[Reflection] Birth of Cool
I remember when I was in elementary school, being called cool was the highest esteem and compliment one could receive. Being cool meant that you were just, cool. You set the status quo. You know what to do and what to avoid. You are being looked up to by everyone for how to act in order to be accepted and valued.
But what is the birth of “cool” outside of these childish standards? Besides being just a compilation album by Miles Davis, “cool” and the idea of “coolness” has always been a part of human culture, and its meaning in different cultures and contexts, though varied, always carries the same idea. What exactly does it mean though? And what is the ultimate origin of cool?
The Oxford English Dictionary provides a definition for cool as follows: “Of a person or a personal attribute, quality, etc.: not affected by passion or emotion, dispassionate; controlled, deliberate, not hasty; calm, composed.” This is getting somewhere. Cool is like, when someone doesn’t really care- they’re aloof. I can dig it. This definition of cool has its origins in Old English works like Beowulf and has retained a pretty similar mood of meaning over the past millennia. How did it become a synonym for being good or awesome? African American culture of the 20th century seems to have influenced its more contemporary meaning of “(as a general term of approval) admirable, excellent.” Okay, seems pretty clear.
So, now with its etymology clarified, the meaning of cool due to its pervasiveness in language is obvious. In the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, verses 1-4, Krishna states that:
There is an imperishable banyan tree that has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas. The branches of this tree extend downward and upward, nourished by the three modes of material nature. The twigs are the objects of the senses. This tree also has roots going down, and these are bound to the fruitive actions of human society. The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment. Thereafter, one must seek that place from which, having gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything began and from whom everything has extended since time immemorial.
Everything in this temporal world of matter is a distorted reflection of a perfect, eternal spiritual world. This spiritual abode is manifested from the body of Krishna, or God, who is understood as being the one from whom everything emanates (BG 10.8).
With this understanding, I wanted to explore the idea of how a seemingly trivial thing like “coolness” originates in and is epitomized by Krishna. Coolness in the sense of being detached and aloof maps nicely onto the Sanskrit word vairagya meaning renunciation. More than just being possessionless, when someone is renounced, they are cool. They are aloof, undisturbed and peaceful, they aren’t attached one way or another to material things and circumstances. Renunciation is actually one of the six opulences attributed to Krishna described in the Vishnu Purana, an ancient Sanskrit scripture in the same school of thought as the Gita: “full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation – these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead” (Vishnu Purana 6.5.47). These six opulences find their origin and paragon in Krishna.
How does God display renunciation? How is it possible to be renounced when One possesses everything? In the Gita, Krishna says that He is “ever detached from all these material activities, seated as though neutral” (9.9), in reference to the creation of the temporary, material world. The commentator, Shrila Prabhupada, elaborates that Krishna “has control over every minute detail of material activities, [but] He is sitting as if neutral" (purport). If you were God, would you be concerned about every little detail of the creation? The understanding is that despite His sovereignty, Krishna in His original form, doesn't actually have to work at maintaining His creation and His expanded energies. He just sets it all into motion in such a way that it automatically is maintained. And this is just scratching the surface. Despite having everything, being the source of everything, and being the object of affection for everything in the universe, He is aloof from these truths about Him, and in His eternal abode, Goloka Vrindavana, He is described as simply playing His flute, tending to His cows, and playing in the forest with His friends. God is just a simple cowboy. And how cool is that?
In summary, Krishna is the source of everything, and the temporary world is just a reflection of the spiritual world, in which He is constantly sporting in various ways with His devotees, unattached to his position of being the Supreme Truth. In this way, Krishna is cool, and due to this world being a reflection of the spiritual world, our conception of cool in this material world is coming from the eternal coolness of the Supreme Person’s renunciation of His position, displayed by His detachment from the entire creation, and the simplicity of His pastimes within the eternal abode.