Sri Aurobindo who had several intimate meetings with Sri Krishna describes him as ‘a boy who is dark and resplendent’, ‘beauty of immortal eyes’, ‘red lips thar kiss blow the flute’, hands that clasp and play and the smile that charms forever, embraces whose delight captivates the soul binding it eternally to the Divine Lover and Beloved. Broad chested with the ever fresh red and yellow flowers of Vaijayanti around his neck and the peacock plume above his head. But he has a fierce form too, a sweetness dire which he assumes when the world is hurtling downwards due to excess of evil. He dances with Radha and the keepers of the Light in Vrindavan and with Kali on the battlefield of Kurukshetra with his chosen instruments.
The name Krishna implies dark as well as one who attracts. But this darkness has a soft radiance about it with curly hair falling upon the cheek. His hands are softest and his feet are well-shaped and small, the forehead is high and the shoulders and arms strong. He is ever youthful and joyous, wise beyond measure and tall and strong, in short the most handsome man divine whom none can resist or want to resist.
He is the Delight aspect of the Supreme Sacchidananda and is described most beautifully in this vision of Savitri.
‘The bliss that made the world in his body lived,
Love and delight were the head of the sweet form.
In the alluring meshes of their snare
Recaptured, the proud blissful members held
All joys outrunners of the panting heart
And fugitive from life’s outstripped desire.
Whatever vision has escaped the eye,
Whatever happiness comes in dream and trance,
The nectar spilled by love with trembling hands,
The joy the cup of Nature cannot hold,
Had crowded to the beauty of his face,
Were waiting in the honey of his laugh.
Things hidden by the silence of the hours,
The ideas that find no voice on living lips,
The soul ‘s pregnant meeting with infinity
Had come to birth in him and taken fire:
The secret whisper of the flower and star
Revealed its meaning in his fathomless look.
His lips curved eloquent like a rose of dawn;
His smile that played with the wonder of the mind
And stayed in the heart when it had left his mouth
Glimmered with the radiance of the morning star
Gemming the wide discovery of heaven.
His gaze was the regard of eternity;
The spirit of its sweet and calm intent
Was a wise home of gladness and divulged
The light of the ages in the mirth of the hours,
A sun of wisdom in a miracled grove.
In the orchestral largeness of his mind
All contrary seekings their close kinship knew,
Rich-hearted, wonderful to each other met
In the mutual marvelling of their myriad notes
And dwelt like brothers of one family
Who had found their common and mysterious home.’
And in another poem as below.
‘Krishna
O immense Light and thou, O spirit-wide boundless Space,
Whom have you clasped and hid, deathless limbs, gloried face?
Vainly lie Space and Time, “Void are we, there is none.”
Vainly strive Self and World crying “I, I alone.”
One is there, Self of self, Soul of Space, Fount of Time,
Heart of hearts, Mind of minds, He alone sits, sublime.
Oh no void Absolute self-absorbed, splendid, mute,
Hands that clasp hold and red lips that kiss blow His flute.
All He loves, all He moves, all are His, all are He;
Many limbs sate His whims, bear His sweet ecstasy.
Two in One, Two who know difference rich in sense,
Two to clasp, One to be, this His strange mystery.’
Affectionately,
Alok Da