Mahathi is arguably one of the best Indian English poets of the 21st century. Though started his poetic cruise like any other poet, composing poems on such hackneyed subjects like, nature, love, beauty and burning HARE KRISHNA social issues, later started focusing all his poetic skills in exploring the deep sacred niches of spiritual realms and heights of ecstatic poetic expression. His mastery over prosody, philosophical approach, clear diction, finest use of figures of speech, aesthetics, clever strokes of satire and pun and thrilling narrations made him a poet of enviable literary supremacy. His 6th book viz. FINDING THE MOTHER, a trans-creation of SRI SUNDARA KANDA, the 5th Canto of SRIMAD RAMAYANA stands out as an all time classic of English literature. Mahathi believes that avidya (lack of spiritual education and practice) as the root cause of all social maladies and that ever human by treading the Dharmic path alone can bring eternal peace and prosperity to the world. HARE KRISHNA is Mahathi’s 8th book, based on the eternal Indian epic, SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM by H.H. Sage SRIKRISHNA DWAIPAYANA VYASA. HARE KRISHNA is the melodious saga of Lord Sri Krishna’s childhood adventures composed in lyrical and narrative ballads with an authentic analysis and philosophical explanation of the mystical and wondrous exploits of the Godhead on earth. Here is an intensely, explosive poetic gem on the supreme empowerment of Lord Krishna – emblazoned with rich lyrical and narrative skills. So transcendental, esoteric and yet everlasting to delight the heart with tranquility and joy... a real tour de force. —Leonard Dabydeen, ON, Canada - Author of Watching You, A Collection of Tetractys Poems (2012), Searching For You, A Collection of Tetractys and Fibonacci Poems (2015). Mahathi Mahathi in quintessence is a spiritual ambassador. His words, full of insight and understanding, express the authentic experience of enlightenment filled with great word play, aesthetics and classic metaphor. —Dr. Reshma Ramesh, renowned Indian English poet D 450.00 harekrishna_cover_NEW.indd 1 21/03/17 7:33 PM INTRODUCTION —O scion of the Bharata dynasty, whenever there is a decline in Dharma and increase of adharma, then do I manifest Myself. -Srimad Bhagavath Gita A fight between the good Godly forces and bad demonic forces takes place in every yuga or eon. The God programmed the earth in such a way, the earth survives as long as the virtues are upheld and Dharma is followed. Dharma means ‘acceptable social behaviour’ which includes legality, morality and amity. But the unmindful demonic spirits from the underworld try to possess the human bodies to quench their carnal and worldly desires. When demonic forces thus take a dominance over the earth, the result is chaos, dwindling of virtues and upraise of sins. That is when the God descends donning an Avatar to save the earth from increasing weight of sins (paapa bharam). STORY: A Yadava king by name Kamsa is thus possessed by a demonic spirit by name Kalanemi. His behaviour changes. xvii Hare Krishna.indd 17 3/16/17 5:50 PM INTRODUCTION One day a cosmic voice tells him that the 8th son of his cousin, Devaki would kill him. Kamsa jails his cousin Devaki and Vasudeva, her husband. He kills six of his cousin's infant sons (nephews) as soon as they were born. But the seventh time, there was a mysterious miscarriage. And as the eighth child, Lord Narayana Himself descends. By Lord's command and mystical help Vasudeva escapes from jail, swaps the infant with Yashoda's just born female child and returns to jail. Kamsa was astonished looking at the female child. Nevertheless lifts his sword to kill, but that female child turns into fierce Kali Ma and warns him again that his killer is growing somewhere else. The divine spirit of the seventh aborted fetus of Devaki grows as the son of Ma Rohini, the first wife of Vasudeva with the name of Balarama alias Sankarshana. The eighth child who escapes from jail, is none other than Lord Narayana, who grows as the son of Ma Yashoda and father Nanda, with the name Krishna at Vrajapuram, a village of cowherds, with Nanda as their Chief. Kamsa pretends to have changed his ways, and invites Devaki and Vasudeva back to palace. But the very next day he leashes out a reign of terror in the surrounding villages by sending down his demon knights to kill every new-born baby. Here in Vrajapuram Krishna starts showing his Godly traits even as an infant boy. First he kills a poison-lady called Poothana, one of Kamsa's cronies. Thus start his divine exploits and he despatches to heaven, one by one of Kamsa's demons. Balarama too kills a gigantic demon by name Pralamba. Scared of the demons' menace the cowherds shift to Brindavanam a grand greenly place at the