Krishna and the False Vaasudeva

The story of Paundraka Vaasudeva is a somewhat bizarre episode from the Bhagwat Purana. Yet the discerning will find it relevant to our own times when image-building has developed into a skilled profession. Believing that the common name, Vaasudeva, was a forceful take-off point to achieve the attributes of Krishna, his sycophants helped Paundraka build up his new public image so insistently that Paundraka Vaasudeva started believing in it himself. He mistook the shadow for the substance and fell into disgrace and disaster.There is a moral in this for all of us who live in an age of doubles and stand-ins. If the end of Paundraka was only pathetic, it was because his encounter was with the benign and omniscient Krishna. Those who are not so fortunate may meet with an end which could be grim and tragic.