Krishna's Secret by Devdutt Patnaik - Book Review

I am reading a lot of mythological books these days. Honestly, I was not so fond of reading mythology but when I finished reading “The forest of enchantments”, I was in an awe because of the mysteries and learning hidden in these epics. Though it happened many years ago, the striking similarities made me read more and more. So, while reading another book based on Mahabharata, I wanted to know a little bit about Krishna, but in short. That is when I decided to read this book, Krishna's secret.

Krishna’s secret is a short book extracted from another book, 7 secrets of Vishnu, by the same author. Because of the current situation, I had to read this book on amazon kindle, which is available at a very low price.

The story begins with an explanation of why Krishna never experienced kingship. As you will read further, you get to know the story of Krishna’s birth, his cunning uncle and his journey from Mathura to Gokul. Krishna ends up having two sets of parents, the birth giving and the one who raised him. His real mother is Devaki, whereas Yashoda raised him.

“ Thus Krishna’s divinity, rooted in Devaki’s blood and Yashoda’s milk, acknowledges both nature and nurture”

The story continues with how Krishna grows up in Gokul and does mysterious and magical things with his superpowers. When Krishna kills his evil uncle Kamsa, there is a beautiful paragraph given which stole my heart.

“ The killing of Kamsa is unique because it is the only story in Hindu mythology where a father-figure is killed. Unlike Ram, who submits to Dasharath and Yadu, who submits to Yayati, Krishna refuses to Kamsa.”

What do we learn from this? : A stand must be taken against what is wrong, no matter if the elderly person is at the fault. The younger generations should refuse to suffer the tyranny of the older generation.

Later in the book, the entire Mahabharata is explained from the perspective of Krishna and what his role was in the story.

What I loved the most about this book?

What I loved the most about this book is, it’s length because it serves the purpose of telling the story in short, the simple yet beautiful language, and the illustrations placed between the texts.

Another amazing thing about this book is, it has a healthy comparison between Ram and Krishna, which are said to be the versions of Vishnu, but still have different personalities, attitudes towards things and the really different strategies. So, this is my biggest learning from this book that, no two individuals can be the same, and we must accept this. This will eliminate the entire concept of comparison and self-doubt among humans.

“ While Ram is called Maryada Purushottam, he who upholds rules of society at any cost, Krishna is called as Leela Purushottam, he who enjoys the game of life. Unlike Ram, who is serious and serene and evokes respect, Krishna is adorable and rakish, and evokes affection”

There are many learnings from this book, which I already mentioned in the review. I will share the best one below, which are my personal thoughts and I don’t want to force them upon anyone.

No matter in which circumstances you are born, it becomes your responsibility to emerge out of it and turn the situations in your favour. You may have superpowers, which you are unaware of, because you are not using them. We must learn to unleash our inner strength. We shall take the stand against what is wrong, no matter who is at fault.

I recommend this book to everyone irrespective of their age, gender and religion. A must read.