gentlemen to the cowgirls I mentioned some moments ago - and a bit of a superhero, but he was also a philosopher, or possibly a philosophiser

take note of a hare krishna homepage:

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself

mmm ritual goooood ritual make me feel comfy mmm

 

[fudgefactorfive]

i don't care - Hare Krishnas are HOT

gurningly happy, shaven headed men that make a lot of direct eye contact, in revealing robes, GIVING you stuff.

what's not to like?

 

[ViolentPanda]

i don't care - Hare Krishnas are HOT

gurningly happy, shaven headed men that make a lot of direct eye contact, in revealing robes, GIVING you stuff.

what's not to like?

The chanting and the inane smiles?

 

[camouflage]

i don't care - Hare Krishnas are HOT

gurningly happy, shaven headed men that make a lot of direct eye contact, in revealing robes, GIVING you stuff.

what's not to like?

The gurningly happy shaven headed men that make a lot of direct eye contact, in revealing robes.



Actually I don't dislike them, I think they're nice, they feed homeless people and seem to ask nothing in return. Can't fault that.

 

[Jonti]

I don't really mind the chanting, just it's not the thing to do in public!