The Harikatha thread!

Where do you find all of these great stories???

 

Most of the stories are from the puranas, mainly Srimad Bhagavatam. The stories of Sri Rama are from the Ramayana or from Sri Ramcharitmanas.
Yet others are folktales, as told by grandmothers.

 

Yesterday , I was walking back from puja with my friend Vidhya and we were chatting and I was telling her about this picture of Krishna that I had gotten at a Flea market about a year or so ago...and she said that she didn't know too many Krishna stories...only really Ram ones...but the one she did know was from her dance teacher and so she shared it with me...and its short and sweet and I wanted to share it with you now.

When Ram would travel through the forests all the birds, plants, and animals longed to touch him ....but were unable. So, when Vishnu incarnated as Krishna....all of those birds, plants, and animals incarnated as the gopis...and finally they were able to have their wish....

That's really it. I just thought it was short and sweet and wanted to share it....

 

When Sitaji was separated by Sri Rama, he left in Valmiki Rishis ashram. Valmiki rishi yearned to see them reunited.

Therefore, in Sri Krishna avatar, when Rukminiji was about to get married to Shishupaala, she wanted to send a message to Krishna to come and save her. She entrusted the message to a brahmin, who was none other than Valmikiji, who delivered the massage and brought a reply also. He was thus fulfilled in seeing them united and live happily together.

 

When Duryodhana was trying to kill the pandavas, one of the schemes he tried was to make Durvasa Rishi angry at them and curse them.

Draupadi had an akshayapatra - a vessel which never emptied. It was such that when food was cooked in it, it would never empty, but once it had been washed out, then it would not give food until the next day.

Duryodhana sent Durvasa rishi with his 1000s of disciples to the pandavas in the evening, after Draupadi had washed the vessel. There was no food. Durvasa Rishi said, "We will go and bathe and when we return you may feed us."

Draupadi did not know what to do. At that time Krishna came, in answer to her wordless prayer. Smiling, he said to her, "Draupadi, I am very hungry. Come on, give me some food!"

Poor Draupadi nearly broke into tears. Then she told Krisdhna everything.

Bhagawan said, "Please look, there must be something."
At his coaxing, she finally went and saw in the akshayapatra. There remained one single soggy leaf of spinach that had clung on when the vessel was washed.
Krishna took that old soggy leaf of spiniach and ate and said, "With this, my hunger and that of the entire world is satisfied tonight."

Sure enough, Durvasa Rishi and his disciples returned, but they were feelign so full that they just did pranam and went away, unable to even imagine eating anything more.

 

Once a learned brahmin, who had devotion also, was giving talks on Srimad Bhagavatam. And when he described Krishna, rich and beautiful, wearing all kinds of brilliant jewels and fine clothes, a robber seated in the audience was aroused. He cornered the brahmin after the lecture, and said, "Tell me where is that Krishna. I want to go and rob all his jewels. Where can I find that boy?"

The brahmin was terrified, but he said, "Krishna is always around. Just look for him, he must be somewhere here only."

So the robber, possessed by greed, searched all over for Krishna, his mind completely absorbed in the one thought - find Krishna and rob him of his riches.

And sure enough, in a nearby wood, he found Krishna, leaning against a Kadamba tree, its flowers mingling with the fragrance of his skin in heady delight, a soft smile playing over his lips as he coaxed a silent music from his flute. Seeing him, the robber forgot all jewels, and was just dumstruck. The darshan of bhagawan was the most delightful thing for him, and he felt like he had won all the worlds riches by seeing the smile of Krishna. Then, after a long time, bhagawan left, and the thief went home a saint.

Later he met the brahmin, and thanked him profusely and told him his tale. The brahmin was shocked that bhagawan had given darshan to a thief, whereas he, who had been constantly singing the lord's praises, had not been so blessed.

But then he looked into his heart and realized that although eh had all scholarship, he did not have pure love, he was did not fully believe in the words of the scriptures and in the presence of the Lord. From then on, his teachings were more passionate and fromt he ehart, and soon, he too was blessed with the divine vision of the Lord.

