Baby Krishna, Infant Christ:
A COMPARATIVE THEOLOGY OF SALVATION

1. What Is Hinduism?

1.In order to present a clear description of who Krishna is and how he saves, it is necessary to give a brief overview of Hinduism, including a discussion of the god Vishnu. Only then will the reader be prepared to learn about Krishna.

2.Of the five major world religions (Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam), it is certainly the case that Hinduism is both the least understood and the least experienced by most Americans. This state of ignorance will not continue, however, as the Hindu population both in the United States and worldwide continues to grow. The website for Diana Eck's well-regarded Pluralism Project (based at Harvard University) cites the following statistics regarding Hinduism: "The 1990 U.S. Census indicated that the number of Asian Indians in the United States (not all of them Hindus) increased 125 percent during the 1980s, rising to 815,000 (about 0.3 percent of the U.S. population). When non-Asian Hindus are incorporated into the equation, one arrives at a total of well over I million Hindus residing in the United States."¹ What's more, the Pluralism Project directory lists 723 Hindu temples and centers in the United States, and notes that there is a Hindu center and/or temple in every state, with the exception of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont.² If Christians want to follow the two imperatives discussed in chapter I—not bearing false witness against one's neighbor, and loving one's neighbor—then it is incumbent upon Christians to learn something about Hinduism, particularly in light of the many misconceptions having to do with Hindu worship and the concept of the deity in Hinduism.

5. A Dangerous Birth

1.What is recounted in the Bhagavata Purana is presented as having occurred just before the onset of the Kaliyuga, the final age in the winding down of creation before its eventual destruction. It is believed that the inauguration of the Kaliyuga was, in fact, Krishna's departing this world and returning to his divine abode. The Bhagavata is told in the form of various narrations by the sage Suta, who has been asked to tell about Krishna's activities, since both the hearing and the speaking of Krishna's name are said to bring liberation, and meditation on his deeds is particularly auspicious.

2.The story begins with an explanation of why Krishna chose to become incarnate at that particular time. Suta relates that at one time the earth was greatly oppressed by wicked kings and demons. Taking the form of a cow, she appealed to Brahma, the god of creation, for assistance. Then Brahma, with Shiva and the other gods, prayed to Vishnu/Krishna, who is identified as "the supreme being, the Lord of the universe, the God of all gods."³⁴ He replied that the distress of the earth was already known to him, and he had already made plans to incarnate himself as the son of Vasudeva, along with his amsha, who becomes Balarama, his brother and his constant companion.

3.A quick word about this concept of amsha, which refers to a "portion" or "partial incarnation." Describing this idea, Edwin Bryant writes,

the sense of the term is that the supreme Godhead [who in the Bhagavata Purana is unquestionably Krishna] can maintain his (or her) own presence while simultaneously manifesting some aspect of himself (or herself) elsewhere in a separate and distinct presence (or any number of presences). That secondary, or derivative manifestation, which exhibits a part but not the full characteristics or potency of the source being, is known as an amsha.³⁵

4.Balarama, then, is a partial incarnation of Krishna, a secondary manifestation that Krishna creates alongside his full incarnate form.

5.As the story begins, Vasudeva, the man who becomes Krishna's father, has just married a woman named Devaki, and she has a brother named Kamsa. As Vasudeva and Devaki are riding away from the marriage ceremony in their chariot, with Kamsa at the reins, a voice from the heavens announces that the eighth offspring of Devaki will become Kamsa's killer. (As the reader finds out soon enough, Kamsa is one of those wicked kings par excellence of whom the earth was complaining about to Brahma.) Kamsa comes close to killing Devaki right then and there, but Vasudeva, hoping to save his wife's life, promises that he will hand over to Kamsa every child that Devaki bears. Kamsa then agrees to spare Devaki, but imprisons both her and her husband, and kills each one of their children as they are born.

6.After six of the infants have been killed and Devaki is pregnant with her seventh child, Krishna puts his master plan into action. He goes to Yogamaya, a feminine power of illusion that serves Krishna during his incarnation, and instructs her to spirit away the unborn child that is in Devaki's womb. This child is born as Balarama by another mother, Rohini, and everyone believes that Devaki has miscarried.

7.Finally, Devaki becomes pregnant with Krishna, not by means of sexual intercourse, but by the "mental transmission" Of Vasudeva. Simply by the change in Devaki's appearance—her radiance and glow—Kamsa knows that the child she is carrying is Krishna, and he waits with impatience until Krishna is born, sure that he will be able to kill Krishna while he is an infant.

8.When the time of Krishna's birth finally comes, Suta relates in detail the many auspicious signs that herald the birth of the supreme god of the universe: the sky was clear and full of stars, a fresh breeze blew, the minds of the sages were peaceful and calm, the birds were singing, and flowers rained down from heaven. Krishna was born at midnight, and although his parents for a brief moment saw him in his true form—four arms bearing weapons, a magnificent jewel around his neck, arm and wrist bracelets, beautiful earrings, and wearing a yellow garment—Krishna quickly cloaked himself in the guise of an ordinary child by the power of his Yogamaya illusion. One source describes the scene this way:

At the moment of His birth, the prison was filled with a soft light, streaming out from the Babe Himself, and as He lay back in His mother's lap, they saw shining out from behind Him four arms. One hand held the Shankha or battle-trumpet; another the discus; a third the mace; and in the fourth was a lotus on its stem. Then Devaki and Vasudeva knew these for the signs of Vishnu, and they worshipped the child, saying the salutations, as Narayana, Savior of the World. But as the salutations ended, the veil of Maya descended upon them once more, and the Child appeared to them as their own babe.³⁶

9.The baby Krishna then instructs Vasudeva to remove him from the room (Krishna opens the bolted doors himself) and carry him to Vraj, to the house of Nanda and Yashoda. There, Yogamaya has just been born as a child of Yashoda; in the darkness, as everyone is sleeping, Vasudeva switches the children, laying Krishna in the arms of Yashoda and taking the infant girl, who is really the goddess Yogamaya, back to Devaki. As soon as the cries of the girl are heard in the household, Kamsa comes to kill the child. Taking her by her feet, he dashes her against a rock, and is astonished when Yogamaya reveals her true form, flying into the air and manifesting herself as a goddess. She then warns Kamsa that Krishna has already been born somewhere else. Kamsa responds by ordering all the babies who are ten days old or less in and around the area to be killed. Notwithstanding this order, Krishna survives, and embarks upon a marvelous childhood.

6. A Divine Childhood

1.Krishna's childhood is marked by mischievous play with Balarama (the seventh child conceived by Devaki), which both exasperates and delights his mother, Yashoda. Throughout, however, Krishna repeatedly gives glimpses of his true form, which reminds both readers and the other inhabitants of Vraj that, while he "behaves] as humans do," he does not, in fact, share true human nature.³⁷

2.One of the first examples of Krishna's power comes in the form of his vanquishing the demoness Putana. One day, Putana changed into a beautiful woman who walked through Vraj, looking for children to kill. She came into Yashoda’s house and offered to nurse Krishna. Yashoda, believing her to be an eminent woman because of her beauty, agreed; but when Putana put Krishna to her breast, Krishna sucked not only the poison from her breast, but took her life breath as well. As she was dying, she turned back into her original form, horrible and terrifying to behold. The story, however, concludes with an unusual twist: in spite of her evil intention, because Krishna had suckled at her breast, she was immediately transported to svarga, the highest heaven. This illustrates that any type of contact with Krishna—indeed, even Kamsa's evil fixation on Krishna—can be salvific, because of who Krishna is.

