Hindu Deities

"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."

"To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."

"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."

"A learned person sees that although there are different bodies, every living being is the soul. He also sees that Krsna as the Supersoul is equally present in all bodies."

"Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me."

"It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father...of all living entities."

"Let it be clear that Raja Krishna, according to what has been revealed to me, was such a truly great man that it is hard to find his like among the Rishis and Avatars of the Hindus. He was an Avatar—i.e., Prophet—of his time upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend from God. He was from God, victorious and prosperous. He cleansed the land of the Aryas from sin and was in fact the Prophet of his age whose teaching was later corrupted in numerous ways. He was full of love for God, a friend of virtue and an enemy of evil."

"On the fourth day, Govardhan puja is performed. On this day Krishna saved Gokul by lifting up the Govardhan Mountain on his little finger and holding it over the people as an umbrella."

"The second school of yoga is that of Shri Krishna, particularly expounded in the great poem the Bhagavad-Gita... This teaches above all else the doctrine of love. The disciple Arjuna, to whom the Guru spoke, was a great lover of mankind; according to the scripture this great soldier sank down upon the floor of his chariot before the battle of Kurukshetra began, full of sorrow because he loved his enemies and could not bear to injure them. The teacher Shri Krishna then explained to him, amid much philosophical teaching, that the greatest thing in life is service, that God himself is the greatest server—for he keeps the wheel of life revolving, not because any benefit can possibly accrue to him in consequence, but for the sake of the world—and that men should follow his example and work for the welfare of mankind. Many Great Ones, he said, had reached perfection by following this path of life, by doing their duty without personal desire. To love without ceasing is the way of the second Ray; in the Gita it is shown how this love should be directed to men and other beings in karma yoga (the yoga by action or work) and to God in bhakti yoga (the yoga by devotion)."

"I am not manifest to all, being veiled by yoga-maya and its delusion the world knows Me not, the unborn and immutable (BG 7.25)."

"His first eight wives as told in the Krishna story [appear] in this sequence, 1) Rukmini, 2)Satyabhama, and 3)Jambavati – their marriages are entwined due to a wondrous jewel derived from Surya, the Sun; 4)Kalindi; 5)Mitravinda, 6) Satya or Naganjiti; 7) Bhadra; 8) Laksmana or Madra. Each of these begets ten sons. … Their ranking consists of three sets of wives corresponding to the constituents of Krishna’s soverign rule from Dwarka. The first three of wives signifies Krishna’s majestic status: Rukmini signifies his majesty (sri), Satyabhama signifies his realm (w:Bhumi|bhumi]]); and intertwined with her is Jambavati, who signifies his victory (Vijaya). The second set signifies Aryavarta or the Realm of the Nobles which Krishna takes as his own; Kalindi represents its center, Satya represents its eastern side (and the Solar Dynasty), and Lakshmana represents its western side. The third set signifies the consolidation of Krishna’s Satvata clan, for both Mitravinda and Bhadra are Krishna’s paternal cousins."

"Hindus interpret the Diwali story based upon where they live:In North India they celebrate the story of King Rama's return to Ayodhya after he defeated Ravana by lighting rows of clay lamps. South India celebrates it as the day that Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. In western India the festival marks the day that Lord Vishnu, the Preserver (one of the main gods of the Hindu trinity) sent the demon King Bali to rule the nether world."

"Lord Krishna – the 8th incarnation of God Vishnu, the Creator– had eight wives (the Ashta-Bharyas). They are: Rukmini, Satyabhama,Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravrinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Laksmana. Besides Ashtabharyas, he had thousands of adoring female friends (16,000 are prominent among them) who were young girls known as Gopis. These were not his concubines as some non-Hindus may think of. The amorous relationship between Sri Krishna and the Gopi is the symbol of relationship between the creator and the human beings."

"I always felt at home with Krishna. You see it was already a part of me. I think it's something that's been with me from my previous birth."

