Among all the minature paintings portraying Lord Krishna , the one that I find very captivating is 'Raasa-Leela'.
Its a very attractive one with Krishna and Radha dancing in the middle of a large circle formed by Gopikas dancing with 'her own' Krishna . Personalised service ;)
The picture that comes to our mind when we talk about Lord Krishna is one of a casanova , a jokester or a prankster. On the surface it looks like Krishna is having a whale of a time dancing with all those nubile nymphs. But just a little study unravels the true meaning behind the portrait.
The devotional fervor Krishna created in the gopikas is best explained by the rasa-leela dance, wherein each of hundreds of gopikas perceived Krishna to be dancing with them alone.
As the dance progressed, the gopikas acted and moved in different ways: one sang on a high and another on a lower pitch; a third reclined on the shoulder of Krishna .This diversity of movement points to a significant fact in spiritual life: no two devotees have the same identical journey.
God draws different people in different ways. He is the great loverand for him every human being is precious. He multi-locates himself, leading each devotee according to his/her individual wishes.
The love between Krishna on one hand and all other Gopikas on the other was quite devoid of any physical connotations. . It was the spirutual craving of the individual soul to get united with the Supremo.
There is an inner innocent girl waiting within each of us, desiring to emerge and play with our friendly cowherd in an exchange of love.
I like the painting for its very colorful attractive looks , but somehow this explanation adds to its charm .
And this perspective is more appealing to me than portraying Krishna as a philanderer.
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