How Krishna catches our attention: While watching an action movie, our attention is often caught by the hero’s spectacular action sequences. When Krishna descends to the world, he performs astonishing pastimes that include fights, flights and feats. In his many fights, he often fearlessly faces fearsome demons far bigger than him in size and nonchalantly neutralizes them, frequently without any weapon at all, especially in his Vrindavana pastimes. During his flights, he artfully dodges some adversaries, leading them on a merry chase till they are dealt with inimitably, by his direct actions or indirect arrangements or stunning combinations of both. Unassumingly unfolding his feats, Krishna does deeds that are impossible for even the gods: deeds such as effortlessly lifting an entire hill or revealing the whole universe in his mouth. 

How Krishna conquers our heart: No matter how much our attention is riveted by action sequences, raw action rarely moves our heart. What draws our heart toward action heroes is their personable nature, their emotional self-revelations, their loving interactions. Similarly, amid all its jaw-dropping action, Krishna’s pastimes have as their centerpiece endearing exchanges between him and those who choose to love him. Krishna lifts Govardhana hill not to exhibit his machismo spirit, but to create under the hill an arena for supremely sweet exchanges of love with his devotees. When we philosophically ponder such love-filled pastimes, we understand how loving and loveable Krishna is; how he performs loving pastimes eternally in his personal abode; and how he longs for each one of us to enter into his world of immortal love — and we cannot but fall in love with him (Bhagavad-gita 04.09). Ultimately, only such exchanges can fill our heart and fulfill our heart’s longing for immortal love .

One-sentence summary: 

Krishna catches our attention through his fights, flights and feats and he conquers our heart through his endearing exchanges of love — thus, he is the ultimate hero. 

Think it over: 

  • Which features of Krishna’s pastimes catch our attention?
  • What is needed to progress from catching attention to conquering the heart?
  • Which features of Krishna’s pastimes conquer our attention?

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04.09: 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.

How Krishna’s pastimes reveal him to be the ultimate hero

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