(All the chapters are linked at the bottom.)
The book Krishna Said That contains all the existential knowledge one might need throughout one’s life.
Existential knowledge refers to things related to the purpose and meaning of life and everything else that follows, which is, technically, everything. Without this, human beings may attain extreme material prosperity — a beautiful wife, an amazing house, fat cheques, etc. — but get random panic attacks, lack contentment, and fail to enjoy life.
It may seem that existential knowledge is subjective as our lives appear quite diverse and different in the material sense, but it is the eternal truth. It is irrefutable and faultless. It doesn’t leave doubt or confusion in the heart of the carrier. It’s always agreed upon, forever.
Keep in mind that due to the material diversity of life, it may appear in different forms. But in reality, it is one. Boundless, formless, and eternal.
The reason why existential knowledge is so essential is because inevitably you will run into a roadblock in life. It could be financial challenges, health issues, or broken relationships. During those times, when the multiverse is testing your tenacity, you will end up at a crossroads.
One avenue will lead to a path where you will say ‘fuck this shit’ and give up. If you are dealing with an empty pocket, for instance, you will accept fate’s curse and kill the ambitions of escaping poverty.
The other path is the ‘get rich or die trying’ attitude. No matter how many nights you go to bed on an empty stomach, you still wake up with courage. This path is hard. It contains obstacles that push you beyond your limit (or what you think your limit is).
It’s the equivalent of someone snatching your wallet and punching you in the gut. It hurts so bad that you sit on the ground, wincing in pain. You look up with little tears in your eyes and discover your assailant is laughing. They are gloating at you, sneering, calling you names.
The eternal truth will propel you to get up with clenched fists and knock teeth out of their mouth.
As they go down, it will move you to rain punches onto them, until they learn a lesson.
The eternal truth pushes a soldier to sacrifice himself for his country, a mother to nurse her children selflessly, and a man to provide for his family while suffering in silence. It is courage, morality, intelligence, wisdom, righteousness, and vigor that we intrinsically possess.
This book, one of my masterpieces, contains all of the eternal truth that you might need, right from Krishna’s mouth.
In the prologue of Krishna Said That, I introduced Krishna and explained all the underlying reasons why He told all of the eternal truth and existential knowledge.
Who is Krishna
Krishna is the human embodiment of the divine, also understood as God.
The divine, God, or Bhagwan can be understood in the following ways:
The Multiverse: Universes get created and destroyed but the Multiverse remains as a whole. Everything we will ever experience, know, or imagine is within it. It doesn’t have a beginning or an ending. It is infinite and all-encompassing.
The Simulator: Just like we can imagine universes and direct intricate scenarios in our heads, we are also the manifestation of someone else’s thoughts. That someone is the divine, for it houses our entire reality.
The Truth: I briefly mentioned a few properties of the truth in the introduction above. Basically, it’s something that’s indefinitely undisputed and painfully obvious.
The six phases of life:
Creation (Janma)
Existence (Astitva)
Growth (Vriddhi)
Transformation (Parivartan)
Decline (Kshaya)
Destruction (Vinaash)
The Five Supreme Elements (AKA the five states of matter):
Sky (Akasa/Bose-Einstein Condensate)
Air (Vayu/Gas)
Water (Jala/Liquid)
Fire (Agni/Plasma)
Earth (Prithvi/Solid)
There are actually way too many methods to understand and approach the divine. Throughout this book, I have continually shed more and more light on the divine or God, as most individuals perceive this unending, all-encompassing, infinite, boundless, formless, unstoppable, immovable, etc., entity.
It is also a matter of fact that everyone sees different sides of the truth. Or, understand the same truth in a unique way. This is expected considering the nature of the truth (or the divine) and the fact that we, human beings, are fallible, limited, and mortal.
Due to that, Sanatana Dharma encourages people to seek the divine and find a meaning and purpose in life that is unique and exclusive to them. In many parts of the world, it is also understood as ‘embarking on your path of enlightenment’.
Consequently, Hindus (or Sanatanis) see the divine in many forms:
And one of the many manifestations of the divine is Krishna. He is also the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The word ‘Vishnu’ literally translates to ‘all-pervading’. Notice that Krishna is not the divine or Vishnu in its entirety. The divine, or God took the form of Krishna.
And this begs the question: Why? Why did God take the form of a human to go through the trials and tribulations of life? Life is hard!
Interestingly, that question is one of many in the quest for eternal truth and existential knowledge. I know that the answer to the question will generate even more questions which are all answered in the subsequent chapters of this book.
For now, let’s learn why Vishnu took the form of Krishna.