3.This echoes another nursing story (recounted in full in the introduction to this book) in which Krishna's true nature and power are revealed when Yashoda sees the whole universe in sleepy Krishna's yawning mouth.³⁸

4.There are many stories like this in which Krishna reveals his true form to his mother—if only for a moment. One more tells of a time when Yashoda was churning butter, which Krishna especially loved. While she was churning, Krishna got hungry, grabbed the stick and got in her way. She took him onto her lap and let him nurse for a bit until she realized that the milk on the stove was boiling over, and so she put him down before he was full. This made him angry, so he picked up a rock and broke the butter churn, running with the butter into his hiding place so he could eat it. When Yashoda came back and saw what he has done, she laughed—she couldn't help it—and she found him feeding some of the butter to a monkey. When she finally caught him, she tried to bind him with a rope, so he couldn't do any more harm, but although she used rope after rope the length was not enough to contain him: "Krishna has no beginning and no end, no inside and no outside. He is the beginning and end and inside and outside of the universe. He is the universe."³⁹ At last, Krishna took pity on his mother and allowed himself to be bound.

7. A Happy Cowherd

1.In such manner, Krishna spends his first few years—"in youthful games such as playing hide-and-seek, building dams and jumping about like monkeys."⁴⁰ Shortly after this, when he is still a little boy, he and Balarama, "the sole keepers of the whole universe," become the caretakers of the calves in the forest of Vraj, "a place which brings happiness in all seasons."⁴¹ During this time, it is clear how beloved Krishna is, not only by his human followers, but indeed by the whole creation—particularly by the calves he tends with the other cowherd boys. It is said:

Even the grazing animals had a special love for the Lord, and lowed happily, whenever he caressed them, or came near, gathering about Him in a ring, to listen, whenever—standing with feet crossed beneath the beautiful Kadamba tree—He played upon His flute. Some say, indeed, that at such moments the lotus-buds lying on the Jamuna waters opened, and the river itself bent out of its straight course.⁴²

2.While in the forest, he continues his playful antics, performing all sorts of amazing feats on a regular basis. For example, he kills the demon Baka, who has assumed the form of a great crane. The demon actually swallows Krishna, but only for a moment: Krishna is furious, and burns Baka's throat like fire, causing him to be disgorged. As Baka comes toward him again, Krishna effortlessly tears him apart by his beak, to great rejoicing by the other cowherd boys.

3.Another interesting episode during this time illustrates how, in the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna is depicted as the supreme god above all gods. At one time, Brahma, the creator, comes to Vrindavana and leads away all the other young calf-herders and their calves. Krishna searches all over for them and cannot find them; immediately, he realizes what Brahma has done, and provides an astonishing solution:

Thereupon Krishna, the Lord and maker of the universe, transformed his own self into both [the calves and the boys] in order to give pleasure to the mothers of those [calves and calf-herders] as well as to Brahma. He took the form of as many little bodies of calves and calf-herders as there were calves and calf-herders, with as many hands and feet and bodily parts . . . Then Krishna took care of his calves, who were his own self, by himself in the form of the calf-herders. The Self of everything entered Vraj, playing games with himself [in the form of the calves and boys].⁴³

4.In other words, to avert any anxiety about the missing children and cows, Krishna manifests himself as each and every calf and boy for an entire year, fooling their mothers and all the people of Vraj. Brahma, seeing what Krishna has done, pays him homage, confessing that even he is not able to understand Krishna's greatness. Brahma worships Krishna, praising him as "the one self, the supreme being, ancient, the truth, self-effulgent, unlimited, original, eternal, imperishable, perpetually happy, Immaculate, complete, without a second, and free from limitations and death."⁴⁴

5.Another famous story from this period of Krishna's life tells of his battle with Kaliya, the snake demon who was polluting the Yamuna River with his poison. The problem came to Krishna's attention when his fellow cowherds and their cows, made thirsty by the heat of the day, drank from the poisoned river and immediately fell down dead. Krishna did not let them lie lifeless for long: "A few minutes passed, however, and the tears of Krishna brought them all back to life. For His mercy and love could not fail to give life and strength, and He poured them out in abundance over His fainting friends."⁴⁵

6.His friends thus restored, Krishna took steps to purify the river and banish the snake. He climbed a tall tree, dove into the river, and immediately began to wrestle with the demon. Kaliya bit Krishna in his "tender parts" and coiled his body around him, distressing Krishna's friends on the shore who were watching the action. All of this was nothing but sport to Krishna, however, and the text makes clear that Krishna was never in any real danger. Instead, entirely without fear, he toyed with Kaliya, like a child plays with a rubber snake. Finally, Krishna climbed up on Kaliya's hoods (from this we assume Kaliya to be a many-headed cobra) and began to dance, his powerful feet crushing Kaliya's heads with each rhythmic step. Kaliya is thus "danced" into submission; recognizing Krishna's power, he worships Krishna and retreats to the ocean. The story concludes that the Yamuna River is freed from poison by the great lord who "assumed a human form for sport."⁴⁶

7.Stories like this fill Krishna's biography, consistently surprising those who forget that Krishna only appears to be a young boy; but for those who know his true identity, "there is nothing in this that is astonishing for Krishna. By his maya potency, he [appeared] as a small human boy, but he is the supreme creator of both the highest and the lowest."⁴⁷

8.Another key component in Krishna's life as a cowherd can be found in his relationship to the gopis, the cowherd girls who are devoted to him. One story in particular, in which Krishna dances with them, will be discussed at the end of this chapter; it is one of the two paradigmatic stories that will be mined for their salvific efficacy in the following chapter. However, a similar story can be told here. One day, the gopis were bathing naked in the river at sunrise, singing songs about Krishna, and thinking only of him. When Krishna and his young companions came upon them, he gathered up their clothes and climbed up a tree. The gopis were shivering in the water, but did not dare come out and retrieve their clothes and show their nakedness. Krishna laughed and teased them, telling them that if they were really his servants, they would do as he said and come out to get their clothes. At this, the gopis covered themselves as best they could with their hands and came out of the water. Krishna was pleased at this, and gave them back their clothes. The text says that while they certainly had cause to be angry, "they were not really upset with Krishna. They were delighted to be in the company of their darling."⁴⁸ This erotic play is a central way in which Krishna interacts with his devotees and reflects the passionate love he engenders in those who worship him—both men and women.⁴⁹

9.Krishna passes the rest of his childhood this way—enjoying the company of his brother Balarama, dispatching demons, playing with the gopis, and just generally delighting in his friends, the forest, and his own being. What's more, it is this "delight" that is at the heart of Krishna's existence during this time. The text is clear that Krishna's play is his purpose—it is not a means to an end, but the end itself: "Krishna’s entire sojourn in Vrindavana serves no 'purpose.' . . . Only when demons appear, in most cases sent by Kamsa to kill the child, are we reminded of Krishna's ostensible mission. The way in which Krishna deals with these adversaries, however, does not break the mood of playful freedom that fills Vrindavana while Krishna is there."⁵⁰

8. Krishna's Adult Life and Death

1.The event that marks the end of Krishna's childhood and the beginning of his adult life is his killing of Kamsa, the evil king who had tried to kill him at birth and never stopped trying to destroy him throughout his youth. Kamsa has decided to summon Krishna and Balarama to the city of Mathura, under the pretext of a public wrestling competition. Once they arrive, Kamsa plans to have them killed, one way or another, and then he will kill their relatives and all his enemies along with them. When Kamsa's messenger, Akrura, comes to the boys to explain what Kamsa wants—and what he has in store for them— they simply laugh and agree to come at once. They leave the forest, amidst much weeping by the gopis, and as they come into the city, the women immediately fall in love with Krishna and shower him with flowers from their windows.