"I sometimes wonder if that is what Krishna meant— Among other things —or one way of putting the same thing: That the future is a faded song, a Royal Rose or a lavender spray Of wistful regret for those who are not yet here to regret,... And do not think of the fruit of action. Fare forward. O voyagers, O seamen,... So Krishna, as when he admonished Arjuna On the field of battle. Not fare well, But fare forward, voyagers."

"You grieve for those who should not be grieved for; yet you speak wise words. Neither for the dead nor those not dead do the wise grieve. Never was there a time when I did not exist nor you nor these lords of men. Neither will there be a time when we shall not exist; we all exist from now on. As the soul experiences in this body childhood, youth, and old age, so also it acquires another body; the sage in this is not deluded."

"Rama Rama Rama Rama Sita Rama you chant Do with devotion, and get the release you want... As those Yama hordes arrive, to bid you to come Spirit tries to escape the throat, Hari’s name will not come Body systems cease working and our relative are bemoaning Name of the Ocean-daughter’s lord will it come to your asking? When your breath is blocked by phlegm in your throat Vasudev Krishna’s name will be of no use then to shout When you beautiful body breaks down and falls apart As your eyes get blurred and dead, Ranga’s name will not depart When your body juices mix up and collect down below As the elements disintegrate, uttering God’s name will it allow. Having born as a wicked and done many a cruel deed As soul departs, Puranadara Vittala’s name will not proceed."

"In my past there is Krishna. In my dreams I dream of recreating a huge college of flutists, a veritable Vrindaban in which students will arrive to learn and study with satchels full of flutes, live in mud huts, eat at a common langar. A modern Vrindaban from which a thousand flutes will ring out each day. For what else is there? When my breath is gone and I can not play anymore what do I leave behind? Some dedicated students! When you leave nothing behind, you cry at the point of death, but I still dream, I dare to dream that through my students my flute will be left behind as the memory of Krishna."

"Radha, in Hinduism, the Gopi (milkmaid) who became the consort of the god Krishna during that period of his life when he lived among the gopas (cowherds) of Vrindavana. Radha was the wife of another gopa but was the most beloved of Krishna’s consorts and his constant companion. In the bhakti (devotional) movement of Vaishnavism, the female, Radha, symbolizes the human soul and the male, Krishna, the divine."

"Krishna, Sanskrit Kṛṣṇa, one of the most widely revered and most popular of all Indian divinities, worshipped as the eighth incarnation (avatar, or avatara) of the Hindu god Vishnu and also as a supreme god in his own right. Krishna became the focus of numerous bhakti (devotional) cults, which over the centuries have produced a wealth of religious poetry, music, and painting. The basic sources of Krishna’s mythology are the epic Mahabharata and its 5th-century-ce appendix, the Harivamsha, and the Puranas, particularly Books 10 and 11 of the Bhagavata-purana. They relate how Krishna (literally “black,” or “dark as a cloud”) was born into the Yadava clan, the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, sister of Kamsa, the wicked king of Mathura (in modern Uttar Pradesh). Kamsa, hearing a prophecy that he should be destroyed by Devaki’s child, tried to slay her children, but Krishna was smuggled across the Yamuna River to Gokula (or Vraja, modern Gokul), where he was raised by the leader of the cowherds, Nanda, and his wife Yashoda."

"The broad category suggested by the term “Vaishnava” has been acknowledged by most scholars to encompass the majority of Hindu believers. This includes the veneration of Vishnu, Narayana, Lakshmi, Krishna, Rama, Sita and the remaining avatars (incarnations) with their female consorts, saints, sectarian leaders and followers. A very important division within Vaishnavism is comprised of the mythology and worship of Krishna, one of Hinduism’s most beloved deities. Yet, the “Krishna” traditions themselves are by no means uniform regarding the nature of the personality of Krishna nor the methods of worship. Divided into “normative” and “alternative”, the normative Krishna tradition is based primarily on a canon of early Sanskrit texts, while the so-called alternative Krishna traditions may or may not include these Radhavallabha Sampradaya (RVS)] along with regional or vernacular sources."