 

I like both of these. Thank you, Bhaskar.

 

::bumping this...because somebody has a birthday sooon. ::

 

Krishna said, 'O fair beauty, who are you?
Where do you live? Whose daughter are you?
I never yet saw you in the lanes of Braj.'

Radha said, 'What need have I to come this way?
I keep playing by my door.
But I hear that some son of Nanda
is in the habit of stealing butter and curds.'

Krishna said, 'Look, why should I appropriate
anything that's yours? Come, let's play together.'

Suradasa says: By his honied words,
Krishna, the crafty prince of amorists,
beguiled Radha and put her at ease.

Sant Surdas


One Heart

 

**bumped for Janmashtami**

 

I've just been reading the Sri Krishna karnamritam, a deliciously beautiful text by Sri Lilasukha Bilvamangala. A sample:

Little Krishna goes to Yashodaji and says, "Mummy, give me a bowl."
"Why do you want a bowl?"
"To drink milk."
"Nothing doing. You don't get any more milk until night."
"What is night?"
"When the darkness comes, it is night."
Krishna shuts his eyes tight and tugs on his mother's sari pestering her, "It is totally dark now! Night has come! Time for milk!"
------------------------------------
Another day Krishna is being troublesome and refusing to drink his milk. Yashodaji says, "You want your hair to grow long and thick like Balaram's don't you?"
Krishna's eyes become wide with excitement. "Yes! Yes!"
"Well then drink your milk and your hair will grow."
Eagerly Krishna takes a few gulps from the glass, then stops halfway, carefully examining his hair to see if it has grown any longer. Deciding it hasn't he refuses to drink anymore, and complains that Yashodaji is trying to trick him.

 

awww those are sooo cute! <3

 

I'm a follower of Avatar Meher Baba who has told many stories about Krishna to highlight different spiritual lessons. This is a very sweet story that Eruch Jessawala, one of Meher Baba's chief disciples, recounted from Krishna's life:

Narada, one of Krishna's close ones, came one day to the palace to give Krishna a message. But as he approached, a watchman stopped him and said, "You cannot enter."

"What do you mean I cannot enter? I am Narada. I have access to Krishna's bed chamber." Which was true. Narada was so close to Krishna that he had permission to come anytime, anywhere, to see him.

But the watchman replied, "I know who you are, but on this particular occasion you must remain here. The Lord Himself has ordered me to stop anybody from coming just now."

"What do you mean on this particular occasion? What is the Lord doing that I can't go to see him?"

The watchman replied, "He said he wanted to pray."

"Pray? My Lord is praying? To whom does he pray? Who is greater than my Lord?" Narada demanded and accused the watchman of blasphemy.

But the watchman persisted in keeping Narada out, saying, "I am only telling you what he told me. He said he wanted to pray and that I should not let anyone in because he did not want to be disturbed while he is praying." Narada had no choice but to wait, and all sorts of confused thoughts were going through his head....

After half an hour or so, Krishna came out of his room and saw Narada waiting outside the door. He greeted Narada warmly but Narada was so agitated that he made only the most perfunctory of greetings. "What's wrong?" Krishna asked. "You seem upset."

Narada was so upset, in fact, that he totally forgot about the message he had come to deliver, he totally forgot that that was why he had come in the first place and he blurted out, "The watchman said you were praying."

"Yes, that is so," Krishna affirmed.

"But to whom do you pray?" asked Narada, whose confidence in the Lord was shaken by Krishna's admission.

Krishna laughed. "Do you really want to see to whom I pray? Come with me." And Krishna led Narada to his prayer room. "Here, here is my God," Krishna said.

And what did Narada see? He saw little figures, little images of Krishna's mandali. There was a little figure of Narada, of Arjuna, of all the close ones. "These are the ones I pray to," Krishna explained. "I pray to my lovers. You see, the whole purpose of creation was so that my love might flow. I eternally love my creation, but periodically I take birth to receive the love of my lovers. My lovers worship me and I worship their love for me."