And now we come to the peculiarity of Krishna. It is still more wonderful. You have heard the story of Krishna. He danced among gopis, and he teased the milkmaids, and he played in Brindavan as a boy. I should think that it is the most beautiful thing that can exist. He was not a sad, serious, downhearted, depressed young boy. He was life itself. He was born with life, a soul that was to expand throughout the whole universe. And he came with that life and attracted all those that lived in the country, even in his childhood. No doubt there are symbolical stories of Krishna.

Perhaps Krishna was not so bad as they think him to be from the stories. For instance, Krishna did not steal butter, although it is said in tradition, and the Hindus most respectfully hear it. Butter is the essence of milk, and wisdom the essence of life; therefore wisdom is likened to butter. His stealing butter was to churn the experience of life and take out of it its essence. But suppose it was not so symbolical; it was perhaps true. Yet, if you knew what it is in a peasant village to steal a little butter, it is a great joy. It is not like going in a shop and stealing tins of butter. It is a little butter stolen, a wonderful joy.

And then again there was the greatest test that life could give to any prophet, that was given to Krishna, for the reason that he was the Prophet, the Godhead. He was to give the philosophy of love, of kindness, of harmlessness. There he was faced to help a prince whose kingdom was taken away, Arjuna. The most difficult situation for a prophet: to have to stand by someone who must fight, and yet to be destined to give the Message of God -- torn from two sides. And how beautifully he has come out by giving the Bhagavad Gita, from the beginning to the end, that you can touch every corner of wisdom. There is kindness, there is bravery, there is courage, there is wisdom, there is intellect, there is philosophy, there is mysticism, there is all. In one book he has given the whole philosophy of life from beginning to end. The more one reads the Bhagavad Gita, the more one finds the truth of that English phrase, "to put it in a nutshell." The whole philosophy of life is put in the most concise form.

One might ask, "What had he to do, such a great soul, to stand with a prince? What did it matter if his kingdom came back or if it did not come back?" If we look at it from a psychological point of view, the kingdom is the divine kingdom, and it is lost by every man, by every soul, when the soul has come in this manifestation. And in order to find this kingdom, he had to learn not only spiritual things but the ways of warfare, how to struggle along, and to persevere in the path of truth. And suppose it was true? Then he gave an example to the world, that you can be the wisest man and yet have all the capabilities that a king, or a prince, or a judge, or a general, or a statesman has. It is showing perfection from all sides.