2.This scene echoes the same theme that can be found in many of the stories—Krishna is not only the most powerful god, the supreme god of the universe, but is also exceedingly beautiful, which is a central aspect of his perfection. David Kinsley writes,

Another and obvious characteristic of the cowherd Krishna is his surpassing beauty. Beauty is not an attribute of Krishna alone. Many Indian gods are known for their beauty and grace. But Krishna surpasses them all. He is the embodiment of that otherworldly grace, that astonishing divine beauty that transcends the ordinary world and attracts all who behold it. His every characteristic is the most beautiful, the most relishable.⁵¹

3.After being adulated throughout the city, the boys come to the wrestling arena and the contest begins. At the gate of the arena, Krishna kills the great elephant, Kuvalayapida, who had been stationed there by Kamsa, and as they enter, it is clear to all that they are invincible, and the entire crowd is dazzled by their radiance: "At the sight of those two singular men, the people on the platforms—both country and city folk drank in their faces with their eyes but remained unsatisfied... Their faces and eyes bloomed with a surge of happiness. It was as if they were devouring [them] with their eyes, licking [them] with their tongues, smelling [them] with their noses, and embracing [them] with their arms."⁵² The wrestling match begins and, one by one, Krishna and Balarama kill each of their adversaries, until the remaining wrestlers run away from the competition. At this point, Krishna confronts Kamsa directly, killing him quickly, ending his evil reign.

4.This more or less ends part one. The story continues in part two, but in a very different vein. It begins with Krishna meditating on the purpose for his descent to earth—to remove the evil kings, relieve the burden of the earth, and protect the righteous. (It should be noted that this purpose complements, but does not supersede, the "purpose" of play for which Krishna also came to earth. Even in part two, Krishna is described as the one "whose human form is for the purpose of sport."⁵³) This part of Krishna's story climaxes in the events of the Mahabharata, particularly the Bhagavad Gita, but part two also describes at length how Krishna defeats the various wicked kings who cross his path.

5.In addition, part two also is taken up with the description of Krishna's various marriages, as he seems to fulfill the proper dharma of a householder. However, as in part one, the reader is reminded repeatedly that Krishna only appears to be a mortal husband; in reality, he is perfectly self-contained and only acting a part—or, more accurately, acting 16,000 parts, which is the number of wives Krishna takes. With the same powers of illusion he showed as a boy, he manifests himself to each wife individually so that each thinks that he is hers alone. The text reports that Krishna has his own private inner city in Dvaraka, in which were found 16,000 different palaces, where Krishna lived simultaneously with each wife: "Thus, following the ways of humans, [Krishna] manifested his shakti powers for the liberation of everyone. He enjoyed himself with 16,000 of the choicest women . . . delighting in their laughter, their glances, their affection and their shyness."⁵⁴

6.Book ten of the Bhagavata Purana ends with an exhortation to surrender to Krishna and to listen to a retelling of his deeds: "By thinking about, reciting and hearing the beautiful stories of [Krishna], which constantly become more in number, a person [attains to] his incomparable abode, and overcomes death."⁵⁵

9. The Death of Krishna

1.An account of Krishna's death appears in book eleven, which recounts that after Krishna had fulfilled the mission for which he came to earth, the creator god Brahma and the other gods came to see him at his home in Dvaraka. After a lengthy discourse of praise and adulation, Brahma said,

O master, we previously asked you to remove the burden of the earth, a task which has now been accomplished, O unlimited soul . . . Assuming an incomparable form, you incarnated in the Yadu dynasty and performed extraordinary deeds for the benefit of the world. . . Nothing of the world of the gods remains to be done, O support of everything . . . Therefore, return to your supreme abode, if you care to, and protect us, the rulers of the worlds, along with the worlds.⁵⁶

2.Krishna agrees that the time is right for him to return to the heavens. After a long discourse to his faithful follower Uddhava about the nature of reality and the means to liberation, Krishna allows events to unfold that he knows will lead to his death. It is important to note that in what follows, at every step of the way, Krishna is in full control of the proceedings: nothing happens that he is not aware of, and nothing occurs that he does not permit. There is no question of assuming that somehow Krishna is overpowered or surprised by forces beyond his control. Even in death, Krishna remains the supreme ruler of the cosmos.

3.First, through his power of illusion, Krishna allows the warriors of his own dynasty, the Yadus, to destroy themselves through infighting. This was to fulfill a curse that had been put on them by a group of sages, a curse that Krishna knew about and permitted, and also to ensure that he did not leave another powerful dynasty upon the earth to become another burden. When this was accomplished, Krishna sat down under a banyan tree in meditation, with one foot crossed over the other, manifesting himself in his true form, just as he did at birth.

4.A hunter named Jara mistakenly thought Krishna's "reddish lotus foot" was a deer and shot him—another event that Krishna both permitted and desired. As he was preparing to ascend to his heavenly abode, the gods gathered, eager to see his departure from earth. The text records that they were "crowding the sky with rows of celestial vehicles, and filled with great devotion, they showered down streams of flowers."⁵⁷ Then, through his powers of concentration, he ascended into heaven, but no one was able to see him, not even the gods, "since his path is unknown. As mortals cannot trace the path of a moving lightning flash which has left a ring of clouds, so the path of Krishna could not be traced by the gods."⁵⁸

5.Today, Krishna is remembered in the Hindu calendar first and foremost on his birthday, which is celebrated in August or September in a festival called Janmashtami. The Janmashtami celebration takes place over two days, during which time Hindus are likely to forego sleep and instead sing traditional Hindu songs that celebrate Krishna. It is believed that Krishna was born at midnight and this is when the true festivities commence. Food is prepared from milk and curds, which Krishna particularly favored. Dances and songs are used to venerate and remember him, and plays are also carried out to reenact particularly memorable scenes from Krishna's childhood. In temples, images of Krishna are bathed and placed in cradles, and special mantras are also chanted.

10. The Vision of the Universal Form

1.This first story is easily one of most famous stories in Krishna's biography. Incidentally, it also has important resonances with another theophany (divine revelation) of the same name that occurs in the context of a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. That text and that particular episode will be discussed at length in a later chapter.

