Sri Krishna was way ahead of his times. He came to show how one can live normally and yet in freedom and delight. But mankind was not ready (is still not ready) and gave him the giff of Kurukshetra.
Again, having foreseen the inevitable destruction of the two great empires, Magadha and the Kurus as they were getting soaked in ambition and intoxicated with power, he took the third powerful dynasty, the Yadukul, far from the madness so that a new way of life could be developed there. But Yadukul gifted him with worse things, from blaming him for the Shyamantak mani, questioning his character and eventually fighting among themselves out of arrogance. There were very few who understood his pains that he bore to give a new and happier and dharmic way of life for men. Since mankind was not ready, he withdrew his Lila, the beautiful trees of Vrindavan witness to the Raslila, turned into dry shrubs, the Yadukul destroyed itself and hence Sri Krishna ensured that Dwarka was drowned.
But was everything lost? That can never be. The Divine action of Sri Krishna saved Bharatvarsha on the battlefield of the Mahabharata, leaving behind a lineage of kings who would protect India till as late as the nineteenth or even mid twentieth century. The Gita continues to inspire many showing the way towards Truth, Freedom and Delight. The Raslila despite all the vital constructions woven around it by human imagination has been imprinted upon mankind as the symbol of a perfect world where human nature dances in perfect tune with the Divine. The seeds of Dwarka, like the Ramrajya, have been sown, implanted in the human mind as an ideal city where inner and outer opulence, inner Freedom and delight of works is consistent with all the richness of a manifold life upon earth. Man was not ready so Dwarka was drowned and brought out again as the ideal city in Auroville. The question is are we ready now? Are we ready for the new Dwarka? Are we ready for the new life, a life of true freedom and delight that Sri Krishna came to give us? It is for each one of us to answer.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
