The word Krishna is popularly understood to signify dark colour. The word also means that which attracts.[Karshati iti krishnah}Krishna attracts all not merely with physical beauty but also the beauty of his mind. We celebrate the lives of all great souls that have enriched humanity. Krishna's was a personality that was complete in its beauty,of form and soul. All representations of Krishna bring out this aspect. Krishna and the peacock feather adorning his hair are familiar to all. Krishna is incomplete without this detail, be it his childhood depiction or manhood. The peacock feather is a symbol of purity. Unlike other living creatures the peacock and the peahen are said to bring forth their young without the physical act for reproduction; the secretion from the male's tear glands is said to be consumed by the hen to achieve reproduction. Krishna's was a pure birth and this is the meaning of feather adorning him.. Stories of the life of Krishna that fly in the face of his pure life are but untrue exaggerations that have to be probed to extricate their spiritual content. Let the feather adornment of our beloved Krishna remind us to lead pure lives. Krishna is never without his flute even when depicted as a baby. It is obvious that baby fingers can not play a flute. The flute Krishna plays is no ordinary instrument but the flute of Knowledge, Gyana. The flute of knowledge exerts a magnetic pull on the gopis or lovers of supreme knowledge. The supreme knowledge is granted to the seeker by god when it is sought - as sought by Arjuna of Krishna in the epic battle field when haunted by severe dilemma that reduced him to a state of inactivity. Why is Krishna depicted as one who broke the pot to savour the butter? This celebrated prank has symbolic meaning. The pot is 'deha abhimana 'or body consciousness that has to be eliminated to get the butter, that is atma abhimana. It is our effort that will' break the pot'. God tells us how to, in the Gita. The Kaliya mardhana is an interesting episode in the life of Krishna when the poisoning monster is destroyed by Krishna's dance on its head. Today any number of monsters pollute the stream of life, blackening it. We can destroy the 'monster' only with our intellect or viveka, It is Gyana and Yoga that can eliminate all the 'Kaliyas' within us. In the same vein,in the celebrated episode of Putana moksha, baby Krishna is able to suck Putana so that she is rid of poison.[Puta means virtue, na is the absence of it. Krishna purges out the 'na' making her virtuous] In bhakti, the promonent way of many seekers today, we set up a a give and take 'deal' with god which smacks of shallowness and selfishness. On the contrary we should seek god per se. Arjuna in the Mahabharata regards god as his 'sahridaya' his total confidante which is an illustration as to how we can set up a total relationship with god. Let us reflect and imbibe the many aspects of Krishna into our lives as we celebrate His Jayanti.

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