Krishna Consciousness

Krishna possesses beautiful dark colour

• Krsna (कृष्ण) or Krishna means ‘All attractive’.

• Krishna means black and also in some versions blue

• Black signifies Origin of Universe - Nasadiya Sukta Rig Veda

• Blue signifies the colour of the ocean, the colour of the sky

• The colour of Krishna is compared to “a dark blue rain cloud in the monsoon season"

• Krishna is the 8th avatar of Vishnu

• 8 in numerology signifies balance(shape) & abundance ( because 8 grows from the bottom), it represents both materialistic thinking & ascetic values, and its symbol is similar to infinity, as per Upanishad the 8 is nothing but the Ida & Pingala coiling together like a grapevine to reach the Ajna where they meet the sushmana during kundalini awakening also if we put the 8 in a vertical manner it looks like the spinal cord.

Shaantaakaaram bhujagashayanam padmanaabham suresham

Vishwaa dharam Gagana Sadrusham Megha Varnam Subhangam

Lakshmi kantam kamalanayanam yogibhir dhyaana gamyam

Vande vishnum bhava bhaya haram sarva lokaika naatham.

Shantakaram-Embodiment of Peace, Bhujaga Shayanam-Reclining on a Serpent, Padmanabham-Who has a lotus flower coming from his navel, from which Brahma was born, Suresham-The lord of the gods, Vishwadharam-Sustainer of all things, Gagana Sadrusham-Pervading the whole cosmos, Megha Varnam-Whose skin is dark blue like rain clouds, Shubhangam-With a pure and flawless body, Lakshmi Kantam-Husband of the goddess Lakshmi, Kamala Nayanam-Whose eyes are like lotus flowers, Yogibhir Dhyana Gamyam-The one who practices Yoga, Vande Vishnum-I worship Vishnu, Bhava Bhaya Haram-Remover of the fears of life, Sarva Lokaika Natham-Lord of all worlds and universes

• Vishnu is also known as Narayan which as mentioned in Manusmriti :

The waters are called narah, (for) the waters are,

indeed, the 1 residing in Narah or from whom

Narah came out; as they were his first residence

(Ayana), he hence is named Narayana.

• Narah means Water or Man(water is blue)

• Ayana means the residence

• As stated in the epic Itihāsa, the Mahabharata:

• I am Narayana, the Source of all things, the Eternal, the Unchangeable. I am the Creator of all things, and the Destroyer also of all. I am Vishnu, I am Brahma and I am Shankara, the chief of the gods

• As per texts like the Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Garuda Purana, and the Padma Purana, Narayana is Vishnu himself who incarnates in various avatars.

• According to the Bhagavad Gita, he is also the "Guru of the Universe". The Bhagavata Purana declares Narayana as the Supreme Personality of the Godhead, who engages in the creation of 14 worlds within the universe Brahma who is the Deity of rajas-guna, himself sustains, maintains and preserves the universe as Vishnu by accepting sattva-guna. Narayana himself annihilates the universe at the end of Maha-Kalpa as Kalagni Rudra who is the presiding deity of tamas-guna.

• The colour of the atasī flower-This highly useful, the long cultivated plant provides the fibre that is the source of linen fabrics-its colour is light blue

• It is also said the colour of the ocean is nothing but a reflection of the sky, this is the reason the night sky makes the ocean look black-so this transition is what Krishna is

• Krishna Consciousness is also a state of Turiya awastha where we are completely out of Maya.

• When Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1966, he chose the term "Krishna consciousness" over "God-consciousness" to emphasize the specific, attractive personality of Krishna, who is the Supreme Being mentioned in so much of Vedic literature as the source of all that exists and the ultimate source of all energies.

The practices of Krishna consciousness include :

1. Hearing about Krishna from the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad-Bhagavatam

2. Also recommended is chanting Krishna's name, such as the Hare Krishna mantra

3. Eating spiritualized food prepared and offered to Krishna with devotion,

4. Serving Krishna's Deity form in the temple,

5. Many other activities are meant to keep oneself steadily absorbed in the thought of Krishna.

Naturally, the more someone adopts such practices, the more Krishna-conscious they become.