Lord Krishna is one of the best management gurus, whom we can emulate without a second thought. He is the Mentor of Mentors, Trainer of Trainers and Guru of all Motivational Gurus. He is the foremost expert in life skills and demonstrated all of his skills at the Dhritharashtra court during his diplomatic tour to Hasthinapuri (now Delhi) which was conducted just to prevent war between the Kauravas and Pandavas.
His communication skills are evident in every word spoken at the Kauravas Court. Lord Krishna during his Negotiations, to avoid the war between Kauravas and Pandavas, he demonstrated perfect communication skills. As he does not want to avoid war between them, he manipulated his words with diplomatic jargon and tried to instill fear motivation in Duryodhana to illustrate the greatness of Pandavas on and off the battlefield.
Life skills have been defined by the World Health Organization as “skills for adaptive and positive behavior that enable people to cope effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life” (WHO 1993). We can see this abundant capacity to face the challenges of daily life in Lord Krishna and this article intends to analyze the same.
Happiness is the goal and ambition of any individual in this world. Whatever a person undertakes in her life, must achieve a single goal: happiness; says Sigmund Freud, the Father of Psychology. All religions and philosophies aim to achieve the happiness of humanity. Only character can bring that kind of total happiness to humanity. Lord Krishna proved this in his life by becoming an ideal personality. The Gita preacher, the life of Lord Krishna is an example, which reflects the power of character.
Lord Krishna is God for faithful devotees. He is a magician for non-believers. He is a romantic hero to some and a great manipulator to many. He is the greatest Philosopher who has given Gita to mankind. To some, he is just a character in Sage Vyasa’s Mahabharat. Regardless of any kind of faith and devotion, He is the Great Guru for Psychoanalysts and Psychologists. He is the first counseling psychologist. He is a complete man. If we look at his life critically from all angles, we can glimpse these kinds of features in the life of Lord Krishna.
Lord Krishna is not as tall and handsome as Lord Rama. He does not have beautiful and expressive eyes. He is of black complexion. He faced many problems during his life. He never felt depressed. He has never given up. He always faced problems and solved them. He faced problems with a cheerful attitude. He stood beside his people like a rock. Reason-his total personality.
Some may argue that Sri Krishna is just another character in the epic Mahabharat, written by Sage Vyasa. So why is this balanced approach towards life not seen in the avatars of Rama, Parasurama and Vamana? Why didn’t Sage Vyasa create the characters of Brahma and Siva in this mold as well? There may be no answer to these types of questions. We can get the answer by thinking that each character will have its own characteristics. Whether Lord Krishna is there or not in the history of mankind, or just a character in Mahabharat, he certainly is the example of a complete man.
A true disciple of a great Guru!
Lord Krishna is the disciple of Sage Sandipani. After completing his education, he learned that the young son of his Guru Sandipani had met an untimely death. Lord Krishna wrestled with Yama, the God of Death and restored his Guru’s son to life and introduced him as Guru Dakshina. How many disciples of this age are paying fair dues for the survival of his Guru’s family? These are the days when people expect gifts even in education!
Eight wives and infinite problems
Lord Krishna is felt by many to mean eight wives and his romance with them. He captivated people with his joyful presence and his playful attitude. His life began with problems. He was born in prison. He was separated from his mother immediately after his birth. He suffered with ‘separation anxiety’ since his birth. He has spent his life in Brindavan with cowherd families, instead of enjoying a pampered life in Madhura in the lap of his grandfather Ugrasena. He never had a great education too. His uncle Kamsa hatched many plans to kill Krishna in his childhood. Kamsa has sent demons every year to kill Krishna. Krishna, the boy could overcome all these problems with his determination. Due to the deadly issues that crop up all the time, his friends may also have been dealing with traumatic stress disorders. Many parents might have stopped their children from playing with Krishna as he is dangerous. Krishna never bothered with these kinds of problems. He has learned many life lessons playing on the banks of the Kalindi River with his friends. He has spent his childhood playing the divine flute and getting into mischief with his friends.
a friend in need
Lord Krishna is a friend to the needy indeed. He has helped his friend Kuchela (Sudama) to overcome the shortage of him. He also helped Draupadi, the wife of Pandavas, who has immense faith in Krishna.
A quintessential but compassionate politician
Krishna fought with his uncle Kamsa and crowned his grandfather king. He got his parents out of jail and fulfilled the responsibility of his son. Although he has a capable army, he never tried to invade other kingdoms. But he never showed compassion for kings like Jarasandha who declared war on him. He fled from the war field to avoid unnecessary loss of life and killed the enemy without losing a single life.
love personified
Love is natural at a certain age. Many can dare to do anything to achieve their love. Krishna resorted to fighting battles to win Rukmini’s love and became an ideal for the world of lovers. Although there are legends that Lord Krishna has 16,000 Gopikas, he never tried to woo a single woman. He attracted them with his talkative talent. No one ever called him a womanizer. He was always considered as the personification of love and affection.
emotionally intelligent
He was by no means an arrogant and inflexible husband. He had a highly adaptable and adjustable nature. Although Satyabhama kicked him with his leg, Krishna never got angry.
with her. Furthermore, he took her feet in her hands and softened her by telling her if hitting him hurt her feet. He always remained the ideal husband and tried to balance her family life.
a true leader
Great physics is not the real asset for anyone. Character is the true asset of any individual. Krishna’s kingdom is very small in size and so is his army. But King Duryodhana came down to ask for his help in the royal battle of Kurukshetra. Although Krishna said that the whole army is from one side and I will help one side, Arjuna selected Krishna only because of his character. A leader is not the one who walks, but the one who leads by walking ahead of others.
a great warrior
never fought She doesn’t have any position of power. Even then everyone knows that Krishna is leading the army of Pandavas. Just having an army, no one can win the battle. One needs to have war strategies and intelligence to assess the power of the enemy. An army leader has to plan ahead of others and win the battle with minimal loss of human life. Krishna managed to discharge this responsibility with all the skill that he demands. That is why he is the true and great leader.
a great communicator
When Krishna went to Hasthinapuri as an ambassador from the Pandavas to express his reassurance to King Dhritarashtra, his communication skills reached the pinnacle as a preventer of war but not as an instigator of destruction. He persecuted Kauravas to avoid war with Pandavas and urged them to do so by simply giving them five cities to rule. When Kauravas refused to do so, he analyzed the Pandavas’ strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats to Kauravas if they did not avoid war in the first place. Krishna always took responsibility for his actions and helped Pandavas overcome their problems and ultimately win the Kurukshetra war.
Small vices in great characters
It is natural that great characters always flourish with small vices. Even Krishna is not an exception to this rule. Krishna threw a bait at Karna to join Pandavas and marry Draupadi. He only knows why he did this. Karna politely refused to presume Krishna’s best. Even then, Krishna may have tried to expose Karna’s greatness to the world.
When Arjuna was jumping for joy after killing Karna, Krishna warned him not to behave like that. This shows his respect towards a great warrior and ideal friend like Karna. If Karna is charity personified, though he is with his enemy, Krishna realized the greatness of Karna and treated him with great esteem. That is Krishna’s greatness and this reflects his uniqueness.
Nobody is perfect, even Lord Krishna. He also acted like a human being in many situations. To help and uplift humanity without any selfish motive, one can lie here and there and can manipulate if the situation demands it. Krishna made some decisions just to prove this point. That is why Lord Krishna is a complete man and an apostle of life skills.
To be successful in professional and personal life, one has to learn and try to emulate Lord Krishna to become a complete man.
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