How Obama is Like Krishna
November 8, 2008

I wrote this during election time, 2008...
I couldn’t stop thinking of the Bhagavad Gita all week. It is the focused and far-reaching gaze of our new President-elect. And that he embodies Krishna qualities in all he appears to be. It isn’t that I put all my hopes and dreams into the chosen one person to save the day. Instead, it is that finally there is a president meant to represent Americans who thinks issues through, and then eloquently and concisely states what he will do. He’s not a vessel I am pouring all my hopes into nor is he the savior that I am waiting for. I am relieved, proud, happy to know there is someone in the office who also hopes, dreams, who has the highest goals and values in mind and heart for our country. This is not just a tall glass of water to drink for being thirsty. This is a revolution in time of a great man beyond politics and potentially a truly great president. I am as excited about our future as a nation as I am about engaging in and expanding the light of consciousness in my heart and helping others recognize and come to know their light. I feel there is a leader that I align with as he leads from the shining light within. That’s more than Ahhhhh-of-a-quenched-thirst, it’s the sustaining nourishment our country yearns for now.

In the first chapter of The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna takes Arjuna, the feared archer and unslayable warrior to the middle of the battlefield upon his request. When Arjuna looks out to both sides of the field, he sees teachers, fathers, sons, and others. Arjuna immediately realizes the atrocity of war and slumps into his chariot seat in despair: the famed archer is paralyzed. Krishna admonishes Arjuna in the next chapter and tells him that great men do not despair. Upon my first reading of the Gita, this response utterly threw me. I had a visceral and conflicted inner dialogue. How can this be? Krishna, who is the Lord in this story--God--is actually telling a soldier to stand up and fight, to kill, to destroy life. I thought surely Krishna would tell Arjuna that he had evolved in this new understanding, that he saw now the pointlessness of war. But, no, “Whence this lifeless dejection, Arjuna? Be a man…” is the Lord’s first verbal response in this world famous story. Later I learned more about this scripture that inspires countless spiritual seekers from all paths. All diplomacy has been exhausted and the enemy is much like a terrorist faction. Krishna says that righteous men must overcome evil. They must never lose hope. Krishna is a visionary, instilling hope and confidence in the most capable of men, even in their deepest despair.

Barack Obama has instilled new hope in millions of people from all walks of life, all over the world. His poise and graceful eloquence is embodied in a tireless, steadfast and shining representation of president-elect. He is calm and collected even in the face of slander and threats on his life. Krishna teaches Arjuna that the spirit never dies. If Arjuna won’t stand for what is good and true in the world, who will? If there is a man with vision of goodness, the wherewithal to attempt and possibly achieve the vision, and the vigor and tenacity to carry it out, who else should lead us? The charisma to inspire others to stand up for goodness is a rare gift. In the end, Arjuna’s despair is quelled and he enters battle never having felt more purpose in fulfilling his dharma, his duty in this life. Arjuna is that great seeker who at the darkest place, in the deepest doubts, he is called out, admonished, called to rise, encouraged, loved by God. Krishna never gives up in guiding Arjuna back to his greatness and urges him to serve good. May Obama lead as intuitively and wisely as he orates and inspires us.