Do you know that among the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, Lord Krishna is traditionally described as a Purna Avatara—a complete descent of the Divine on Earth? He embraced the experiences of human life completely while remaining rooted in the Divine.
In human life, we see many examples around us where we make our choices mutually exclusive. Someone who wants to become a monk may leave their home and family behind and pursue their spiritual journey. They choose either spirituality or their household duties. Young people often feel that spirituality is exclusively for old age.
Lord Krishna, however, represents a different possibility: Inclusiveness. He embraced the many dimensions of human existence without losing his connection with the Divine.
He went to Duryodhana to prevent the war of the Mahabharata. When Duryodhana refused, he did not shy away from the reality of war; he became a guide for the Pandavas and showed the path to winning the war.
He loved Sudama, even though they were not blood relatives. He loved Draupadi as a sister, although they were not related by blood. While he fought and ultimately killed his maternal uncle Kansa, who wanted to kill him with hatred.
The same hand that played the flute also held the Sudarshana Chakra.
Lord Krishna is the one who displayed, experienced, and willingly accepted all nine emotions that any human life would go through—love, laughter, sorrow, anger, courage, fear, disgust, surprise, and peace. He did not treat these apparent opposites—laughter and sorrow, fear and peace, love and anger—as mutually exclusive. He made these opposites two sides of the same coin by including them with equal ease in his life. This is one way to understand Advaita (non-duality). And that is wholesomeness.
Lord Krishna is an example of becoming spiritual without leaving anything behind. His life reminds us that you can be wherever life places you and still move towards self-realization.
Perhaps that is the deeper message of Krishna’s life: You cannot separate spirituality from life because you are a spiritual being first, living a human life on this planet!