Thursday, October 24th, 2013

The Run

Aeriel, Israel

At the airport in Istanbul, Turkey, time was tight for catching the flight to Tel Aviv from Mumbai.  My walk within the terminal to my designated gate almost broke into a sprint, just to make sure I wouldn’t be late.  Once reaching gate 502, it was relieving to know that our plane destined for Israel was a few minutes late.  Phew!

I got to thinking (meditating perhaps) that there are a few well known instances where Krishna was recorded to have run like crazy.  One example is when he was young and he ran away from the aggressive King, Jarasandha.  It might have appeared that Krishna whose self took on a role as aksatriya warrior had now portrayed himself as cowardly, but that wasn’t the case.  Circumstantially he received a letter from his bride to be, Rukmini, who was set in great danger, he ran to her rescue.

Another occasion where Krishna ran and in genuine fear, was when he was a mere toddler and his mother, Yashoda, came after him to catch him and chastise him for some apparent wrong doing.  To put it very plainly, Krishna had built up a reputation as a prankster.  In this case he deliberately broke a household butter pot.  Some people may offer their opinions that he could be excused because he was so young in his formative years.

Run, he did.   Got caught, he did, after a well worn out chase by his mom.  In the mood of parental love, Yashoda had committed to exercising correctional services upon her son, which involved a rope, a stick and a hard run.

This pastime involving Krishna and Yashoda had many endearing messages behind it.  When I arrived at the men’s/women’s ashram in Aeriel, an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv, I was asked to remark about the running boy, Krishna.  I was equipped with a new book, “Damodara” by Bhakti Purusottama Swami.  It’s an excellent read, and as the author proudly put it when he happily delivered it to my hand the other day, “This is a compilation of the combined efforts of the acharyas who have commented on the matter.”  He was referring to Krishna’s running.  You might want to check out this book.

May the great Source be with you!

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