Was Sri Krishna Guileful?

The word ‘Guile’ has the following meanings listed in Word 2010: Cunning, Astuteness, Treachery, Slyness, Wiliness, Cleverness, Craftiness, and Deviousness. ‘A guileful person’ may be taken to mean a person marked by skill in deception.

Sri Ramakrishna says, “A man of guile will never be able to realize God” (see Ganappa blog, Message from the Gospel -1. Do not Pretend). This message was fresh on my mind when I was reading the chapter titled ‘Krishna’s Guile’ in the book, The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das. The book reviews some of the main characters of the great Indian epic Mahabharata in the context of their role toward upholding dharma. The chapters of the book have been titled Yudhishthira’s  Duty, Draupadi’s Courage, Arjuna’s Despair, and Bhishma’s Selflessness, etc.

The chapter titled ‘Krishna’s Guile’ discusses how the main warriors of the Kaurava side were killed one-by-one by unfair tricks and how Krishna master-minded each one of those killings. For example, on the 12^th day of the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna pierces Bhishma with 25 arrows keeping Shikandi in front knowing that Bhishma would not fight Shikandi as Shikandi was a woman in a previous birth. (Bhishma did not die immediately as he had a boon to choose his time of death.) On the 15^th day of war, Drona was misinformed that his son Ashwattama had been killed, whereas it was indeed an elephant of the same name. Krishna forces Yudhishthira to tell this lie by trusting which Drona lays down his armour and sits down to meditate. Dhrishtadyumna utilizes that moment and kills the unarmed Drona. On the 17^th day of war, when Karna was trying to lift the sunken wheel of his chariot caught in a slush of water, Krishna asks Arjuna not to miss the moment but to strike him. Although Arjuna did not want to take advantage of Karna’s moment of distress, Krishna urges Arjuna to finish the enemy. On the final 18^th day of war, Bhima strikes Duryodhana’s thigh with the maze and wins the duel. (In a fair combat, the opponent should not be hit below the navel.) Then the war ends.

Even though all this was known to me, I had looked upon them as a necessity. My line of thinking used to be, “Kauravas were bad. They had to be killed by all means.” However, after reading the chapter, ‘Krishna’s Guile’, I felt very much disturbed. Was Krishna guileful?

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna quotes a song that Sri Ramakrishna used to sing. In the song Sri Krishna tells a cowherd girl Chandravali that He would not hesitate to grant moksha (salvation = no more birth) to His devotees but He would hesitate to grant bhakti (pure love). The reason being, owing to the pure love of King Vali, He is standing as His door-keeper in the Hell and, again, due to the love of the pure-hearted cowherd boys of Vrindaban, He had to lift the Govardhan mountain to protect them.

I had always perceived Sri Krishna as a God of exceptional love and compassion, who became a charioteer for the sake of His friend Arjuna but the book is calling Him guileful. Then what about Sri Ramakrishna’s message that a man of guile will never be able to realize God? Sri Krishna, who is worshiped as God, seems to be full of guile. Did we choose to worship a wrong person as God? Again and again the same thought struck me. Whenever I sat down for meditation, I was not able to concentrate on my chosen deity. The peace I used to derive after every session of meditation seems to have gone forever. Although I did not stop my meditation sessions and continued my routine, they became too lifeless and monotonous.

After suffering for a couple of days, one fine day, I got the answer to all my doubts during morning meditation. I am back to my normal self,  happy and peaceful. As I felt that the same doubts may appear for others as well, I decided to write this blog and share my understanding.

Many years ago, I had a habit – whenever I felt people are troubling me, it may be my boss giving too much work or a colleague disturbing me too often for petty issues – I would simply pray to God, “I am not able to take this anymore. Please lift your Gadha (maze).” Immediately, I would add a rejoinder, “Just lift your Gadha and scare them. Do not bring it down, they don’t have the strength to take the power of your Gadha.” Very soon, my troubles would subside and I would feel peaceful. I believed that God must have scared the trouble-makers with His maze. In recent times, I had not prayed for such help, probably because I have grown more mature and my prayers these days have been, “Please help me understand the lesson you are trying to teach me through these pain and suffering. I am too dumb to understand your hidden message.”

During meditation, I remembered my old prayer. I felt as though God asked me, “Why did you expect me to raise my Gadha for your sake?” Immediately, I understood. The Pandavas were guileless and they were devoted to Sri Krishna. So He took the responsibility to protect them. He declares to Arjuna at the beginning of the Kurukshetra war that He had already decided to finish the Kuru race, and all the Kauravas will be killed irrespective of whether Arjuna fights them or not. Then He carries on His mission. 

As Sri Krishna declares in the Bhagavad Gita, He had nothing to gain or lose from the Kurukshetra war. Why should He participate in the war at all? His single responsibility was to establish dharma which fell when Draupadi was dragged into the court of Dhritharashtra and when Dusshasana attempted to disrobe her.

I also remembered a line of a sloka I recite everyday: it refers to God as ‘Kapata naataka soothra dhara’ meaning ‘master-mind of the cunning drama of life’. God is indeed a master-mind of cunningness. He has to be. Only then wicked people will be punished and good people will be saved.

I also understood that there is no clash between the teaching of Sri Ramakrishna and the behavior of Sri Krishna. Sri Ramakrishna asked humans to be guileless if they wish to realize God. Pandavas were guileless and therefore they had Sri Krishna on their side. Sri Ramakrishna never said God should be guileless. The all-powerful God will assume various forms as per the need of his devotees. To save Sugreeva, Sri Rama hid behind a tree and killed Vali. To protect Prahlada, God assumed a man-lion form Narasimha and killed Prahlada’s father Hiranyakasipu. The same way, to protect the guileless Pandavas, Sri Krishna had to use guile.

All my doubts vanished and Sri Krishna's compassion filled my heart.