Krishna comes to the rescue

Sai R Vaidyanathan

In a few days is Janmashtami. In keeping with his promise to save the pious (Gita 4.8), Lord Krishna reappears on special occasions for his chosen ones.

Saved from drowning

When Mughal Emperor Akbar and Tansen came to know about the devotional songs of Mirabai, the 16th century Rajput princess, they decided to meet her.

Disguised as sadhus, they reached the temple where Mira sat before Krishna. After listening to her song, Akbar touched her feet and placed a necklace at the feet of Krishna’s idol.

When the news reached her husband prince Bhojraj of Chittor, he was furious as the Rajputs hated the Mughals. So he told her to go and drown herself in some river.

Hugging Krishna’s idol, she wended her way to a river. As she was about to jump in, a hand from behind grasped her. She turned around and saw it was Krishna. The Lord said, “Seek me henceforth in Vrindavan.” So Mirabai went to Vrindavan and began singing about the Lord there.

Out from a well

Soordas was born at Sihi village near Delhi in 1478 AD. At a young age, he left home because no one cared for him as he was blind.

On the outskirts of the village, he became renowned as a diviner. So people started taking care of him. As his devotion to Krishna was getting hampered due to the attention, he decided to walk away from there.

He reached Runakta, but his singing attracted a lot of people there. So he left that place too. On the way, he rested on a parapet of an abandoned well. But he slipped and fell in.

Soon, Lord Krishna — in the form of a boy — came there, held his hand and pulled him out of the well.

Alone in the woods

Once, 17th century saint Tukaram went with his grocer friends to buy grain. On their return, they had to cross a jungle and it was rapidly getting dark. On the way, Tukaram stopped his horse and dismounted for his evening prayers. As it was not safe to stay in that area, his friends decided to rush away from there.

When Tukaram’s prayers ended, it was totally dark. Tukaram prayed to Krishna and soon, a glowing stranger appeared there and offered to help him get out of the woods.

Once they were out, the stranger vanished. Then, Tukaram realised that the stranger was Lord Krishna.

The author can be contacted at author.sai@gmail.com