2.The background to this particular story is the love Krishna's mother, Yashoda, has for her son and, indeed, the love all the gopis have for Krishna, even when they become exasperated at his playfulness. It is clear in the Krishna mythology that Yashoda's love for Krishna is meant to be exemplary, reminding all Krishna's devotees that the sheer joy and delight a mother takes in her child should be part of the love one experiences for Krishna. As Diana Eck writes:

Hindu Vaishnavas insist that the most spontaneous and unconditioned love is that of parents for a child, and the adoration of the child Krishna in the Hindu tradition is very popular. In every Vaishnava household one would very likely find one particular figure among the murtis, the "images," on the home altar: the child Krishna on his hands and knees, crawling with a ball of butter in one hand. He is affectionately called makan chor, the "butter thief" who manages to get his little hand into the pot of freshly churned butter no matter how assiduously his mother tries to keep it out of his reach. She scolds him, but even in her scolding it is clear that the naughty little Krishna has stolen more than butter. He has stolen hearts.⁵⁹

3.The story is told that one time when Balarama and Krishna were playing with the other boys, Balarama and the others complained that Krishna had eaten mud. Yashoda was concerned about Krishna's wellbeing and, taking him by the hand, she scolded him for what he had done. Krishna, however, protested: "Mother, I didn't eat any mud. They are all spreading false accusations. If you think they are speaking the truth, then you look into my mouth yourself." "If that is the case, then open wide," she said. The story goes on:

Lord Hari [Krishna], whose supremacy cannot be constrained, but who is God assuming the form of a human boy for play, opened wide. Yashoda saw there the universe of moving and non-moving things; space; the cardinal directions; the sphere of the earth with its oceans, islands and mountains; air and fire; and the moon and the stars. She saw the circle of the constellations, water, light, the wind, the sky, the evolved senses, the mind, the elements, and the three guṇa qualities [goodness, action, and inertia]. She saw this universe with all of its variety differentiated into bodies, which are the repositories of souls. She saw the time factor, nature and karma. Seeing Vraj as well as herself in the gaping mouth in the body of her son, she was struck with bewilderment: "Is this actually a dream? Is it a supernatural illusion, or is it just the confusion of my own intelligence? Or is it, in fact, some inherent divine power of this child of mine? Therefore, I offer homage to his feet, which are the support of this world. From them, and through their agency, this world manifests. Their true nature cannot be known by the senses nor by reason. They are very difficult to perceive by thought, words, deeds or intellect. He is my refuge. Through his illusory power arise ignorant notions such as: I am me; he over there is my husband; and this is my son; I am the virtuous wife, protectress of all the wealth of the ruler of Vraj; and all the gopis and gopas, along with the wealth derived from the cattle, are mine." Then the omnipotent supreme Lord cast his yogamaya [divine power of illusion] in the form of maternal affection over the gopi [his mother Yashoda], who had come to understand the truth. Immediately, the Gopi’s memory was erased. She sat her son on her lap and returned to her previous state of mind, with her heart full of intense love. She considered Hari [Krishna], whose glories are sung by the three Vedas, the Upanishads, Sankhya yoga and the Satvata sages to be her very own son.⁶⁰

4.The meaning of this story is clear, and emphasizes the same point that was made in the previous infancy narrative, recounted in the introduction: while Krishna might have the appearance of a baby, he is still the supreme lord of the cosmos. For a moment, then, the mind of Yashoda was illumined and she understood the true nature of her son—and indeed the true nature of reality—but only for a moment. This story concludes by explaining how Krishna caused his mother's mind to be erased, so that once again, she understood herself simply to be a mother holding her infant son on her lap.

11. The Rasa-līlā

1.A second significant story is called Krishna's rasa-līlā, which means "pastime play," and refers specifically to his dance with the gopis, the young girls herding cows. Diana Eck describes it this way:

"In one of the most beloved episodes [of Krishna's life], Hindus recall how Krishna the cowherd used to beckon the milkmaids to the forest in the middle of the night to dance the great circle dance. They came, risking everything, and Krishna miraculously multiplied himself to dance with each and every one of them."

2.According to Hindu tradition, this episode in Krishna's life is said to have occurred when he was between seven and ten years old. When reading the story for the first time, it is helpful to keep Krishna's age in mind, as well as the purity of his love, since, for Christian ears, there is an erotic flavor to this story that seems quite inappropriate for the Divine. However, it is a misinterpretation to attribute to Krishna any impure or carnal motives in his interaction with the gopis. As Steven Rosen writes, "The tradition is clear that Krishna has no prurient interest, nor does he have lascivious motives, at least not as commonly understood. His love for the gopis, and theirs for him, is pure."⁶²

3.Indeed, in one account of this story, the love the gopis have for Krishna is described in terms of pure joy and light:

Most wonderful of all was the love that the Gopis had for Him, as they romped and frolicked and tended the herds in the beautiful forests of Vrindaban. It was a love without any selfishness. When Krishna was near, they felt themselves lifted into a golden atmosphere, where all was gaiety and lightness of heart; nothing seemed serious or troublesome; and their happiness bubbled over in the form of gentleness and play.⁶³

4.In the Bhagavata Purana, the story of Krishna's rasa-līlā is told over several chapters, beginning with Krishna playing his flute, enticing the gopis to come join him in the forest under the full moon. Upon hearing the music, all the women immediately drop whatever they are doing—milking cows, cooking, eating, putting on makeup—and go to be near Krishna: They are "in a state of rapture." Even those who cannot be with Krishna in person, but only meditate on him from their homes have "left their bodies" and, united with him, relate to him as their supreme lover. Krishna teases them, plays with them, embraces them, and sings with them. At one point, he vanishes, causing the gopis to search longingly for him, acting out his miraculous deeds and praising him in song, longing for his return and saying, "Your Lordship is our life." As they continue to sing, weeping, Krishna reappears in their midst—immediately changing their sorrow to joy—and once again delights in their company on the banks of the Yamuna River. At this point, the rasa dance begins:

Govinda [Krishna] began the rasa pastime there, in the company of those devoted jewels of women, who linked arms happily together. The festival of the rasa dance began, featuring a circle of gopis. The Lord of all yogis, Krishna, inserted himself between each pair of gopis, and put his arms about their necks. Each woman thought he was at her side only... There was a tumultuous sound of bracelets, ankle-bracelets and the bells of the young women in the circle of the rasa dance with their beloved. Krishna Bhagavan, the son of Devaki, was radiant in their company, like a great emerald in the midst of golden ornaments... They were intent on amorous pleasure and overjoyed by Krishna's touch... The gopis, with glowing faces, cheeks adorned with locks of hair, and lotus flowers behind their ears, were beautiful. They danced with the Lord in the circle of the rasa to the musical accompaniment of the bees complemented by the sound of their anklets and bangles. Wreaths of flowers fell from their hair. Thus Krishna: the Lord of Lakshmi, sported with the beautiful girls of Vraj with freely playful smiles, amorous glances, and with caresses and embraces. He was like a child enraptured by his own reflection.

Although content within himself, the Lord became manifest in as many forms as there were gopi women, and enjoyed himself with them in līlā pastimes.⁶⁴

5.Krishna, it is said, "lives within the gopis, their husbands and all living beings. He is the supreme witness who has assumed a form in this world for the purpose of sport. Manifest in a human form, he indulges in such pastimes as a favor to the devotees. Hearing about these, one becomes fully devoted to him."⁶⁵ How and why Krishna's interactions with his mother and with the gopis are salvific, and what they say about who Krishna is and how he saves will be the subject of chapter 3.

12. What Does the Word "Play" Mean?

1.In his discussion of the term līlā, Edwin Bryant notes that "unlike the term 'sport' or even 'game,' then, which might contain a suggestion of drivenness or competition, līlā is pure play, or spontaneous pastime"—it is God rejoicing in creation simply from "fullness of spirit."⁶ Some analogies from human experience can help illustrate what is being described here. Līlā refers to the exhilaration of children playing in the year's first big snowfall. Līlā refers to the joy of relaxing in warm ocean waves under bright sunshine. Līlā refers to the happiness a mother gets from cooing at her infant, making faces at him, and delighting in his returned smile. Līlā refers to the pleasure lovers feel in each other's company, waking up together in the morning and talking softly about nothing while lying in each other's arms. Līlā, then, has no ulterior motive and no additional purpose other than the simple experience of joy—far from being simply a means to an end, līlā is the end: the play is the point.