"Blue is his [Krishna’s] special and significant colour, the colour of his aura when he manifests – that is why he is called Nila Krishna. The adjective does not mean that he was blue or dark in the physical body. Violet is the colour of the light of divine Compassion, as also of Krishna’s grace. It is also radiance of Krishna’s protection."

"Sri Aurobindo on the the Gita, on Krishna as godhead, his aura and the Krishna consciousness There are four very great events in history, the siege of Troy, the life and crucifixion of Christ, the exile of Krishna in Brindavan and the colloquy with Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra. The siege of Troy created Hellas, the exile in Brindavan created devotional religion...Christ from his cross humanized Europe, the colloquy at Kurukshetra will yet liberate humanity. Yet it is said that none of these events ever happened. Krishna as godhead is the Lord of Ananda, Love and Bhakti, he manifests the union of wisdom (Jnana), and works and leads the earth-evolution through this towards union with the Divine by Ananda, Love and Bhakti."

"The Bhagavad Gītā, also more simply known as Gita, is a Sanatana Dharma or Hindu scripture produced from the colloquy given by Sri Krishna to Arjuna during the w:Kurukshetra WarKurukshetra War. Its philosophies and insights are intended to reach beyond the scope of religion and to humanity as a whole. The context of the Gita is a conversation between Lord Krishna and the Pandava prince Arjuna taking place on the battlefield before the start of the Kurukshetra War. Responding to Arjuna's confusion and moral dilemma about fighting his own cousins, Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, and elaborates on different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies;"

"But may he guide us all to glory high who laughed when the Radha glided, hidden, by, An all among those damsels free and bold Touch Krishna with a soft mouth, kind and cold; And like the others leaning upon his breast, Unlike the others, left their Love’s unrest; And like the others, joining in his song, Or like the others, made him silent long."

"For the cloud that the veils of the fountains Underneath the sandal mountains, How -- as if the sunshine drew All its being to the blue -- It takes flight and seeks to rise High into the purer skies, High into the snow and frost, On the shining summits lost! Ah! And how the Koil's strained Smites the traveller with pain, -- When the mango blooms in Spring, And "Kahoo", "Kahoo", they sing -- Pain of pleasure not yet won, Pain of journeys not yet done Pain of toiling without gaining, Pain ‘mid gladness of still paining."

"And this shadowed earthly love In the twilight of the grove, Dance and song and soft caresses, Meeting looks and tangled tresses, Jayadev the same hath writ, That ye might have gain of it, Sagely its deep sense conceiving And its inner light believing; How that Love -- the mighty Master, Lord of all the stars that cluster In the sky, swiftest and slowest, Lord of highest, Lord of lowest - Manifests Himself to mortals, Winning them towards the portals Of his secret house, the gates Of that bright paradise which waits The wise in love. Ah, human creatures! Even your fantasies are teachers. Mighty Love makes sweet in seeming Even Krishna's woodland dreaming; Mighty Love sways all alike From self to selfishness. Oh! Strike From your eyes the veil, and see What love willeth Him to be Who in error, but in grace, Sitteth with that Lotus-face, And those eyes whose rays of heaven Unto phantom-eyes are given; Holding fast of foolish mirth With these visions of the Earth; Leaving Love, and Love imparting; Yet with sense of loss upstarting: --"

"Krishna, made for heavenly things, 'Mid those woodland singers sings; With those dancers dances featly, Gives back soft embraces sweetly; Smiles on that one, toys with this, Glance for glance, and kiss for kiss; Meets the merry damsels fairly, Plays the round of folly rarely, Lapped in milk-warm Spring-time weather, He and those brown girls together."

"Sweetest of all that Temptress who dances for him now With subtle feet which part and meet in the Rasa measures slow, To the chime of silver bangles and the beat of rose-leaf hands, And pipe and lute and cymbal played by the woodland bands; So that wholly passion-laden-eye, ear, sense, soul o'er come -- Krishna is there as in the forest; his heart forgets its home."

