Who is Krishna ?

[peteyzen]

Originally Posted by smilingsun

Who is he is/was ?
Was he an ascended master, an enlightened being , an angelic being or some kind of creator being ?

Is he a galactic being, an ET with blue skin ?

Hi, he was an Avatar, a direct incarnation of God, in human form.
No the blue skin was a way of depicting his divinity in ancient imagery, his skin was normal coloured.
He was the same kind of being as Jesus, yes but not Buddha, Buddha was like the rest of us, going up to god, not coming down like avatars

[Maisy]

Originally Posted by peteyzen

a direct incarnation of God, in human form.

I wonder would that mean he left that physical form when he left that body so would no longer have blue skin? Skin is an organ of the body. I assume we don't have physical bodies (so no skin) in higher energy realms.

[HITESH SHAH]

Originally Posted by peteyzen

an Avatar, a direct incarnation of God, in human form.
No the blue skin was a way of depicting his divinity in ancient imagery, ..

Yes . Krishna is considered direct incaranation of God in human form.
Just the way Chirst is Son and God both as per Trinity doctrine , Hinduism too
Nirgun Nirakar Par brahman (something like Father in Christianity ) and avtar God in human form (literally meaning God in miniature form -scaled down form) .

Also agree blue skin is a way of describing his divinity / aura /halo which sculptors uses in awe of the deity . This may not be considered literally blue color .

[Podshell]

Also worth looking in Wiki 'Lord Chaitanya'also Srila Prabhupada's explanation of the meaning of the name Krsna meaning 'All attractive'

[Jainarayan]

Originally Posted by smilingsun

Who is he is/was ?
Was he an ascended master, an enlightened being , an angelic being or some kind of creator being ?

No.

Is he a galactic being, an ET with blue skin ?

No.

He's the same kind of being as Buddha, Jesus ?

No.
For most Vaishnavas, like me, He is svayam bhagavān, God Himself.

Are there ancient scripture which talk about Krishna and who he is, what is his role on the cosmic plane ?

The Srimad Bhagavatam, aka Bhagavata Purana, and the Mahābhārata.

[Honza]

Krishna & Sai Baba helped me centre myself. I had become way too disassociated from myself in the false belief that 'I am not'.....Krishna and Baba helped me understand that 'I Am'. It was a tortuous path. I am still on it. Never deny yourself in a big way. Small self denial is fine but I totally over did it.

[Podshell]

Originally Posted by Jainarayan

The Srimad Bhagavatam, aka Bhagavata Purana, and the Mahābhārata.

Which translation to follow?
For instance with The Gita (not checked how many of the ones you mention have been translated into English)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita

"There are alternate versions of the Bhagavad Gita ... translations of the Bhagavad Gita in 75 languages, including 273 in English. ... multiple Persian translations ..."

So we need an authoritave one, the Krsnas recognise Srila Prabhupada as being the bona fide guru to interpret and present the books.

(It would be an interesting exercise to pit verses and purports from other English translations against Prabhupadas to see if they stand up, the videos, lectures and transcripts I've read, he demolishes and arguments over text quite easily)

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by HITESH SHAH

...Also agree blue skin is a way of describing his divinity / aura /halo which sculptors uses in awe of the deity .
This may not be considered literally blue color .

Hi, Or it is considered to be literally true, since there is a planet - some say - with blue skinned people.
Just throwing that out there. Ask some that Astral Project.

[kralaro]

Regarding which translation of Bhagavad Gita is accurate, someone had once recommended me a Sanskrit -> Hindi translation but i haven't been able to find accurate English translation. Regarding Prabhupada ji, i respect him for his dedication to Sri Krishna and for having all his translations available for free, but his translation isn't accurate IMO, e.g.

This issue came up in a another thread:
BG 8.9 - https://asitis.com/8/9.html
In the translation Prabhupada ji had written "who is always a person" but there's nothing like that in the word to word translation given by him.

E.g.2.

In
7.15 - https://asitis.com/7/15.html
and
18.62 - https://asitis.com/18/62.html
The words used by Lord Krishna are "prapadyante" and "saranam" respectively but Prabhupada ji translated both different words as surrender. For anyone curious, i think prapadyante means surrender while saranam means come in shelter of.

Here i think he did the opposite:

18.66 - https://asitis.com/18/66.html
He translated "dharm" as religion but in
18.47 - https://asitis.com/18/47.html
He translated "dharm" as occupation.
I think dharm translates neither as religion nor as occupation.

[Miss Hepburn]

Ah, surrender - yes...it would be surrendering the ego that says, "I can do this", in order to seek the shelter of God, Krishna, Brahman....whatever.
Old Testament says, My Lord is my refuge.