2.This is one reason why most children play much better than most adults: once you are an adult, work replaces play as your primary mode of activity in the world. The driving question motivating your doings becomes, "What I am producing?" Adults are taught that their activity needs to have a goal, an assessable outcome, a product, while the very definition of play is opposed to such ends. Children, however, are under no such pressures—and if they are, it is a sad commentary on today's society. Instead, play is integral to the whole concept of what it means to be a child. Children live in the moment and they do not need a reason for playing with modeling clay, watching birds build a nest, riding a bike through the neighborhood, or building a fort with blankets and couch cushions. The sheer enjoyment of the experience is the whole point.

3.Thus, coming back to Krishna, this applies to his young life as well. In these years, Krishna literally lives for enjoyment, for pleasure, for play, and for delight. During his idyllic time in Vraj, this delight is his raison d'étre. Without a doubt it is what makes this period in Krishna's life so unique and sets it apart from the rest of his time on earth. While the Bhagavad Gita is explicit and emphatic that the purpose of Krishna's incarnation is to rid the earth of evil kings, and while even in the Bhagavata Purana as a whole it is clear that Krishna has come to earth to destroy the demons and protect the righteous, part one of the Purana, the section that describes Krishna's youth, gives primacy of place to another purpose: "Krishna descends to engage in līlā, or devotional pastimes."⁷

4.Līlā is the whole point of Krishna's young life, and it has a special function, creating the conditions for a unique experience that Krishna shares with his followers: "Līlā, then, is an opportunity for Krishna and his devotees to enjoy themselves in the blissful and spontaneous reciprocation of love."⁸ In the end, then, it seems fair to say that līlā is nothing more and nothing less than the unique form of Krishna's love that draws his followers to him, like the flame drawing in a moth. This love creates the conditions for a singular experience of salvation.

13. Play as the Expression of the Divine Nature

1.Any revelation of God always reveals something of Godself, even when the revelation itself aims at a different purpose. To take an example from the Judeo-Christian tradition, when God speaks to Moses from the burning bush, (at least) two things stand at the heart of that revelation. Ostensibly, the purpose of the revelation is to give Moses the specific instructions he is to follow in order to lead the Hebrew people out of their slavery in Egypt. But, first and foremost, God reveals something of God's true nature: God is the One who hears God's people in compassion and responds to their prayers; God is the One who is both just and merciful, and God is the great I AM WHO I AM, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who forever remembers the covenant God has made with the people. This revelation, then, not only reveals what God wants of Moses and what God's plan is for God's people, but who God is Godself.

2.In this same way, then, this divine revelation of Krishna reveals Krishna to be a god of play: playful creativity is Krishna's inherent nature. When we then extrapolate from this particular revelation to a more general concept of God, we can posit that Krishna also reveals play itself as a key attribute of divinity. In his study of Krishna's līlā, David Kinsley writes, "While play is perhaps not a classic feature of the divine in all religions, in Hinduism it is typical of the gods and represents, I think, an appropriate expression of the unconditioned and transcendent nature of the divine in India."⁹ Again, this idea of playfulness as a divine attribute is something we find almost nowhere in the Christian tradition. Thus, it behooves us to ask what the language of playfulness suggests about God's nature and God's activity in the world. Taking Krishna as our example, we can see how his playfulness reveals divine freedom, divine movement, and divine beauty.

14. Divine Freedom

1.First, the concept of divine play points to a God who is inherently free, inherently unconditioned, and inherently joyful, taking delight in God's own being, God's own creation, and God's own movement in the world. God does not need a reason for activity, and God does not need to justify God's dynamism with a purpose or a plan. As noted before, the play is the point, and God delights in it just as children do. Kinsley writes,

Play, just as much as power, knowledge, and eternity, expresses the truth that the gods are not limited. For play expresses freedom; it is carefree and relatively unmotivated. Play is done for the fun of it, for no ulterior reason. As opposed to most other types of activity, it is intrinsically satisfying rather than instrumental. It is an end in itself.¹⁰

2.Krishna reveals to us a God who, like a child, laughs simply for the delight of hearing his own voice, runs simply for the joy of feeling her legs beneath her, and splashes around in a river simply for the pleasurable cool of the water on his body. As children take delight in simply being alive, so Krishna takes delight in simply being incarnate in the world.

3.It is worth noting that the language used in Hinduism to describe this playfulness goes far beyond what is found in Christianity. Take this example, for instance:

The essential nature of the divine is shown to "exert" itself for no pragmatic purpose. It is shown to revel in its own incomparable joyful being by playing with itself, making love to itself, inciting itself to abandon itself. Krishna, the playful, charming cowherd boy who sports in Vrindavana, expresses the truth that the divine is most completely itself when it dallies aimlessly, overflowing itself in self-delight and self-generated rapture.¹¹

4.It is hard to imagine a Christian theologian describing God as "making love to" Godself, and this sort of ecstatic abandon and "self-generated rapture" is more typically seen as a response to God, rather than God's own action. In the mystical tradition; for example, imagery of love-making, rapture, and delight is common on the part of human beings. However, Christians might have something to gain from this language even as it refers to God's own activity. As banal as it might sound, Krishna's līlā reveals to us a God who is happy, who enjoys the experiences God has in the world with God's creation, and who takes intrinsic delight in being vibrant in the world. While Christians are used to describing God's "work" in the world, how would our understanding of God change if, taking a page from our Hindu brothers and sisters, we talked instead about God's "play" in the world?

15. Divine Movement

1.Second, the concept of divine play suggests a God who is inherently in motion, not detached, impassive, and static. Krishna reveals a god who is "not restful, silent, and still in its essence but constantly and restlessly moving in ecstatic play."¹² This image of God stands in sharp contrast to Greek philosophical concepts of a God who is an "unmoved mover," entirely removed from the world, and unaffected by the activities of creation. Instead, Krishna provides an image of God who is fully engaged with the world, thoroughly involved in the lives of God's creatures, and endlessly creative in God's activities. Because God is perfectly free, unconstrained, and ceaselessly generative, God's dynamism points to God's inherent creativity, through which God is continually doing a new thing in the world, continually bringing what is unique and original into being. This serves as a reminder that God is always present in the world in an active rather than a passive way, and that God always can be counted on to express Godself—to make the divine presence felt and known and to interact with God's creatures.

2.This dynamism is seen repeatedly in the stories of Krishna's youth as over and over Krishna engages the people of Vraj in endearing, surprising ways.

