Was Krishna only eight years old when he performed rasa-lila?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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So was Krishna only 80 years old when he performed Rasleela? And yet we see the overall depiction is that Krishna is in his youth. And this is also said to be a Madhurya’s pastime which occurs usually when a person is in youth.
Yeah. The Shastra does tell us that Krishna was, Krishna lifted Govardhan at the age of seven and then he performed Rasleela at the age of eight. So in that sense, that is the Shastric statement.
At the same time, it is also overall revelation of scripture that Krishna had a threefold bending form, which is youthful, which is in the young one, in the youthful age and that is what he manifests eternally in the spiritual world. And whenever the Acharyas depict Krishna Leela, there are multiple things happening over there. So Krishna Leela, that means if you look at it at three levels, first is Krishna Leela happening eternally in the spiritual world.
Second is Krishna Leela as it is revealed when he descends to this world. And third is Krishna Leela as it is, as it is conceived by the Acharyas when they are composing or writing it. Now, some people may argue that everything that the Acharyas depict is a factual reality.
Either it happened in some Kalpa here in this world or it is happening in the spiritual world. Yes, that is a possibility, but that is not really a necessity. Absolutely.
The point is that there is the whole book called Natar Chandrika written by Rupa Goswami and therein he explains that there can be historical characters and there can be non-historical characters and there can be historical characters in non-historical context. So the point which I am making over here is that Krishna Leela is complex and especially when it is depicted in works of art. It is not necessarily always a literal report of everything that happened at particular times.
So what is the bearing of all this in our discussion? When Krishna descends to this world, at that time he goes through a particular sequence and in one sense there is, he is a precocious youth. Precocious means one who is above one’s age in terms of abilities. So a 5-year-old child having a 15-year-old child’s intelligence, that is considered precocious.
So like that Krishna when he descends to this world and he performs pastimes in Vrindavan, he is precocious. And thus he is, so he is just 7 when he leaves Govardhan, he is 8 when he performs the Rastila and by the time he is 10 more or less he leaves Vrindavan. So and then after he goes to Vrindavan he practically is like the ruler, not official ruler, but unofficially he is the protector of the Kuru dynasty and he is giving strategic advice also.
So in this world it is true that Krishna was 8 when he performed the Rastila. And that is one argument which can be used for the, for explaining how the Rastila is not just mundane sexuality. At the same time this argument alone, we cannot, if we just stick to this argument alone, we cannot explain the concept of Madhuryaras itself.
So the Madhuryaras concept itself is based on the understanding that Radharani is around 14 and Krishna is around 16. So when Krishna comes to this world in order to perform his pastimes at a particular sequence and also possibly in order to avoid certain criticisms of certain of his activities, he does avoid depicting himself in particular, he does perform his pastime of Rastila when he is 8. And that is true, but if you want to understand Madhuryaras, you do have to understand the concept that whatever is present in this world is present in its original and pure form in the spiritual world. And that present, that which is present in the original and pure form in the spiritual world, that is the Shringararas and Madhuryaras or Shringaras as we call it and that is, that is what we should see as our understanding of the Madhuryaras is to deepen and our understanding is to appreciate of how this world is the reflection of the spiritual world.
So historically when Krishna performs pastimes, he is 7, he is 8, he performs Rastila. Eternally when he is in the spiritual world, when he is performing pastimes, at that time he is in his youth, he is around 16. Thank you.