Lord Krishna’s leelas are endearing, and yet despite His simplicity, He is not fully understood.
Liberation is vouchsafed to the one who can understand His avatara and leelas. Mahavishnu took many avataras, and as Rama, He showed us, through His conduct, that we must adhere rigidly to the path of dharma.
But the Krishna avatara is superior to the Rama avatara, because Rama was the son of a king, and naturally, His position would have brought with it certain restrictions. Can a king be approached easily? One will naturally be in awe of a king. But in the Krishna avatara, He mingled with the simplest of people.
If, as Rama, He showed us how to live in accordance with ideals, in the Krishna avatara, He preached to us about how to live. So He led in one avatara by practice, and in the other by teaching, said Kidambi Narayanan, in a discourse.
But why is it that we do not approach a God, who is so easily approached? What should one do to reach His feet? Parikshit set an excellent example.
Told that his days were numbered, he did not lament the approaching death. He did not reminisce about the past, or weep over his lost future. He wanted to make use of every second at his disposal to hear of Lord Krishna.
It is not as if Parikshit was a sanyasi. He was a man with a family, but he showed us that it is possible to live in this world, to be a part of it, and yet be aloof from its pulls.
Be detached
One’s life in the midst of one’s family must be like the drops of water on a lotus leaf. The drops of water are there on the leaf, but are ready to roll off, the moment the leaf is tilted a little. They never stick to the leaf. So should one be in life. One should do one’s duties, but also be sufficiently detached, so that the mind is focused not on worldly ties, but on the Supreme One. Parikshit said that since he was listening to stories about Krishna, he did not even feel the pangs of hunger, or the need to sleep. Parikshit never sought anything for himself. That is how we must approach God.
To ask the One who grants moksha for worldly possessions is like asking Kubera for a loin cloth.