The theophany of the child Krishna, then, expresses the nature of the divine as unconditioned . . . For the divine to become embodied as a child is eminently suitable, for they behave in similar ways. Each belongs to a joyous realm of energetic, aimless, erratic activity that is pointless, yet significant: pointless, but at the same time imaginative and rich, and therefore creative.¹³

3.Krishna's playfulness and energetic engagement with the world continue to be celebrated today among Hindus, particularly in the festival of Holi. This festival has its roots in a variety of different religious celebrations, but today it is primarily associated with Krishna.¹⁴ The celebration, which can last up to sixteen days in some regions of India, occurs in the early spring. Three components of the festival are particularly relevant here. First is the overarching mode of rebellion and defiance of social norms. During Holi, a general mood of playfulness reigns, with more open flirting, mischievousness, and a loosening of social restrictions based on age, economic status, and gender. A second component involves throwing colored powder, paints, and water. Men and women both enjoy ambushing friends and strangers alike in the street and dousing them with a rainbow of colors. It is this practice that gives Holi the name, "the Festival of Colors." Third is the role of images of Krishna and his most beloved gopi lover, Radha. In some places, these images are swung together or paraded through the street while revelers dance around them, sing, and smear the images with colored powders. The celebration of Krishna's and Radha's love inspires a spirit of teasing and merrymaking that infects everyone around.¹⁵

16. Divine Beauty

1.A third divine attribute of play in Krishna's case is the link between God's playfulness and God's beauty. Krishna's beauty is legendary, and almost all descriptions of him emphasize his physical loveliness.¹⁶ The connection between divine play and beauty concerns the non-utilitarian aspect of both—neither exists for some ulterior purpose or for some specific function or role. Instead, both beauty and play are ends in and of themselves. They exist for their own sake: "For beauty, like play, is an end in itself. It strives for nothing, achieves nothing. It is apart from the instrumental world of necessity. It belongs to that other world of abundance. It is part of a world of effortless grace, an ornamental thing that justifies itself by simply being, and so like play belongs appropriately to the divine sphere."¹⁷

2.The idea of beauty as a divine attribute is certainly not unknown to Christianity; indeed, the entire discipline of theological aesthetics is concerned with the connection between God and beauty. God has always been seen as both the source and the highest expression of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good.¹⁸ What is different in the case of Krishna is the way in which Krishna's beauty is linked to his physical appearance: his body, his face, and his desirability. In other words, there is a blatantly erotic character to Krishna's beauty. Here is an example from the Gopalavimshati, a fourteenth-century South Indian poem written by Venkatanatha, commonly known as Deshika:

1. On his ears hang rings of langali flowers; His dark hair shines with feathers of a peacock

2. And thick red bandhujiva [hibiscus] blossoms;

3. He holds the playful shepherd's crook

4. In the tender sprout of his right hand;

5. His other hand fondles the slender shoulders of the lady who thrills at his touch—

6. The hairs on her body shining stand erect.

7. Lovely, dark as the monsoon cloud,

8. His flute tucked into the folds of his yellow waist-cloth,

9. And his hair shimmering with garlands of gunja-beads, Praise Him, tender lover of the gopis.¹⁹

3.To most Christians, this description might seem decidedly undivine, and more fitting for secular poetry than sacred text. However, Christians should remember the Song of Solomon before passing too censorial a judgment on these words. Many noted Christian theologians, particularly those in the Middle Ages such as Bernard of Clairvaux, believed that the erotic language of the Song of Solomon describes with deep meaning and insight the relationship between God and the soul. So, too, for Krishna, since his beauty is a means through which he expresses his playful nature, drawing his devotees to himself:

For of all the Hindu gods Krishna expresses most completely all that is beautiful, graceful, and enticing in the other world of the divine. He embodies all those things that are extra in life, all those luxuries and characteristics that are not necessary to life but without which life would not be worth living. He is witty, gay, careless, accomplished at dancing, singing, and playing the flute. He is loved with abandon and loves with abandon. He is surpassingly beautiful. He is irresistibly and bewitchingly charming. All that he does is executed with effortless grace and harmony.²⁰

17. Play as Transcending Distance

1.The attractiveness of Krishna's beauty leads to the next important aspect of Krishna's līlā, and that is the way he uses his playful antics to transcend the distance between the human and the Divine. Barbara Powell describes Krishna's behavior this way:

Naughty Krishna, though exasperating, brings supreme joy to His elders. Their anger never lasts long. He bats His lotus-like eyes, pouts His pretty lips, sheds a few counterfeit tears and before you know it the adult is overcome with love and sweeps the child up in her arms. The naughtiness is also partly a guise designed to obscure His Godhead from them. Were His contemporaries aware of His true identity, they would be too overawed to exchange the natural loving intimacies for which He incarnated Himself. They must mistake Him for an ordinary boy and so, like a regular boy, Krishna is sometimes a pest.²¹

2.Contrast this to the Christian tradition, even in the most loving and personal descriptions of Jesus Christ: the aspect of awe and majesty that Jesus evokes are never entirely absent. One simple example will suffice. Martin Luther wrote his Small Catechism as a teaching tool not only for pastors to use in churches and schools but particularly for ordinary people to use at home and with their children. Here, then, we can expect that the Christian faith will be presented in its simplest form, straightforward and clear, focusing only on what is absolutely necessary to know and remember. It is significant, then, that Luther begins every one of his very brief explanations of each of the Ten Commandments with the words, "We are to fear and love God." I find it striking that even when teaching young children about God, and presumably wanting to instill positive feelings for God, Luther emphasizes that fear is a necessary and integral part of our relationship with God.

3.Of course, Christians know that they are not meant to interpret this religious type of fear in the same way that one might describe one's fear of strangers, of the dark, or of spiders. Instead, the reminder that Christians are to fear God serves to emphasize the awe and wonder one should maintain when coming before God. In his classic text, The Idea of the Holy, Rudoph Otto famously described the encounter with the Holy as an experience of the numinous—the aspect of the Divine that is a mysterium tremendum, a mystery that both draws one in and frightens one away. The response to such a God, described in one famous hymn as the "immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes," is dropping to one's knees and averting one's eyes, knowing that none can see God face to face and live.

4.There is nothing inherently wrong with this, of course, and it is quite a natural response to the God who is the Lord of the universe, Ruler of creation, King of kings, and so on—to use the imagery that has dominated the Christian tradition through the centuries. However, it should be clear that the relationship one has with such a God has its constraints, as it presupposes a certain distance, a certain respect, and a certain level of intimidation that precludes the possibility of intimacy. Incidentally, this is thought to be one reason why the Virgin Mary in particular and the saints in general have been so popular historically in the Catholic tradition—they are seen as more approachable, easier to relate to, and more sympathetic than either God the Father or Jesus Christ.

5.Juxtapose the image of a divine ruler, sitting enthroned in heaven, with a very different one: the baby Krishna, crawling around on all fours, stealing butter and teasing his mother and the other cowherd women. Obviously, the relationship Krishna inspires in those around him, particularly in the relationship he has with his mother, Yashoda, and his gopi lovers, is also very different. The intimacy here offers a very special sort of divine invitation: in Krishna's youthful exploits, the faithful see how "God, revealing himself as an infant, invites man [sic] to dispense with formality and undue respect and come to him openly, delighting in him intimately."

6.Since we have no stories of Jesus' young childhood, it is impossible to know anything of the day-to-day relationship that his parents, and Mary in particular, had with him. Did she ever spank him? Put him in a "time-out"? Was he rebellious? The brief mention the Bible makes of Mary's explicit contemplation of her young son emphasizes the mystery and wonder with which she considers him. Both after the shepherds visit Jesus in the manger and after she and Joseph find the twelve-year-old in the temple in Jerusalem, Luke records that Mary "treasured" the words that were spoken about him, and kept them close in her heart. Beyond that, the Bible is silent.

7.By contrast, as was demonstrated in chapter 2, the Hindu scriptures are full of stories about Yashoda and Krishna, detailing the many ways he drove her to distraction, causing chaos not only in her household but in the households of others as well. In these stories Krishna seems no more than an ordinary little boy at play who encourages his mother, his cowherd friends, and the other women to respond to him accordingly. The tradition is clear, however, that this intimate, informal, up-close and personal relationship Krishna fosters is very intentionally and carefully managed by him, through the power of his yogamaya, or illusion.

