Re: Question about worshipping Krishna
Originally Posted by
fem_phoenix1109
Namaste,
I have always been curious why so many Vaishnava traditions focus mainly on one incarnation of Lord Vishnu (Krisha) rather than Vishnu himself? I truly hope this is not an ignorant question, it's just something I have always wondered about.
Pranam.
Namaste
It is no doubt near to impossible understanding exactly what happened, and we can only explain this as "effect of Kaliyuga", where we have lost the capacity to resonate with the whole spectrum of Vishnu Bhakti.
Yet, the other Avatāra-s are only dormant - not completely extinct - for example, the importance of NaraSimha (there is an ancient NaraSimha temple near my home) and his presence was something that came as a very late realisation to me.
Sri Ram has perhaps as many bhakta-s as Sri Krishna has, but they are somehow not visible. Still, on key festivels such as the RamaNavami (birth day of Ram) there are massive crowds everywhere filling the streets in celebration.
Having said this, Vaishnavism as an organised tradition form has Krishna as its carrier, not even Vishnu. Some say Krishna is a purnavatara, but this may not be the reason.
Because, as I said earlier, we have somehow lost the capacity to understand Vishnu in His totality: the jungle is just too vast for us. But, in Krishna, we have the latest Avatāra who knows what Kaliyuga will be like, who knows our limitations, who knows us - meditating pensively right there atop that tree.
So, Krishna is near to us, and more than anything, He is the greatest guru of all time. One may not be a Vaishnava, may not even believe in Avatāra (though I haven't met such Hindus), but still consider Krishna as the greatest of all teachers.
All in all, the biggest issue here is regarding Vishnu Himself: something has happened and we don't know exactly what. Somehow the Brahmanisim (Brahm worship) seems to have coalesced with Vaishnavism. PurANa-s have recorded these facts, albeit in a coded language, so the answers are there probably.
Things to remember:
1. Life = yajña
2. Depth of Āstika knowledge is directly proportional
to the richness of Sanskrit it is written in
3. Āstika = Bhārata ("east") / Ārya ("west")
4. Varṇa = tripartite division of Vedic polity
5. r = c. x²
where,
r = realisation
constant c = intelligence
variable x = bhakti
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