Back in 1972 I was a 17 year-old sea cadet. My ship had docked in Bombay and I stepped onto that exotic shore in search of reasonably priced souvenirs. Under the intense encouragement of a shopkeeper I came close to purchasing a fine ivory chess set costing most of my week’s wages before I spotted a little figurine of Krishna. He exerted a strange attraction over me and after handing over my hard-earned rupees I left with him in my pocket. The god of love, I thought. I could do with a bit of love.
Fast forward to 1979 and a rainy summer’s day in England. My seafaring days were over, and I was hitchhiking in search of more meaningful things, although I had no idea where to find them. When a kindhearted driver picked me up and asked where I was headed, I had to frankly admit that I didn’t know. “No problem,” he said. “You can ride with me for a while.”
It turned out he was a disciple of Srila Prabhupada named Hetu, and as he drove, he pointed to a book on the dashboard. “That’s the Bhagavad Gita. I’d like to hear it. Why don’t you read it aloud?”
I was happy to oblige and soon my mind was reeling under the force of the Gita’s powerful verses. I’d never read anything like it. “Who wrote this?” I asked.
“Lord Krishna,” he replied. “He’s the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
I sat for a moment or two trying to take that in. Still nestling in my rucksack was the little figurine from Bombay. It seemed he was not just the god of love. “Godhead?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
“The all-powerful Supreme Lord. My guru used the term to stress that God is a person, like you and me.”
“You mean we’re all God?” I asked. I had long suspected this possibility, but Hetu quickly squashed that notion.
“Not at all. Krishna is the whole and we are the tiny parts. Think about it, if you were God would you be wandering aimlessly in soaking wet clothes, trying to hitch a lift from someone else?”
He had a point. I wanted to know more about this personality who had been with me these last seven years. By now I was quite attached to him and felt he was my lucky charm, even though my luck had reduced me to a near penniless itinerant. “So why is he called Krishna?” I asked.
“Krishna means ‘all-attractive’,” replied Hetu. “A rich or famous person is attractive, right? Well, Krishna has all wealth, all fame, all beauty, knowledge, power, and anything else you can imagine. Everything belongs to him. He’s God, after all.”
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