Child of mine, child of Vishnu, are you ready for another story?  I am sure that you are.  There has been so much that you have already learned.  Let us remember the stories that have already been told.

Oh, you have learned of Rama.  You have learned of the terrible problems he had to deal with in killing the demon king, Ravana.  You have learned of the love and marriage between Rama and Sita.  You have the knowledge and understanding of these stories.  It is time to move on and hear another story of a different avatar.  The avatar I will tell you stories of now is Krishna.  You can find Krishna’s story in The Mahabharata.

The first story I am going to tell you of Krishna is when Arjuna came to him with troubles and worry.  Arjuna is Krishna’s brother-in-law.  Arjuna knew that Krishna was one who would listen and help.

Arjuna came to Krishna one day because of the fight he was going to have.  Arjuna was very worried about having to fight his brothers, uncles, teachers, friends, and many others.  He was not sure that he was going to be able to handle this as he did not feel that this was right.  He did not think that these things should be occurring.  Arjuna had a great deal of mental anguish.  The ideas and thoughts running through his mind were causing him stress, grief, and anguish like you would not believe.  Arjuna was not sure what to do and he wanted to leave and go to the forest so that he would not have to fight.

Arjuna went to Krishna and asked many questions.  How was he going to be able to kill those who had helped teach him and care for him?  Did it not make more sense for Arjuna to go into the forest and give up the kingdom rather than killing his own blood?  After Arjuna asked Krishna these questions, he turned to Krishna and fell to his knees.  Arjuna made the biggest request to Krishna he could.  Arjuna requested Krishna to guide him through everything and make all of his decisions for him.

Krishna asked Arjuna various questions.  Why was Arjuna being such a coward?  Did Arjuna really not understand that he was being unmanly by wanting to run away?  Did Arjuna not realize that if he ran away, he was going to be laughed at by people for many generations to come?  Krishna asked Arjuna about all of this.  Arjuna was dumbfounded.  He had not thought about the overall outcome.  He had not thought about the long term affects.

Krishna started having his own thought.  Krishna was wondering how to guide Arjuna.  Krishna started, “why did Arjuna come to me?  What am I to do with this situation?  How do I approach Arjuna?  I can tell him all of the things that he needs to hear.  I can be honest with him and tell him what he should do.  On the other hand, I can sugar coat everything and tell him what he wants to hear.  He thinks he wants to retire into the forest to never be heard from again.  He does not realize the ramifications that would happen if he did this.  I must tell him what he needs to do and what he should do to make the best decisions he can.” 

Author’s Note:  I wanted this to be a continuation of Vishnu telling the stories to the child.  I wanted to go into a different avatar because I have written about Rama in two stories.  One of the stories regarding Rama was in battle and the other was love; two very different concepts.  I wanted to write this story more as Vishnu is telling the story about Krishna and not as much in the first person as with the Rama stories.

I wanted the main point of the story of Krishna helping Arjuna.  While there are things that are important ideas in the entire story I wanted this to really focus on Krishna helping and guiding Arjuna.  I felt that showing the emotions and feelings that Arjuna was going through helped explain the reasoning for Krishna wanting and feeling the need to help.  I also felt that if the questions and the sadness of Arjuna came across, it made the ideas that I have of Krishna come across better.  I think that Krishna has been very honored and very pleased to be a mentor.  I also think that the idea of Arjuna praising Krishna by falling to Krishna’s feet shows how much Krishna is respected and revered.

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