8/1/2014 Krishna and the Raging Bull

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Krishna and the Raging Bull
29 Jul 2014 1 Comment
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8/1/2014 Krishna and the Raging Bull
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Sadhguru tells us the story of how Krishna rode Hastin, the raging bull,
and won him over with his flute.
Sadhguru: At Vrindavan, there were many situations and incidents
which established Krishna as a natural leader of the community, even
though he was still a boy. This was because he showed extraordinary
prowess and wisdom in handling situations. Over time, people exaggerated
these miracles, but if you look at his life, certain incidents show he had a
level head and a very sensible way of handling situations. One thing that
happened when he was between 14 and 15 was an incident with a stud
bull in Vrindavan. These bulls are naturally aggressive and violent. This
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8/1/2014 Krishna and the Raging Bull
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Krishna said with
total
determination, I
will ride Hastin.
All the other boys
got really
terrified. This had
become serious
now. Earlier they
particular bulls name was Hastin, that means hes like an elephant. He
was so big and strong, simply arrogant and always looking for a fight.
People kept him because he was the source of a whole breed of cows in
Vrindavan but he was so violent and dangerous that no one dared to go
near him.
Krishnas elder brother Balarama, was much stronger than anyone of his
age. He grew like a giant. It was established in many situations all
through his life how he was so much bigger than a normal man.
Balarama always wanted to do something. You know people who have
muscle want to do something! Constantly he was exercising and eating
huge amounts of food. He wanted to become stronger and stronger. One
day, in his madness he said, I want to be that strong, that with a single
punch, I must be able to kill Hastin.
Krishna smiled and said, You
want to knock him down with a
single punch? Anyway you cannot
do it. But even if you do it, its no
good to do such things. I will ride
Hastin. People just laughed. All
the kids said, This is just tall talk.
Nobody can ride Hastin. Hes too
violent. Krishna insisted, Im
going to ride him.
This was on the evening of a full
moon. They had danced
themselves to exhaustion, and
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had thought it
was just a joke.
now they were sitting and
bragging. So Krishna said, By the
next full moon day, Im going to
ride Hastin. Such talks happen
but you know, people excuse them
for just talks and life goes on. Days were passing, and it was just a couple
more days till the next full moon or Pournami. Balarama picked the
matter up again and said to Krishna, You said by Pournami you will ride
Hastin. How? Im sure you cant. Krishna said, Im going to ride Hastin
by Pournami. So Balarama said, Because you made this tall talk and
now youre scared that you cant do it, you even disappeared all these days.
Every evening we are meeting here. Where have you been? You just want
to escape and Im sure when the full moon day comes, you wont be
around too. Krishna said with total determination, I will ride Hastin. All
the other boys got really terrified. This had become serious now. Earlier
they had thought it was just a joke.
What Krishna had been doing in this one month was, he went to the place
where Hastin was tied up to a tree. Only two people who had been with
him right from his childhood could tend to the bull. Hastin allowed only
those two people to go near him. When anyone else came, he got violent.
So Krishna went to these two people and he said, I want to be with
Hastin. They said, No way. Your father will not like it if he comes to
know, and if something happens to you Krishna said, No, I want to be
there. He just went there and sat a little away.
Hastin was putting his foot down and digging the earth, showing his
anger. Any new person meant he wanted to get him. He had the same
thing about with one knock I want to knock out everybody like
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Balaramas dream. He was a macho guy too. Krishna just sat there, took
out his flute and played. Every day, he went there. For hours, he played
his flute. That was the reason why he was not with his friends. And slowly,
the bull became a little more docile. Krishna mixed the straw with jaggery
and gave the bull sweet things to eat, from a distance. Slowly, he got closer
and closer, and one day, he played the flute and touched the bull. And in a
months time, he got friendly with the bull. He was working on it every
day. Nobody knew about that.
When the Pournami came, Krishna said, Im going to ride him. A few
friends along with Balarama were there, and they said, No, we will
withdraw the bet. Dont worry, you dont have to ride him because we
dont want you dead. He said, Im going to ride him. You come. His
cousin brother and dear friend, Udhava, got terrified. He thought Krishna
was going to be killed in this mad adventure. He wanted to somehow stop
it. He went and told Radhe, Krishna is going to do this mad adventure.
He is going to kill himself. So she came running, all emotional, and she
said to Krishna, No way youre going to ride Hastin. Krishna said, I am
going to ride Hastin and thats all. She said, No way. If you are going to
ride Hastin and get killed, I am also going to ride Hastin and get killed. Ill
not let you do it alone.
Whatever he did, she wouldnt let him go. She physically hung onto him.
Then Krishna said, Okay, you wait. Let me first get close to him. With
these few friends, he went closer. The moment Hastin saw a few extra
people, he got fully charged with violence within himself. Krishna asked
them to stay away, went closer, played his flute, and gave sweet things to
the bull. Gradually, he approached him. Then he indicated to Radhe to
come, and he said, Just stand the way Im standing, your legs right
8/1/2014 Krishna and the Raging Bull
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behind my legs, your body right behind my body, so that Hastin doesnt
see you. Hunters always do this. Usually, the animal recognizes how
many people are there by looking at the number of legs.
Initially, Hastin got excited. Slowly, he cooled down and when he was
docile enough, Krishna just leapt onto him and pulled Radhe also up. The
moment Krishna got on, Hastin got totally violent and he ran and ran. But
Krishna hung onto the bulls hump, Radhe hung onto Krishna, and they
rode through the town into the forest. Hastin ran for a long time, spent all
his energy and then relaxed and started grazing. People saw this incredible
site of Radhe and Krishna riding this violent bull and now meekly, he was
grazing in the forest because he had worked out his energy. It became a
huge miracle. Over time, this miracle was blown out of proportion and
exaggerated in a million different ways. But this boy was made like this
if he wanted to do something, he would do it the way it had to be done. No
matter what anybody said, he knew what to do.
Such incidents were many in his life, which made him a natural leader in
the community. By the time he was 15 or 16, even the older folk in the
community started asking for his advice, because this boy established
himself as a new force, a new level of intelligence, a new level of clarity in
the society.
More Krishna Stories
Editors Note: Sadhguru explores the life and path of Krishna. Watch
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sachin 2 days ago
I really love the artist who does all the artwork for the blogs.. Its beautiful :)

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The art work is mind blowing .........


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