Category: Artworks

Lord Shiva is universally worshipped as the greatest devotee of Sri Krishna. Lord Shiva carries the sacred Ganga, which emanates from the toe of Lord Vishnu, on His head in His thickly matted hair.

Lord Shiva is usually an integral part of Lord Krishna’s leelas. When Lord Krishna appeared on earth and was in Gokula, Lord Shiva could not contain Himself and went to Yashoda’s home for darshan dressed as a sadhu. Sadhakas in the raganuga marg pray to Lord Gopeshwar Mahadeva to bless them with gopi rupa and gopi bhava and permit them to enter into the Lord’s maharaas.

In scriptures, one of the forms of Lord Shiva is that of Ardhanarishvara which is a composite androgynous (partly male and partly female in appearance) form of Lord Shiva and His consort Parvati or Shakti. Though they are incorporated in the same form they act independently as well as jointly.

Lord Shiva is also known as Tryambaka Deva, which literally means ‘three-eyed Lord,’ and is often depicted as having three eyes. While His right and left eyes represent His activities in the physical world, the third eye in the middle of His forehead symbolises spiritual wisdom and power. It sees beyond the apparent and also destroys the evil and evil-doers.

For Vaishnavas, the divine Self within is Vishnu Himself, qualitatively but not quantitatively. In other words, Vishnu is more than the Self and more than the universe. Likewise, when a Vaishnavite reunites with God upon liberation, his or her individual nature is not lost. Vaishnavites believe the soul is meant to be God’s companions for eternity.

In this painting titled ‘The Supreme-controller’ , Krishna is seen to be holding threads of kites in His hands. The kites represent various living entities and the threads represent their lives. As the thread of the kite is controlled by the kite-flyer, similarly, our lives are controlled by the Lord. One may think that one is flying high on one’s own strength but ultimately one’s flight is in the hands of the Lord. Thus in this painting Lord Krishna is portrayed to be the manager and keeper of the thread of life.

Thousands of years ago, Lord Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill on the little finger of His left hand and held it up for seven days to protect His kinsfolk and denizens of Vrindavan from the wrath of demigod Indra (the god of rain). In this way He subdued the arrogance of Indra who had become disdainfully proud of his strength and protected the inhabitants of Vrindavan.

As per the legend, Krishna saw huge preparations for the annual offering to Indra. He inquired His father, Nanda about the ritual. Nanda told Krishna that it was an age old tradition of serving demigods so that demigods could take care of them. At this, Krishna explained to the villagers of Vrindavan their true ‘dharma’ and advised them to concentrate only on farming and protecting their cattle. Krishna asked His father to forgo the sacrifice to Indira and worship the Govardhan hill which was responsible for the rain and the growth of grains. Nanda and the other cowherd men got convinced and performed the puja for Govardhan.

While performing puja for Govardhan, the inhabitants of Vrindavan saw Krishna in each Govardhan-shila (stone)

This angered Indra, who then unleashed torrential rains to flood the village. Krishna, in response, lifted Govardhan hill, under which all the animals and people of the region took shelter, safe from Indra’s fury. Indra finally accepted defeat, recognised Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offered his prayers.

In order to stop appeasement-oriented sacrificial worship by His devotees, Krishna wanted to firmly establish exclusive devotional service during His presence in Vrindavana.

This pastime proves Krishna’s unlimited love for His devotees. In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna assures us that if we abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender to Him, He will protect us in all situations.

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah

(Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.)(Bhagavad-gita 18.66)