Did Krishna experience human passions and sensations?

Question

Did Krishna suffer from human weaknesses, and did He experience pain, pleasure, temptation, emotions, and other human passions and sensations while on Earth?

Or did he not experience those things?

Answer 1

Yes, he did...

When Bhagwan takes birth as a human he binds himself with humanly qualities otherwise it will be partiality to every others being as every being (jiva) is said to be the incarnation of Bhagawan itself as i have discussed in this answer of mine.

“maayaa.n tu prakR^iti.n vidyaanmaayina.n cha maheshvaram.h | tasyavayavabhuutaistu vyaapta.n sarvamida.n jagat.h |” (Swetasvatara Upanishad 4:10).

“Know then Prakriti (nature) is Mâyâ (art), and the Maheshwara the Mâyin (maker); the whole world is filled with what are his members (forms)”.

Again,

“chhandaa.nsi yaGYaaH kratavo vrataani bhuutaM bhavya.n yachcha vedaa vadanti | asmaan.h maayii sR^ijate vishvameta-ttasmi.nshchaanyo maayayaa sanniruddhaH |” (Swetasvatara Upanishad 4:09).

“The Lord of Maya (Māyin viz Maheshwara) projects the Vedas, sacrifices, spiritual practices, past and future, religious observances, all that the Vedas declare, and the whole world including ourselves. The lord of Maya, again, is bound by Maya in this [in the form of Jiva].”

As for Lord Krishna, Sri Devi Bhagwatam MahaPuranam 5:1:12-54. says thus.:

12-54. Vyāsa said :-- “True it has been said by you that Vāsudeva the Janārdana, is the destroyer of the Daityas and He is able to create and preserve the Devas and do all other acts for them. But the Great Lord assumed a human body; therefore he had to perform his duties like a man and observe the Varṇa and Āśrama Dharmas pertaining to human beings. Respecting the elderly persons, worshipping the spiritual teachers, doing service to the Brahmāṇas, adoring and propitiating the Devas, feeling sorrow at times of sorrow, feeling pleasure at times of happiness, feeling dejection or expressing censure or scandal, or having sexual intercourse with women, in other words, to feel lust, anger, greediness and other passions when their proper time arises. All these are natural to all human beings; how can, then, Śrī Kṛṣṇa though intrinsically of pure qualities, become Nirguṇa (devoid of human qualities) when he assumed a human body which is Saguṇa, i.e., with qualities. O Ruler of men! The extinction of the Yādava race by the curse of Gāndhārī, the daughter of Subala, and the curse of a Brāhmin, Kṛṣṇa’s leaving his human coil, the stealing away of his wives, the robbing of their wealth on the way by the dacoits of the Āvīra tribe, Arjuna’s becoming powerless to hurl any weapons on those dacoits, Kṛṣṇa’s not knowing anything about the stealing away of Pradyumna and Aniruddha from his Dvārkā palace, these all correspond verily to exertions and failings appropriate to human bodies. Again the Ṛṣi Nārāyaṇa is the part incarnate of Viṣṇu, and Vāsudeva is the part incarnate of the Ṛṣi Nārāyaṇa; hence what wonder is there, if Vāsudeva be seen to adore and propitiate Śiva? Śiva is the God of gods; and He is the Lord of all the causal bodies that exist; in the state of Suṣupti (deep sleep). In this respect, Śiva is the creator of Viṣṇu and Viṣṇu worships Him in this light. Rāma, Kṛṣṇa and others are all part incarnations of Viṣṇu; so there is no wonder if they worship Śiva......."

I hope this clarifies all your queries. Prd..

Answer 2

Avatara appears to be embodied (Aprākṛta-śarira) , appears to experience passion , sensation , hence called Lila, (like an actor as explained in the previous comment).unlike a janma that is constrained by its embodiment. If this is not so , then the very theory of Avatara loses its relevance.

Swami Madhusudana Saraswatis Commentary (translation Swami Gambirananda) for Bhagavad Gita 4.6

Janma, birth, consists in taking on a fresh body, organs,etc., (and) vyaya, loss, means separation from the body, organs,etc. that were assumed earlier. 'Since death of anyone born and of (re-)birth is a certainty' (2.27). due to merit and demerit. And the ignorant jīva, which identifies itself with the body, becomes subject to virtue and vice on account of being bound to perform rites and duties.Now, what was asserted by saying that embodiment of this kind is not possible for God, who is omniscient and the cause of everything, is verily so. How?

In the first half (of the verse), 'Even though I am birthless, undecaying by nature, and the Lord of beings,' He admits that God cannot have a body made of the element, 'ajah api san, even though I am birthless," He dispels the notion of His acceptance of a fresh body; the notion of,separation from a previous body by saying 'avyayâtmā (api san),even though undecaying by nature'; (and the notion of) His being subject to merit and demerit by saying 'iśvarah api san bhuthaanam, even though the Lord of beings'-of all beginning from Brahma to a clump of grass, which are subject to birth. How then is the embodiment?

This He answers the second half (of the verse): Adhişthäya, by controlling; sväm, My Prakrti; sambhavāmi, I am born. By ruling over, by bringing under control, through the light of Consciousness, Prakrti, called Māyā, which is possessed of numerous strange powers, which is capable of rendering the impossible actual, which is svām, My own, an upädhi of Mine, Associated verily with the particular modifications of that Māyā, become possessed of a body, as it were, and born, as it were.

(Arjuna's doubt:) In that case, since there is no body made of the elements, therefore how can there be the apprehension of Your being a man etc., which are its characteristics? As to that, He says: Atma-māyayā, by means of My own Māyā. It is verily through My own Mäyā that the cognition of My being a man etc. occurs for the benefit of humanity; but it is not so in reality. This is the idea.

So has it been said in the Mokşadharma, O Närada, that you see Me is verily this Māyā conjured up by Me. Otherwise you could not have seen Me (Mbh.12.339.44-5).

He appears as if embodied, as if born, and as if favouring people though by His nature He is birthless, changeless, the Lord of all creatures, eternal, pure, conscious and free. Although He has no need Himself, still, (He does so) for the sake of favouring creatures (commentary in Introduction to B.G.). It has also been explained by the annotator that the Lord took birth in a divine form created through Mâyā and given shape to by His own will. and I am the revealer of all, and isvarah, the Lord, of all beings,(still) adhisthäya, by remaining established in, sväm, My own(by this is ruled out Māyā),, by virtue of being the basis of Māyā, the cause of everything; (still) sambhavāmi, I behave like an embodied being, even without the relationship of 'a body and the embodied being'.How then is there the cognition of embodiedness with regard to that which is bodiless and Existence-Knowledge-Bliss through and through? Hence He says, ätma-mäyayā, through My own Máyā. devoid of the relationship of 'a body and the embodied being-there is the cognition of my having that form (body).

Srimad Bhagavad Puran 10.14.55

कृष्णमेनमवेहि त्वमात्मानमखिलात्मनाम् । जगद्धिताय सोऽप्यत्र देहीवाभाति मायया ॥ You should know Kṛṣṇa to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He appeared as an ordinary human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency.