Krishna- Emblem of Fresh and Successful Life

We’d been loving and worshiping Lord Krishna all our lives but this affection has borne more out of religious aspects than practical ones. And at the same time, our unconditional fondness for this Lord places him at such a height that we deny any opportunity to learn from him by having a stand like “He is Lord Krishna, invincible”. I used word him and not Him, because in this writ, I’m going to explore all the qualities of this magnificent personality that epics have gifted us as a normal person. A man, unlike his fellow Karna, looked at each problem as an opportunity, moving past any scars left by past demonstrating us an enlightening life. It’s this life if we could understand at our level; we can learn a lot in order to become a better person, not only spiritually but also practically.

Leadership:

Krishna epitomizes today’s objectivistic view that says “Value can’t enslave you if it’s acceptable by choice”. All the choices he made had Plan-Act-Improvise process at their core. He always employed his foresight to plan things, his assertive aggression to act on it and the analysis of useful information that he gathered from his sources to improvise. His administrative skills, flexibility, foresight and a positive approach to face the challenges being vulnerable at times- all qualities are indicative of a good leader. At the same time, if we have a close look at his life, we’ll realize that he also followed the phases of a successful leadership by being an achiever in his young days, gathering a wisdom that he shared later in the form of Gita, and later as mentor to Pandavas, devising strategies to defy the depraved criminals being a kingmaker. He guided them not only on their path but also on thoughts. While he was powerful, he was humble. While he was aggressive, he wasn’t impatient. He was ideologist but at the same time was a good diplomat. But more than anything else, while working in teams, he always had a vision: “Leadership is not how much you ‘weigh’ against others. It’s about how much you are making a positive difference.”

Empowerment:

Who mentored Krishna? Who was his guardian? No answers will come from even the religious barons as Krishna knew the significance of the word Empowerment. In all situations, roles and while dealing with people, he always employed his own carefully invented strategies and tricks that have over the period of time he validated by experiment and thoughts. He had his independent thought process that weighed choices and once he had decided on a choice, he would go ahead employing aggression at one time or diplomacy at other as needed and hence he couldn’t be influenced by powerful people. In Jack Welch’s language (Former CEO, GE), he was a leader for all time, all situations, all objectives and all people with a Link-Listen-Learn-Lead strategy. His habit of appreciating a good work and his presenting the same before the crowd with same fervor always helped his fellow men to elevate and empower themselves to accept more responsibilities. From these strivers were borne some of leaders that made a difference.

Balance:

His skills in interpersonal relationships were absolutely impeccable. In today’s life, where in the peer pressure, everyone runs the rat-race being another unwanted rat in the race. Mind is floored with silence when one thinks, really how much he is loved by people in even a circle of close relationships. We keep fighting with the four evils-Ego, envy, anger and fear- created by our own mind from which Krishna seemed far distant and hence he was always ready to savor life. He never knew of depression. He always balanced these two states of mind-Materialism and asceticism with equal ease and agility. He floated big responsibilities but never forgot to enjoy very small pleasures in his mates, food, solving puzzles and playing flute. At the same time, he never was controlled by these pleasures; presenting the world a new definition of spirituality. Krishna balanced a triangle of social time, professional time and his own individual time. He never broke his brain into pieces over time, relationships and demanding mind. He knew that diamond is just a piece of coal that did better under pressure. He always entered roles and situation effortlessly, enacted his role with calm mind and deserted the plot at right time with agility leaving all concerned an opportunity to learn. It’s this compartmentalization in his life that had always helped him balance his work and life really well.

Efficacy:

The reason why he was convincing and invincible was mostly because he had been clear in his objectives knowing exactly what he wanted. At the same time he used the right blend of confidence and self-esteem to uplift himself from emotional calamities. And he always employed sense and logic instead of power and fear to influence people which made him more acceptable and effective. While he enjoyed his life fully, his mind would always work subconsciously on future and challenges.

Krishna asked the same question as the Joker asked in “The Dark Knight”, “Why so serious?” Because he understood that seriousness is only a shade of ego and ignorance from which wise men are far distant. Wise men are always joyous, celebrating life. In fact, all the religious groups are coming up with new definition of worship which is: “Celebration is a form of worship”. Ritual is not needed. But celebration is. Dance itself is enough; it need not be offered to God. Song itself is enough; it need not be offered to a God. Pouring of heart is important for the communion than the rituals!

History has proved that with a man, “Reach exceeds the Grasp”. In today’s fast, demanding and uninterrupted world, if everyone tries to become Krishna at individual level, the happiness and content that was a characteristic of Ayodhya would never desert our nation.