If Krishna’s body is spiritual, then how can it get cut?

From: Shubham

Answer Podcast

Transcription

I have heard that lord Krishna had decended on the earth in his sat-cit-anand form, and he didn’t have material body…. Then how was that that The lord had got cut, after which mata Draupadi tied a cloth on lord’s finger?

The Lord’s body is certainly eternal full of knowledge and full of bliss, and in that sense it cannot be affected by any material harmful object like a knife or a weapon, at the same time the Lord is also not just interested in being God. Krishna is not a God who Delights in His God hood, but rather he delights in his this reciprocation, of love with his devotees and for the sake of reciprocation of love with his devotees , He takes various roles appropriate for this reciprocation of that love. so God is the father of all living beings so how can he have father, but Krishna his father as Nanda Maharaja and mother as Yashoda mai. Krishna is father of all living beings including Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda Mai,from the philosophical point of view, but from the resa the point of if view, from the point of reciprocating relationships, Krishna, takes on the role of a child and does what ever is necessary for the emotions between Him and His mother and his father , to intensify and magnify . So Krishna will act as if he is hungry , Krishna will act as if when his parents first as a baby when his parents first tell him to walk, he acts as if he cannot walk and he walks and he falls, and slowly he starts walking and then , initially when his parents tell him to speak, he speak in broken language, and then he gradually starts speaking. Now Krishna is the intelligence of all intelligent people, and why cannot he speak ? but he is doing what ever is required for reciprocating love with his devotees. So similarly for the sake of reciprocating love with Draupadi, in order to give her the opportunity to render service to him and experience the joy of pleasing him, Krishna performs this lila of letting his hand being cut by a knief. So the concept of lila, is very unique to the vedic understanding and revelation of God , Lila is in one sense like a play , like a drama, a drama not in the sense that it is unreal, it is real, in fact the reciprocation of love, that is the bases of lila is the highest reality. At the same time , for the sake of reciprocation of love, the philosophical truth is, the subjugated, subordinated according to what is required for the reciprocation of love, so that is why , it can happen that Krishna feels hungry and need mother Yashoda’s mils, and it can happen that Krishna’s hand can get cut and His body can give blood apparently, and it can have that Bhishma pitamah can shoot arrows and his body gets wounded apparently, all though his body is sat cit ananda. Because in all these cases Krishna is reciprocating love with his devotees. So Krishna as God is not primarily concerned, with proving to everyone that I am God, He does that in the bhagavad Gita, because Arjuna specifically requests him to do that. He requested him to for a proper understand of the truth of life and there Krishan progressively explains to Arjuna how his position is god and also reveals his swarupa, in which he actually demonstrates who the whole universe is contained within him. So one specific occasions Krishna may demonstrate his good hood, but , most of the time Krishna is interested not in demonstrating his god hood, but in reciprocating love with his devotees, and accordingly he does what ever is required by the devotees to experience intensified emotions,and the joy that comes from those intensified emotions. So some times, it is required that his God hood be demonstrated, then the same Krishna who at the home of mother Yashoda, when mother Yashoda tell him ” please life this utensils and bring it here “, Krishna says :I cannot life something so big “, but and the same Krishna when the need comes to protect his devotees, can on His small finger , life the entire govardhan hill. So, why can’t life the small container ? he can, but in a role of a child, who just want to increase the love of his mother, his helplessness and his dependents ness on his mother that is exhibited by his inability to life the utensil, increases mother Yashoda’s love, and that’s why he does that. and later on when the devotees, have to be protected and Indra’s pride has to be countered, and to protect him also , from arrogance and subsequent fall down, Krishna exhibits his God hood. So to summarize the answer, Krishna always has sat chit ananda form, and Krishna is eternally God with no material body, but he does not go about displaying his Godhood and displaying that he is not affected by any thing, that he does’t care for anything or any one, because that would not allow any reciprocation of love, so he acts and behaves and conducts himself in what ever way it is necessary for the reciprocation of love, and that’s’ why apparently by his power of divine illusion, yoga maya ., he allows blood to come out of his body, so as to intensify the bhakti of draupadi, so mahamaya, makes us forget us that Krishna is god , so that we try to enjoy separate from him, Yoga maya makes devotees forget Krishna is God , so that there love may be even more intensified.