8.It is instructive to revisit the story of the theophany of Krishna's universal form. Yashoda holds Krishna in her arms, scolding him because she has been told that Krishna was eating mud. He protests his innocence, and tells her she should look into his mouth for proof, and when she does, she sees the whole universe therein. She is completely bewildered and shocked, and the text says that she immediately offers homage to him as the omnipotent, supreme Lord. However, Krishna does not desire such awe-inspired veneration from Yashoda, and so the story concludes by telling how Krishna "cast his yogamaya" over his mother, erasing the memory of what she has just seen, and filling her heart with intense love and maternal affection. In this way, over and over, he appears and acts as a regular young boy— lifting the mask only when and where he chooses and quickly pulling it back down again in order to facilitate intimate relationships with his devotees. Steven Rosen explains it this way:

After all, awareness of Krishna's Lordship evokes a sense of majesty and subservience before the Supreme. To enable his devotees to rise beyond this stage, with the ability to engage in intimate, loving exchange with him, he masks his divinity. Imagine the gopis getting angry at Krishna for stealing their yogurt and butter if they were aware of his supreme position in the cosmic scheme of things. Or consider mother Yashoda: Would she bother to chase after him or enjoy motherly affection if she were conscious that he is God?²³

9.The kind of easy intimacy with and uninhibited love for Krishna that Yashoda and others are able to experience is believed by those who worship him to be superior to a relationship that consists primarily of philosophical reflection or dutiful worship. Thus, for devotees of Krishna through the succeeding centuries, this unique type of relationship that both Yashoda and the gopis have with Krishna is held as the highest standard and the goal for all Krishna's followers. Seen in this light, "Krishna's 'mischief' is far from ordinary. His life as an impetuous young boy is a gift to his devotees . . . Rather than evoking consternation, his rowdy pastimes ultimately serve a purifying function, healing and giving joy to all who take part in them. In short, these stories enable devotees to transcend the distance created by awe and reverence and situate them in a loving mood of divine intimacy."

10.There is a lesson in all this for contemporary Hindus, as it points to the soteriological value of finding joy with God in the everyday activities of daily life, and meeting God just as one is, in the midst of mundane tasks and obligations. No extraordinary measures need to be taken; no special skills need to be developed. One need not leave one's home behind and go to the church or temple to seek God; instead, God is readily present while one is cooking dinner, or caring for children, or tending the garden.

The story of Yashoda is charming, and it is also relevant for us. We need to respect the heroic quests which often characterize the path to spiritual wisdom, the great confrontations with life and death. But it would be a mistake to confine wisdom to heroic circumstances. Yashoda's example suggests that we do not need the extraordinary and the exotic; ordinary religious practice, persevering love in ordinary duties and relationships, can be the vehicle of divine presence and provide the opportunity for unexpected encounters with God. Life itself is infused with divine presence; the details of ordinary life can become the occasion for moments of vision.²⁵

11.There may well be an infinite distance separating humanity from God, but in his infancy and youth, Krishna shows himself ready and eager to fully bridge it, inviting his devotees into a relationship characterized by simplicity, familial affection, and personal intimacy. For this reason, like no other divine figure in Hinduism, "[Krishna] most perfectly exemplifies the divine nearness, rare embodiment, extraordinary loveliness, and most astonishing acts of divine tenderness."²⁶ Unsurprisingly, then, as we have seen, in response to Krishna's activity in the world, he inspires the most tender expressions of love in his devotees. Let me conclude this section with an extended quote from Diana Eck, describing a store in India dedicated to the child Krishna:

In Vishvanath Gali, the most crowded of Banaras commercial lanes, there is one store that sells nothing but clothing and adornments for the child Krishna. It opens into the lane like a cupboard stocked with dazzling piles of color: blue, pink, and gold satin outfits, trimmed with silvery ribbon; tiny ornaments and necklaces; crowns and headdresses, tiny peacock feathers to top off the crowns; little silver flutes; little enameled eyes to add to an image at the time it is installed on the home altar. Visiting that shop with a friend and trying the little outfits on the brass image of the crawling Krishna, I had to admit that there is something in all of us that loves this sort of thing. There is a lightness and playfulness to it that is consonant with the spirit of Krishna devotion. No one imagines for a moment that Krishna needs the little blue satin outfit we have just slipped on around his arms or the tiny strand of beads we have put around his neck. Indeed, no one imagines that the world-spanning Krishna is confined to this little brass image at all. This acting out, this "playing house," has to do with us and the ability to bring our affections and sensibilities to the service of God.²⁷

12.It is this last point Eck makes—Krishna's līlā facilitating our "ability to bring our affections and sensibilities to the service of God"— that will be examined in the next section, which explores the soteriological efficacy of this loving relationship between Krishna and his devotees.

18. Love and Eros

1.Far and away the most important aspect of the bhakti path is love—the love one feels for God, the deeply loving relationship one cultivates with God, and the love god returns to the disciple. For those on the bhakti path, this disposition and experience of love far outweigh any other type of relationship one might cultivate with the Divine, and Krishna, more than any other Hindu deity, embodies this passionate love: "Krishnaite Vaishnavas draw on the fact that Krishna is the embodiment of intimacy and love, qualities that, among all others, stand supreme."³⁸ There is no need to rehearse all the ways in which Krishna manifests love in the course of his young life; in particular, the love was embodied in Krishna's relationship with his mother and with the gopis.

2.What is particularly important to emphasize here, however, is the erotic quality of that love—and this certainly needs some explanation for Christian ears. Christians are used to a threefold distinction when it comes to love: eros, which refers to the kind of love partners and spouses have for each other and from which we get the word erotic (which leads to some unfortunate, and not entirely accurate, caricatures); philia, which refers to the kind of love we have for friends; and agape, referring to the kind of love that God has for God's people. Agape is not motivated by what one can get for oneself, but is instead moved by care and concern for the well-being of the other. It is this kind of love to which Christians have traditionally seen themselves called, and to which Christians have aspired, because it calls forth a response of charity, grace, and kindness toward poor and rich, weak and strong, friend and foe alike. It does not seek its own satisfaction, but only the good of the other. There is nothing inherently wrong with this focus on agape love, except that, over the course of time, the other two types of love, and particularly eros, were dramatically downplayed and even demonized in the church, so that agape became synonymous with the highest expression of Christian love, and every other form of love was seen as something less, something outside the church, and again, even something sinful.³⁹

3.With Krishna, however, love is understood quite differently, and the erotic component of love is front and center. As we saw in Krishna's dance with the gopis, his physical passion and their amorous attentions toward him are a key part of the divine experience of love—and Krishna intentionally courts this physical, sexual response from the young women. In the bhakti tradition, the physical desire of the gopis for Krishna is a manifestation of the depth of their love for him, and it is this desire that later generations of devotees have sought to replicate. Indeed, this erotic love is even argued to be the highest form of love one can experience: "To be an intimate associate of God, particularly one with the intensity of love exhibited by the gopis, is the highest possible perfection of human existence in the Bhagavata."⁴⁰

4.It should be noted that this type of love is not unknown to Christianity. In fact, the medieval mystics drew heavily upon the biblical imagery of bride and bridegroom as well as the language of ecstasy to describe their own profound, intimate experiences of union with Christ. Indeed, both male and female mystics described being penetrated by the arrows of God's love, ravished by Christ, and physically transported by divine rapture that left one weak, trembling, and feeling "inebriated"—sometimes for days. One needs only call to mind the image of Bernini's famous sculpture, "The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa," to remember the place such ecstatic—yes, even erotic—love has held in at least some expressions of Christianity.

