Chapter Two
The Divine Teacher
Note 2.6
Krishna as a Symbol of the Divine Dealings with Humanity
▀ ▄ ▀ Symbolic Significance of Human Krishna
Secondly, there is the typical, almost the symbolic significance of the human Krishna. He stands behind the great action of the Mahabharata. This is not as its hero but as its secret centre and hidden guide. That action is the action of a whole world of men and nations.
It is in the form of a
▀ Leader - Some of these men have come as helpers of an effort. They do not personally profit by the result of these efforts. To these people Krishna is a leader.
▀ Opponent - Some of these men are the opponents. To these men he is also an opponent. He is the baffler of their designs and their slayer.
▀ Instigator - To some men he seems to be an instigator of all evil. He is the destroyer of their old order and familiar world and secure conventions of virtue and good.
▀ Counsellor – Some are representatives of that which has to be fulfilled and to them he is the counsellor, helper and friend.
▀ Unseen Aid - Where the action pursues its natural course or the doers of the work have to suffer at the hands of its enemies and undergo the ordeals which prepare them for mastery. In such situations the Avatar is unseen or appears only for occasional comfort and aid. But at every crisis his hand is felt. However it is done in such a way that all imagine themselves to be the protagonists.
Even Arjuna, his nearest friend and chief instrument does not perceive that he is an instrument. He has to confess at last that all the while he did not really know his divine Friend. Arjuna has received counsel from the wisdom of Krishna, help from his power, has loved and been loved, has even adored without understanding his divine nature. Like all the other men Arjuna has been guided through his own egoism.
The counsel, help and direction have been given in the language and received by the thoughts of the Ignorance. Krishna does not reveal his Avatarhood even to those whom he has chosen for his work till the time of final crisis.
This is the moment when all has been pushed to the terrible issue of the struggle on the field of Kurukshetra. This is when the Avatar stands at last as the charioteer in the battle-car which carries the destiny of the fight. Even at this moment he does not pose himself as the fighter but as the charioteer.
Thus the figure of Krishna becomes, as it were, the symbol of the divine dealings with humanity.
Like the life of Arjuna and other personages of the Mahabharata and the fierce battle of Kurukshetra, we are moved through our egoism and ignorance. We think that we are the doers of the work. We vaunt ourselves as the real causes of the result. We only occasionally see that which moves us. We see it as some vague or even some human and earthly fountain of knowledge. We see it as aspiration, force, some Principle or Light or Power which we acknowledge. We adore without knowing what it is. This goes on until the occasion arises that forces us to stand arrested before the Veil.
....... ▀ ▄ Chapter Two - Note 6 ▄ ▀ ........
The Divine Teacher
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