04.08 – Let’s not reduce Krishna to a cosmic constable.

Many religiously-minded people think that the purpose of God’s existence is to serve them as a cosmic constable.

Krishna as god is much grander than a mere cosmic constable. He has his own eternal ecstatic love-life in the spiritual world. He descends for inviting us to join him, as is revealed in the Bhagavad-gita (4.9).

Some people may protest: doesn’t the Gita (4.8) state that Krishna descends to restore order?

Yes, it does. But the order that Krishna restores is not intended to create an arena for us to enjoy life in this world. Life here is fraught with danger, frequented with distress and finished with death. That we are hoping to enjoy in such a world indicates the massive disorder within our heart. Krishna comes to correct that inner disorder.

We have actuated this inner disorder by giving free play in our heart to the disruptive desire for enjoying dead matter. When Krishna descends, he reveals his splendid pastimes to re-attract our heart back to him and thereby restore inner order. This inner order enables us to see this world not as an arena for enjoyment but for redirection of our love back to Krishna.

In earlier ages, Krishna would also establish external order as an aid for restoring inner order. But the present age of Kali is meant to provide a time-slot for those souls who want to defy Krishna. That’s why in this age he focuses not on establishing external order, but restoring internal order. He eases the process of restoring inner order by making himself perennially accessible through his nama-avatara (incarnation as the holy name).

When we take shelter of the holy names, we will experience for ourselves that even amidst the chaos of this disorderly age Krishna is very much with us, ready to restore order within.