5.This kind of rapture that Krishna invites points to the fact that such physical experiences of love are an integral part of the salvific relationship the devotee has with Krishna. It also points to the body as being a locus of salvation. In the bhakti relationship, the body is capable of receiving divine love, of expressing love for the Divine, and, indeed, the body is the place above all where the loving relationship with the Divine is experienced. Unlike the typical negative stereotype of sexual desire and physical affection, so prevalent in Christianity, that conflates love and lust, desire and domination, enjoyment and exploitation, Krishna invites his devotees into a deeply moving physical relationship that captivates all their senses and moves them at every level, inviting a full-body reply: "Krishna moves in a realm of love and lovemaking that invites (indeed, demands) a total, impassioned response. All those who enter this realm are freed from bondage to the ordinary and customary, freed to behave imaginatively and spontaneously. The erotic aspect of this other world is not degrading but life-affirming."⁴¹

6.This affirmation of the body and of the role of physical desire in the saving relationship one has with the Divine relates to another important theological and soteriological issue on which bhaktis express strong opinions. Arguing against those who would maintain that God cannot have a form, or that it is somehow higher or better—more spiritually advanced, if you will—to relate to a God without specific characteristics, Vaishnava philosophy posits that "if loving exchange is the highest activity, as most will admit, then God would most definitely deign to be a person—for loving exchange loses meaning without personhood; it can only exist between people."⁴²

7.Note what is being argued here: love, which is unquestionably the highest expression of devotion and the most important aspect of the human-divine relationship, cannot truly exist without two partners— two players who can willfully and joyfully develop a connection that is personal, particular, and expressed and experienced in the material world. For bhaktis, the love of an abstract, transpersonal entity—even a divine entity—is decidedly inferior (and not really love at all). So, too, is the idea that the lover and the beloved are the same—the idea that while there appear to be two in an I/Thou relationship, in reality, there is only the divine I, and everything apart from the Divine is an illusion. Both of these two options for understanding and interpreting the divine/human relationship are thoroughly rejected by bhaktis:

To describe the absolute as merely nirvishesha, or without quality and attributes, is to make Him imperfect by amputating, as it were, the auspicious limbs of His divine personality. Once the absolute, complete, and perfect nature of the Divine Being is recognized, the philosophy of impersonalism cannot consistently be maintained. The Bhagavad Gita clearly describes the Absolute as both personal and impersonal, or rather as possessing infinite attributes and forms, including an impersonal dimension. When this is properly understood, the conflicting statements of the Vedas and the Puranas can easily be reconciled. But according to the primary and general sense of the scriptures, the Absolute is essentially personal, because only in a personal Absolute, possessing infinite and inconceivable potencies, can the manifest forms of Godhead, including the impersonal Brahman, have their place. In fact, complete monism, or Advaita Vedanta, would inadvertently obliterate the entire spiritual quest as we know it—for how can one worship oneself? On a practical level, it is simply not possible, leading to frustration and the abandonment of spirituality in general. But more to the point is this: If one is, in the ultimate sense, God, there is no need for submission to a superior spirit. There is no I and Thou, no relationship and no love.⁴³

8.One certainly can say that in Hinduism, Krishna, more than any other god or goddess, creates, facilitates, and nurtures the I-Thou relationship with each and every one of his devotees, filling them with desire and bestowing upon them his abundant love. Two central aspects of this relationship, joy and physicality, which are reflections of this key characteristic of love, need also be briefly mentioned here.

19. Joy

1.Intimately related to the experience of love is the experience of joy. The love Krishna himself displays, and the love he calls forth from his devotees, is not the grave sort that demands austerity, somber reflection, or physical deprivation. Instead, as we have seen over and over in Krishna's biography, Krishna's kind of love is better described as reckless abandon, giddy excitement, and spontaneous outbursts of sheer glee. Krishna clearly takes delight in his playfulness, and he inspires delight in others, even as he exasperates them with his willfulness. It is clear, then, that a central part of what it means to be a devotee of Krishna is rejoicing in him, giving oneself over to the happiness of reading about him, thinking about him, and listening to the stories of his life. In short, a relationship with Krishna demands that one allow oneself to be carried away by the spirit of pleasure and play that permeates the whole of Krishna's young life.

2.It is this shared joyous play with the Divine, more than obedience, more than adoration, more than exultation, that characterizes the saving relationship a devotee has with Krishna: "According to the Bhagavata (10.47.58), to be an intimate associate of God able to play with him by participating in this līlā is the highest possible perfection of human existence."⁴⁴ For it is in this shared play that the Divine and the human are joined in a union of absolute bliss—sheer joy and delight. All constraint is removed, all the boundaries that would separate God from humanity are bridged, and humanity's own inherent playful nature is set free to join with the Divine. As David Kinsley writes:

Bhakti, like play, is nonutilitarian, transcending the barriers of pragmatic existence . . . It is superfluous activity that is undertaken as an end in itself... Like play, it is also joyous, jubilant, and often merry, particularly when it is directed toward Krishna. Bhakti, then, seems to illustrate the fact that in his relationship to God man’s nature as a player comes to the fore... Or at least the implication is that the appropriate meeting ground [between God and humanity] is one of freedom and joy, where man is not bound by habit and necessity but is free to behave spontaneously.⁴⁵

20. Physicality

1.Finally, it is important to note one of the key aspects of the Krishna/devotee relationship discussed above, and that is its corporeal character.

2.Francis Clooney offers the following description of Krishna: "When Hindus think of Krishna, they are thinking of a God who speaks to the human heart in a language we can understand, a God who appears with a face we can see. As the theologian Ramanuja put it in the eleventh century, Krishna is God—Lord Vishnu, Narayana—come down to this earth so that people can see and hear and touch God."⁴⁶ It is this seeing, this hearing, and, particularly, this touching that makes one's relationship to Krishna so powerful. There is a visceral character to this relationship that emphasizes its here-and-now aspect: one does not have to wait until death to experience Krishna's love and grace, nor does one have to reach a certain state of spiritual refinement or maturity. And, most certainly, one does not need to forget her body, deny her body, or be indifferent to her body to enter into relationship with Krishna. Instead, Krishna comes to his devotees right in the midst of their physical lives—their manual labors—right in the middle of their sweat, blood, and tears, incorporating all of it into the bond he creates with them. This is how he formed relationships when he was on earth, and this is how he continues to form relationships even now.

3.Contemporary devotees, then, look back to the gopis and to Yashoda herself to see how Krishna comes to those who worship him in the midst of their daily lives. This is one reason for the emphasis on telling and re-telling the stories of Krishna's infancy and youth and on the importance of imagining oneself as taking part in those stories. Imaginative play serves to make Krishna real for those who love him and make their experience of him more vivid:

Traditionally, the deeds of the cowherd women are meant to be imitated by others, even those who have never actually seen Krishna. God can be approached and experienced if we remember, imagine, and allow ourselves to become actors in the drama of God's work on earth; as they play their parts devotees find, to their surprise and delight, that God comes and interacts with them too, in ways old and new. Such acts of remembering and imagining are very powerful, for they make it possible to experience anew God's mighty deeds from the past.⁴⁷