Summoning Kanha

Since I am new to this forum and appearance of Kanha has happened earlier maybe this topic has been raised earlier (?) - so it might be redundant.

Is it so easy to summon Lord Krishna ? Although this is a fictional Television serial, I still find it inexplicable that they have shown Radhika's devotion to Krishna to be of a level so high that the Lord is actually appearing in front of her ! - and not just once, Of course the scientific/psychological explanation is that she is having visions/hallucinations - but even for that an extremely high level of spiritual consciousness of God is required - if only they had shown her having conversations with the Lord in her dreams- that to me would be more palatable.

All her life Meerabai spent in expressing her complete love and utter devotion to Lord Krishna - first in private, but later it overflowed into an ecstasy that led her to dance in the streets to praise Krishna openly and publicly claim him as her husband ( her poem - Akhand Var ni Vari hon)

And inspite of this Lord Krishna never gave her darshan ( at least historically this is not recorded there is some anecdotes about Krishna saving her).

She never even had the vision of Krishna - and all her poetry clearly portrays her grief and suffering because of the inability of her devotion to summon him and 'force' him to accept her. She tries to convince him that ' Mein to Saanwarey key Rang Raachi' - I have colored myself in the color of Krishna ' - pleads with him 'Shyam maney Chakar Rakho Jee' - Oh Shyam let me be a servant in your house' and later tells 'Bala main Bairagan Hongi' - I have given up the world for you O Bala.

And Yet no Krishna. No vision. No hallucination. Nothing. She tried to find him elsewhere - in the blue flowers - in the peacock feather - in the streets of vrindavan but couldn't reconcile with the fact that she would never 'see' him.

Here is an example of the depth of her grief at this injustice - a Mewari bhajan's seeped in pain.

Heri maha dard deewana ( I am crazy with pain )
Mara dard na Janya Koye ( No one is able to understand it)
Ghayal Re Gat Ghayal Janya ( Only the wounded can understand the wounded)
Hibado Agan Sanjoya ( Saving the fire in his heart)
Johaar ki Gat Johari Janyey ( Only the jeweller will know the value of the pearl)
Kya Janya Jan Khoye ( What will the one who has lost it know )
Meera ri Prabhu Peedha Meetanga ( Meera's pain will only vanish )
Jab Vaid Sanwaro Hoye ( When Krishna(darkone) comes as her healer)

It is said that only eventually at the final stage of her highest Krishna consciousness she become one with Krishna's Idol - when she took samadhi - she is said to have vanished from the temple.

Anyway the point of the post was just to underscore that appearance of God or even an imagined appearance of God is a monumental event - one that I feel could have been handled with more sincerity to make it look genuine and not such a casual treatment as lo and behold - there is Kanha !

Not qualified enough to answer this query!!! 😊

I agree with the 'casual' treatment of Kanha in this serial, but I think it is more like Radhika's soul, her alter ego - where she talks to herself, and tries to find answers to her doubts. She has learnt to do everything 'through' kanha. She never does anything for herself, except, when told by 'Kanha'. So, I think its not exactly a hallucination she has, but some sort of internal assurance she seeks, whenever she wants to do something that conflicts with her mind... her conditioned mind... (like I spoke before about conditioning of her mind). So Kanha, truly is her heart. Her heart which moves her away from the binds. That is what also perhaps explains, why he doesn't really appear when we want him to.

It is a show that is why they are showing this because in reality he would never show him self but make connection through dreams or a hallucination of the mind.

In a fictional world anything is possible. Appearance of Kanha should be taken as a director's whim rather than poor Radhika's intense bhakti.

I agree with the 'casual' treatment of Kanha in this serial, but I think it is more like Radhika's soul, her alter ego - where she talks to herself, and tries to find answers to her doubts. She has learnt to do everything 'through' kanha. She never does anything for herself, except, when told by 'Kanha'. So, I think its not exactly a hallucination she has, but some sort of internal assurance she seeks, whenever she wants to do something that conflicts with her mind... her conditioned mind... (like I spoke before about conditioning of her mind)........ So Kanha, truly is her heart. Her heart which moves her away from the binds. That is what also perhaps explains, why he doesn't really appear when we want him to. ......

