Cultural Samvaad| Indian Culture and Heritage

In Search of Krishna

The bhakta (भक्त – devotee) has been searching for her bhagwan (भगवान – God) Krishna since times immemorial. The bahurupiya (बहुरूपीया – the one with many forms) continues to manifest himself in infinite forms and yet remains un-manifest. Team Cultural Samvaad decided to look at him through the words of some of his most famous devotees and his own words in the Bhagavad Gita.

Read the most important shlokas of the Bhagawad Gita

Is Krishna the cute, little, ever playful Balagopal (बालगोपाल – the child Gopal) who stole butter from every house in Vrindavan and is today omnipresent as Laddoo Gopal  (लड्डू गोपाल) across households ?

Is Krishna the eternal lover who charms Radharani and the world with the mellifluous notes of his flute?

Is Krishna the Giridhar (गिरिधर – the one who holds a mountain)  who lifts the Govardhan in every age to protect his devotees?

Is Krishna the eternal sakha (सखा  – the friend), the sarathi  (सारथी – the charioteer) who guides his devotees to attain moksha (मोक्ष – salvation)?

Is Krishna the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient Supreme Brahman who is the Ultimate Reality?

Krishna is timeless and formless, he is the personification of eternal love, he is friend and the guide and he is the final abode of the devotee. He is all that is, all that was and all that will be.

Hare Krishna.

यह पोस्ट हिन्दी में पढ़ें और हिन्दी विडियो देखें|

Garima Chaudhry - Founder and Editor - CulturalSamvaad.com

Garima Chaudhry

Garima Chaudhry is the Founder and Editor of Cultural Samvaad and Founder and Managing Partner of Hiranya Growth Partners LLP, a boutique consulting and content advisory firm based in Mumbai.

A scholar-practitioner with deep roots in Indic Studies, Garima has been a visiting faculty member for over a decade at Mumbai University and KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies, among other institutions. She has taught diploma, graduate and post-graduate courses in Development of Religious Thought in India, Hindu Thought, Bhartiya Purakatha, Buddhism and Comparative Mythology. She regularly conducts immersive workshops on India's dharmic traditions, civilisational heritage, enduring values, stories and symbols for diverse cohorts across institutions and organisations.

Garima brings over 25 years of leadership experience across financial services, digital payments, eCommerce, education and media. She began her career as a TAS Officer with the Tata Group, working across functions and sectors including FMCG and Power. At Citibank, she held progressive leadership roles culminating as Head of Strategy, Citi South Asia — working with the CEO, South Asia and Asia Pacific office on near and long-term strategic initiatives. Garima earlier led the business team for Digital Marketing, ePayments and eCommerce across India, building one of the country's early digital payment platforms. As Director at Capital18 (Network18), she led investment transactions and managed portfolio companies across focus sectors. She also served as CEO of GreyCells18 (Topperlearning and Topper TV), where she turned around and scaled the company to a 150-member team and built one of India's foremost supplementary education platforms.

Garima holds an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur and a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Statistics from DAV College, Kanpur.Her scholarly interest in India's ancient संस्कृति — culture — and her conviction that a native idiom rooted in India's own ethos is essential to equitable growth and sustainable change, is the founding impulse behind Cultural Samvaad.

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