foot of mountain Govardhanam. Besides Kamsa's demon warriors, he also kills the rowdy son of Lord Maya and teaches a good lesson and drives away Kaleeya, a xviii Hare Krishna.indd 18 3/16/17 5:50 PM INTRODUCTION serpent who was poisoning the green fields of Brindavanam. He relieves the sons of Lord Kubera from the curse of Divine sage Narada. In the meantime, the cow maids develop love for Krishna and ask him to take them all. Krishna tries to teach them Jnana...but stunningly the maids give him a taste of Bhakti. Krishna, the God himself was awed. There are other episodes like the abduction of Nanda; Krishna taking on a divine flight his cowboy friends into the fascinating realms of upper worlds; sage Garga's revelations about Krishna and the greatness of the name Vaasudeva; Krishna gulping the wild fire; Krishna revealing his Godly might to Lord Brahma and lifting the Govardhanam hill to rescue the villagers from the wrath of Lord Indra etc. By the time Krishna attains eleven years of age, he gets rid of the demonic forces one by one. Kamsa desperate makes a last ditch effort by inviting Krishna to Madhura, his capital city, for a final face-off. Krishna and Balarama take the challenge of a gigantic four- tusked mammoth called Kuvalayapeedanam and kill it. Then they face a number of trained wrestlers of Kamsa too and get rid of them. Kamsa's army sensing a turn of tables secretly release Devaki, Vasudeva and Ugrasena from the jail. In the final gruel encounter, Krishna slays Kamsa to the cheers of all the humans and devathas. The story runs in lyrical and narrative ballads. Though the format is old and style is classical, the way it's told is very modern, in simple English, keeping in mind the modern reader's interest and propensities. At the same time this is not a simple xix Hare Krishna.indd 19 3/16/17 5:50 PM INTRODUCTION story narration. This book also discusses in deep, various spiritual conundrums at length, and tries to explain many issues in the Hindu epics often subjected to doubt and criticism like Rasa Leela, curses and boons given by saints/sages, the never-ending feud between the Godly forces and demonic forces, the adamant and arrogant way sinners think and how and why their meet their disastrous end. लोकाः समर᳢ताः सुिखनोभवंतु Mahathi xx Hare Krishna.indd 20 3/16/17 5:50 PM CONTENTS 1 Avatar ....................................... 1 2 Kamsa ..................................... 13 3 Maya ....................................... 19 4 Evil Schemes ............................... 25 5 Vrajapuram ................................. 30 6 Nanda and Vasudeva ........................ 34 7 Poothana ................................... 37 8 Demonic Cart Sakatasura ................... 45 9 Lord Vaasudeva ............................. 58 10 Pounding Stone ............................ 68 11 Divine Sage Narada ......................... 73 12 The Two Sal Trees ........................... 78 13 Brindavanam ............................... 84 xxi Hare Krishna.indd 21 3/16/17 5:50 PM CONTENTS 14 Cowherds .................................. 88 15 The Ugly Crane. 94 16 Aghasura, the Snake ....................... 101 17 Missing Cows and Cowherds ............... 109 18 Lord Brahma .............................. 114 19 Dhenukasura ............................. 126 20 Kaleeya ................................... 137 21 Pralamba .................................. 153 22 Monsoon .................................. 159 23 Winter .................................... 169 24 Gopikas ................................... 176 25 Hungry Cowherds ......................... 187 26 Indra Yagam ............................... 204 27 Angry Indra ............................... 212 28 The Storm ................................. 219 29 Indra Concedes. 235 30 Nanda Kidnapped ......................... 246 31 Spring Time ............................... 256 32 Krishna on Bhakti ......................... 271 33 Rasaleela .................................. 283 xxii Hare Krishna.indd 22 3/16/17 5:50 PM CONTENTS 34 Sudarshana ................................ 295 35 Sankhachooda ............................. 303 36 Idylls ..................................... 307 37 The Demon Bull ........................... 312 38 Kesi ....................................... 319 39 Vyomasura ................................ 325 40 Akrura .................................... 333 41 Akrura with Krishna and Rama ............. 346 42 Odyssey ................................... 354 43 Mathura .................................. 360 44 The Night Before .......................... 377 45 Kuvalayapeedanam ........................ 382 46 The Wrestlers ............................. 386 47 End of Evil Kingdom ...................... 394 xxiii Hare Krishna.indd 23 3/16/17 5:50 PM PRAYER AND DEDICATION OM