INDIAFMM and others: Thanks for your thoughts/feedback. Personally I don't have a problem with the use of religion and Faith in God that is depicted. I do see that certain creative license should be allowed in situations as these that are hard to present as credible.

It is clear that Radhika is a tortured soul and Kanha is her refuge. I would be satisfied with the explanation of Kanha as a representation of her alter ego- - had it not been for the kind of conversations that Radhika has had with 'Kanha'. ( Not the idol - but the genuine God - whether we consider that as her soul/her day-dream (?). Her tete-a-tete with the Idol are clearly with herself.. But based on the few instances of Kanha's 'real' appearance I would have to say that parts of their conversation were so surreal that it would be hard for anyone to have that kind of conversation with their own soul - he is also clearly leading her down a certain path of thought
which means that there is a definitive objective in his 'darshan' ( here one can consider that deep down she wants to go down that path but doesnt have the courage and imagines Kanha's blessings so to be okay with her decision ?). And yet there is the conversation she had with him when Amma asked her to bathe a 100 times and Kanha comes and says just wait and watch. That was genuinely a divine intervention to me - no Q&A session with your own soul can predict the future ( Or is she so certain of her belief that she knows God will take action and lo and behold he does ?)

I have to consider the possibility that the director really wants to portray that Lord Krishna himself has come to rescue her from her duvidha. Woh swayam Prakat huye hain. - Maybe tomorrows much touted appearance of Kanha will answer some of my questions.

As far as creative license is concerned, I agree this is fiction so obviously there are several point of view. But I feel that it should be the attempt of the director to portray fiction like reality.

I want to refer to the scene of Dev and Radhika's dream which was just fantastic. There was a genuine spiritual connection - beautifully carved that brought the surreal and real so close that it was completely believable. They had just talked on the phone, Dev didn't even know who Radhika was and yet that night he dreams of the same words that Vishakha's sister said from his DreamGirl - and Radhika has the same dream. This is the kind of portrayal of ethereal cosmic connection that really moved me

Its amazing Kukuraja, I had the same thought ( Meera and Lord Krishna) and had discd with this my Mom too. I agree completely the serial has treated Lord Krishna's appearance very frivolously. Meera was selflessly devoted to Lord Krishna and was tormented at the hands of society. She wandered ard singing his bhajans but still Lord Krishna never gave her 'darshan'😭Meera bhajans are full of yearning for Lord Krishna that one wld think they wld melt His Heart. Meera is the only selfless devotee of Lord Krishna.

RealityBites : Hello I don't want to deviate from the topic into a religious discussion which is against rules of the forum ( I dont want to be banned 😭 ) so you can PM me if you want to discuss this more - but since you have asked the question here is a quick answer

There are different explanations of Arjuna and Krishna's relationship. Here is my take.

Krishna was born during Dwarpa Yug and the aim of this incarnation of Vishnu was to show mankind the rules of correct conduct, and to teach them how to find Liberation through doing one's duty - by imparting teachings of Gita. So basically everyone who was born in that period 'saw' Krishna but not everyone recognized him as divine - As opposed to Meerabai who was alive during Moghul period.

Arjun, from the very beginning was in complete submission of Lord Krishna. Hence Arjun is also called as Krishna - because Arjuna and Krishna are like two bodies and one soul. As the leading warrior on the Pandav side Arjun had a great responsibility in Krishna's fight again Dhritirashtra. But he faltered - and without Krishna's help and guidance and revelation of Gita and Arjun seeing Lord Krishna's Vishwaroopa, winning the war - victory of good over evil was impossible. Without the complete trust of Krishna and vice-versa, Arjun might not have followed Krishna's advice and the conclusion of the war may have been different.

There is an additional explanation for Krishna favoring Arjun. Arjun was the son of Indra. In his previous life, Krishna was Rama. And Rama had sided with Surgiva, son of Surya and shot Bali, son of Indra in the back. Hence for Karmic balance in his next life as Krishna, he favors Arjun , son of Indra.