Duties of God
Based on our circumstances and capabilities, we have different duties. Every individual has duties as a child, an adult, a father or a mother, a husband or a wife, a citizen, etc.
When any of those duties are ignored or performed without sincerity and honesty, the decline of the self begins. Consider the example of a parent. If a man or a woman prioritizes their own comfort over the needs of their child, the kid will grow up to be an anti-social psychopath.
Moreover, bad parents are always looked down upon by their friends, neighbors, and other people in their lives. Not to forget, their children grow up with disdain for them. There are many stories when people leaving their parents behind as soon as they get a job that covers their bare necessities.
You can extend this example to other aspects of life as well. For instance, we all know a person who is a waste of space and mooches off of others. They are often perceived as a ‘burden’ and are unwelcome in social situations.
The point is, righteous and prescribed duties are an integral part of the human experience. Cutting corners or indulging in inaction will begin your gradual descent. Likewise, the divine also has duties.
One of the key duties of God or the divine, however you understand it, is to educate human beings and show them the right path. To perform this duty, Vishnu has to take many incarnations, over and over again, to steer us in the right direction.
It is in human nature that we forget the wise advice from the ancients. But that doesn’t mean Vishnu will defer from His dutiful path to become a civilizational educator.
He takes many forms. Whether it is a line of ants that inspires you to be disciplined or a tiger patiently waiting for its prey to fall into a trap. It also extends to other people such as a kind stranger that shows you the right path when you are lost.
Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu, has imparted knowledge to many lost folks throughout His life which is documented in many texts. The most popular, and arguably the best, is the Bhagvad Gita from the Mahabharata epic. This brings us to the next section.
The backstory of the Bhagvad Gita
Basically, there were two brothers whose children were at war against each other for the undisputed throne.
The two brothers are Pandu and Dhritarashtra. Pandu has five sons and his brother has a hundred. Krishna is a close friend of one of the five sons of Pandu — Arjuna. When the war began, Arjuna asked Krishna if He would be interested in being his charioteer.
The army of Pandu’s sons was called the Pandava Sena and the army of Dhritarashtra was known as the Kaurava Sena. Krishna was the charioteer of one of Arjuna, a key warrior of the Pandava Sena.
On the day of war, both armies were staring at each other on the battlefield. Considering this was a family affair, it was brothers, uncles, nephews, teachers, friends, and other relatives, split into two armies.
Seeing this, Arjuna started having second thoughts about the war itself. He wondered if he was doing the right thing by picking up a sword against his own kin. The people he was about to charge with malicious intent were his brothers, friends, nephews, etc.
And for what? The riches of the kingdom? A throne?
Well, those are the people that make material prosperity worth anything. The sole reason why someone will venture into war is to build a better life for their own family and loved ones. What is the point of participating in a killing spree, if the ones you should be killing for are your potential victims?
Additionally, he also faced a moral dilemma.
As a soldier, warrior, commander, and leader, you take the oath to always fight for what’s truly yours, even if you are outnumbered, tired, etc. At the same time, you take a vow to never go against the family. Breaking either of the sacred promises leads to a disturbing existence.
Fighters that surrender in the face of the war are discredited for the remainder of life. They are looked down upon and all their past victories or days of glory are erased from the memory. Likewise, people who betray their brothers, teachers, elders, and young, are snakes.
Arjuna can only make one of the above choices. Should he drop the sword, strip his armor off, and surrender? Or, should he become a force of destruction that runs through the opposing army, filled with his own kin?
He asked Krishna. His childhood friend. Arjuna knew that Krishna was the literal embodiment of the all-pervading, formless, boundless, eternal, and absolute divine. He bowed in front of Him and asked what he should do and why.
That’s where the Bhagvad Gita begins.
Forward
The book will have several hundred chapters, considering the various aspects it talks about and the depth of content available in the Bhagvad Gita. Moreover, I have written a few reference posts that are linked throughout the chapters and this prologue, which provide additional clarification related to phrases and phenomena backed by data and numbers.
The title of each chapter is the concise wisdom of Krishna, which is further elaborated in detail in a Q&A format. Some of the words of wisdom are direct quotes from Krishna and others are gleaned from a combination of a few pieces of advice and the context of the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna.
I have referred to both ancient texts and Sanskrit dictionaries to ensure a more detailed and accurate analysis of the quotes from Vishnu’s eighth incarnation.
It has been a long-time life goal of mine to discover the eternal truth and relay it to everyone to help them find their purpose and meaning in life, especially through difficult times. This book (and my entire website) is a step in that direction.
I hope you take something valuable away from each chapter.
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