The 8th incarnation of Vishnu .

Krishna

REPRESENTATION • Krishna, is the 8th incarnation of Lord

Vishnu. The word “Krishna” translates to Hindu meaning “dark”, however, it also can translate to “all attractive”. Krishna is often depicted having blue or black skin. He grew up to be a cow herder, and often slayed demons cause he was crazy. Krishna cares a lot about humans due to his heir from Vishnu. He is often considered to be a “middleman” to the Divine. Krishna also preserves and protects Dharma. He does it for the people, and sometimes even with the people.

GURUVAYAR TEMPLE• The Guruvayar Temple is a temple

located in Kerala, India. It is dedicated to the God of Krishna. It is apparently an extremely well ran temple, and one of the finest in India. To ensure this, rules(puja) of Temple are strictly followed, and the Tantri(high priest) is available at all times. The Chief Priest is said to enter the sanctuary at 2:30 A.M., and apparently does not drink until the completion of the Noon Worships.

KRISHNA I HAVE A FEVER, AND THE ONLY CURE IS MORE FLUTE

• Krishna is often depicted playing or carrying a flute. The reason for this is because he was a cowherder, and he played the flute to entertain the animals. He did it for the souls. It is also believed that the flute represented the universe.

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS

• ISKCON was founded by BHAKTIVENDATA SWAMI IN 1966. He moved from India to London to start spreading awareness of Krishna. After gaining many followers, the official temple was built in 1969. Gaining many followers was easy, as Krishna was promoted heavily by George Harrison. In 1965 while on the beach in the Bahamas, George Harrison was given a book on Hinduism. This sparked interest, and him and The Beatles made many trips to India, where he learned meditation practices, the sitar, and did a lot of drugs. Back to Krishna, he was the main God that The Beatles “worshiped”, as well as many people in London throughout the 70s. The temple is located in London, it is called the Radha Krsna Temple, which shares the name of an album produced in India, by George Harrison.

STORY TIME

• Take it away, Taher!

KRISHNA KILLS THE WITCH PUTANA

• Kamsa enlisted a demon named Putana to kill newborn babies. The demon dressed as a beautiful woman and flew on her broom to Krishna's nursery, hoping to kill Him with the poison she had smeared on her [breasts]. Krishna's mother innocently let Putana pick the baby up and put it to her breast. Krishna closed His eyes and sucked out her life air, killing her, without taking her poison. When Putana's soul departed, her body returned to its real form: a gigantic witch that smashed trees as it fell, stretching twelve miles across the landscape. Putana's soul attained liberation due to the benevolent act of offering her breast milk to Krishna and the inhabitants of Vrindavana cremated the body.

After Krishna killed Putana, the elder gopis (women of the village) picked Him up and performed rituals for his protection. They bathed Him and chanted religious mantras to

prevent further attacks. Srila Prabhuapda explains in Krishna Book: "The elderly gopis of Vrindavana were so absorbed in affection for Krishna that they wanted to save Him, although there was no need to, for He had already protected Himself. They could not

understand that Krishna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead playing as a child." (p. 47)

KRISHNA KILLS THE SNAKE DEMON AGHASURA

• One day the cowherd boys were playing their games, when they came upon a mountain cave. This was actually a demon-brother of Putana's, who had expanded himself into an eight-mile long snake to kill the boys. The opening to the cave was his mouth. The boys felt a hot wind blowing that smelled like fish, or the serpent's intestines.

The scriptures say that when the boys walked into the cave Krishna became momentarily aggrieved because He knew it was one of Kamsa's tricks. He considered for a moment, then decided to enter the cave Himself. Demons all over the world became joyful when Krishna went inside. The demigods, who had been hiding among the clouds to see what would happen, became distressed. For a time it seemed as if the snake-demon had killed Krishna, but when Krishna heard the demigods' pleas He grew larger and choked the demon to death. Aghasura's life air burst through a hole in his skull and waited there for Krishna to come out, then it merged into His body. Krishna showed His benevolent nature by rescuing His friends and giving liberation to Aghasura.

FUN FACTS• Lord Krishna is one of the most loved and revered Gods in the Hindu religion.

• He is regarded as the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu born as human in Dwapur Yug (Iron Age).

• He was a Yaduvanshi and is said to have been born between 3200 and 3100 BC according to Indian and Western researchers.

• Lord Krishna was born as the eighth child of Devki and Vasudev but was brought up by Mata Yashoda and Baba Nand.

• The word, Krishna means, one who is always in the transport of joy.

• It also means Black. Lord Krishna was named so because of his dark complexion.

• Lord Krishna is said to have resided in the city of Dwarka made by Vishkarma with as many as 16,000 wives.

• Legend has it when Bhagwan Krishna killed Demon Narada, he married the single girls of the entire village to save their honour.

SOURCES

• http://www.krishna.com/info/about-krishna

• http://www.pantheon.org/articles/k/krishna.html

• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/323556/Krishna

• http://hinduism.about.com/od/lordkrishna/p/krishna_birth.htm

• http://www.patheos.com/blogs/whitehindu/2013/08/who-is-krishna/

• http://surrealist.org/gurukula/storymatters/krishna.html#4

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