"And one with the arch smile beckons him away from Jumna’s banks, Where the tall bamboos bristle like spears in battle ranks. And plucks his cloth to make him come into the mango-shade, Where the fruit is ripe and golden, and the milk and cakes are laid: Oh! golden-red the mangoes, and glad the feasts of Spring, And fair the flowers lie upon, and sweet the dancers sing."

"The third one of that dazzling band of dwellers in the wood -- Body and bosom panting with the pulse of youthful blood -- Leans over him, as in his eyes lightsome thing to speak; And then with leaf-soft lip imprints a kiss below his cheek; A kiss that thrills, and Krishna turns at the silken touch To give it back -- Ah, Radha! forgetting thee too much."

"Another, gazing in his face, sits wistfully apart Searching it with those looks of love that leap from heart to heart; Her eyes -- afire with shy desire, veiled by their lashes black -- Speak so that Krishna cannot choose but send the message back, In the company of damsels whose bright eyes in a ring Shine round him with soft meanings in the merry light of Spring."

"One, with star-blossomed champak wreaths, woos him to rest his head On the dark pillow of her breast so tenderly outspread; And o’er his brow with roses blown she fans a fragrance rare, That falls on the enchanted sense like rain in thirsty air, While the company of damsels wave many an odorous spray, And Krishna, laughing, toying, sighs the soft Spring away."

"See, Lady! How thy Krishna passes these idle hours Decked forth in fold of woven gold, and crowded with forest flowers; And scented with sandal, and gay with gems of price -- Rubies to mate his laughing lips, and diamonds like his eyes; -- In the company of damsels, who dance and sing and play, Lies Krishna, laughing, toying, dreaming his Spring away."

"Then she, the maid of Radha, spake again; And pointing far away between the leaves Guided her lovely Mistress where to look, And note how Krishna wantoned in the wood Now with this one, now that; his heart, her prize; Panting with foolish passions, and his eyes Beaming with too much love of those fair girls -- Fair, but not so as Radha; and she sang:"

"And as if -- far wandered -- The traveller should hear The bird of home, the Koil, With nest-notes rich and clear; And there should come one moment A blessed fleeting dream Of the bees among the mangoes Beside his native stream; So flash those sudden yearnings, That sense of a dearer thing, The love and lack of Radha Upon his soul in spring."

"Yet the winds that sigh so As they stir the rose Wake a sigh from Krishna Wistfuller than those; All their faint breaths swinging The creepers to and fro Pass like rustling arrows Shot from Kama’s bow: Thus among the dancers What those Zephyrs bring Strikes to Krishna's spirit Like a darted sting."

"Mark this song of Jayadev! Deep as pearl in ocean-wave Lurketh in its lines a wonder Which the wise alone will ponder: Though it's seemeth of the Earth, Heavenly is the music's birth; Telling darkly of delights In the wood, of wasted nights, Of witless days, and fruitless love, And false pleasures of the grove,And rash passions of the prime, And those dances of Spring-time; Time, which seems so subtle-sweet, Time, which pipes to dancing-feet, Ah! So softly -- Ah! So sweetly -- That among those wood-maids featly Krishna cannot choose but dance, Letting pass life's greater chance."

"Where the breaking forth of blossom on the yellow Keshra-sprays Dazzles like Kama’s sceptre, whom all the world obeys; And Patal-buds fill drowsy bees from pink delicious bowls, As Kama’s nectared goblet steeps in languor human souls; There he dances with the dancers, and of Radha thinketh none, All in the warm new Spring-tide, when none will live alone."

"When Kroona-flowers, that open at a lover's lightest tread, Break, and, for shame at what they hear, from white blush and modest red; And all the spears on all the boughs of all the Ketuk-glades Seem ready darts to pierce the hearts of wandering youths and maids; ‘Tis there thy Krishna dances till the merry drum is done, All in the sunny Spring-time, when who can live alone?"