Krishna Janmashtami 2011

“Sometimes the naughty babies would crawl up to the cowshed, catch the tail of a calf and stand up. The calves, being disturbed, would immediately begin running here and there, and the children would be dragged over clay and cow dung. To see this fun, Yashoda and Rohini would call all their neighboring friends, the gopis.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 8 )

Immerse yourself in the transcendental nectar made up of the eternal pastimes of Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the most attractive person in any room He walks into. Every person is predisposed towards worshiping, but unless that inkling is matched with the worthiest recipient, the search for real pleasure will futilely continue. Yet just by hearing about the Supreme Lord, especially in His original form of Krishna, the awakening of the dormant God consciousness resting within the heart can become a reality in a second. Krishna should be remembered every single day, for do we forgo eating, sleeping or having fun on most days? If routine work follows a schedule, then why shouldn’t our worship of Krishna, the greatest source of pleasure? Even if there are impediments inhibiting daily worship, such as the tendency to view religious life as a chore instead of a delight, just remember Krishna on Janmashtami, once a year on the anniversary that marks His appearance in this wonderful world.

How can we declare this world to be wonderful? Just turning on the news reveals evidence of how not wonderful this place is. Natural disasters, lying politicians, gruesome murderers living around the block, and so many other horrible sites leave us asking the question, “Why am I here? Why is life so bad?” Yet the paramahamsas, the topmost transcendentalists, consider this place, or any place for that matter, wonderful because it comes from the Lord. Moreover, though He is not personally involved in the daily operations of a land separated from Him, God will still periodically make appearances. Just as the sun rises and sets at regular intervals, the time period of creation when viewed from the perspective of a day has regularly scheduled appearances by the Supreme Lord. Janmashtami celebrates Shri Krishna’s descent to this phenomenal land in His personal self, without any need of changing His form or highlighting certain qualities.

What do we mean by this? Every life form, an autonomous spark directed by the spirit soul within, comes from God. If Krishna is so pure and perfect, how can those things which expand from Him be deficient? Doesn’t this reveal a flaw in the Creator? The expansions are also eternally existing entities, but their constitutional position is a little different. God is the superior and His expansions are the inferior. There are different gradations of expansions, with some not even having any intelligence. The internal potency expansions are like Krishna in quality, while the external expansions are material, not having any spiritual identity. The living entities are part of Krishna’s superior energy, but they can choose in favor of the external energy’s association.

“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 15.7)

To aid the marginal potency fragments in choosing in favor of returning to the Lord’s association, Krishna periodically comes to earth in various non-different forms. These are personal expansions, while the living entities are referred to as separated expansions. The avataras, or incarnations, are fully endowed with Krishna’s features and they can attract the hearts and minds of the pure hearted saints. The difference between a saint and a wicked character can be seen in the type of pain they inflict. Both the good and the bad cause pain to others, but the saints cause pain by their separation and the miscreants by their presence. Similarly, when Krishna’s incarnations appear on earth, they inflict pain on the nefarious characters trying to stamp out any presence of religion in the world. While He roams the land, the Lord gives pleasure to His devotees, but when He leaves there is tremendous pain. Separation anxiety from Krishna is so acute that the pain actually ends up being beneficial, sort of like the “hurts so good” concept.

To alleviate the pain of separation caused by Krishna’s absence, the devotees try to remember the Lord as often as possible. Thankfully the kind-hearted saints of the past documented the activities of Krishna’s avatars in wonderful texts like the Ramayana and Puranas. On Janmashtami, devotees remember the appearance and activities of Krishna Himself, the Supreme Lord coming to earth in His original form. The descriptions of Krishna’s life and pastimes on earth are found in many texts, including the Harivamsha and Mahabharata, but they are best sequenced together in the tenth canto of the sacred Shrimad Bhagavatam, which is also known as the Bhagavata Purana.

What was so memorable about Krishna’s time on earth? For starters, His birth was not ordinary. For Krishna, there is never birth or death. Actually, the same holds true for the living entities, as nothing can kill the imperishable soul. Birth and death really refer to the spirit soul’s acceptance and rejection of bodies through reincarnation, which is fueled by karma. This doesn’t apply to Krishna, however, as everything He does is at His own whim. His birth in the prison cell in Mathura was at His choosing, as His parents Mother Devaki and Vasudeva had previously undergone many austerities to become qualified to have God come as their son.

The parents were in prison because Kamsa wanted to kill Devaki’s eighth child, for it had been prophesized that this child would lead to the king’s death. Since Krishna appeared at midnight, Janmashtami is a full day celebration, with the festivities culminating at night with the clock striking twelve to mark the occasion of the Lord’s emergence from Devaki’s womb. To show that He was the Supreme Lord, Krishna displayed His Vishnu form, which has four hands and is opulently adorned. Afraid of what Kamsa would do, the parents were eager to protect Krishna. The Lord then advised Vasudeva to transfer Him to the neighboring town of Vrindavana, where Yashoda, the wife of King Nanda, had just given birth to a daughter. Krishna would go to Vrindavana and the daughter would be placed in the prison cell.

The girl was Durga Devi, Lord Shiva’s wife who is in charge of this material creation, which is thus known as Devi-dhama. She is known as Durga because her energy, material nature, is very difficult to overcome. She would give a glimpse of this difficulty to Kamsa, who tried to throw her against a stone wall when he found out that Devaki had delivered another child. But before he could kill her, the child slipped out of his hands and went into the sky, taking on a beautiful form with eight hands. She then warned Kamsa that the child he had feared so much had actually been born already.

Meanwhile in Vrindavana, everyone marveled at the young child seemingly delivered by Mother Yashoda. Krishna is described as maha-tejah in the Vedas, which means that He is marvelously resplendent. He has this glow about Him that follows Him wherever He goes. Of all the pastimes enacted by Krishna, it would be hard to argue against His childhood pranks in Vrindavana being the most endearing. Just think of how much pleasure parents derive from their own children walking about, trying to crawl, trying to say their first words, getting in trouble, etc. Now add to the fact that your child is the Supreme Lord Himself, and you can begin to imagine just how happy Nanda and Yashoda felt at having their most wonderful blessing in their lives.

Krishna’s elder brother Balarama was also raised in Vrindavana. Both Krishna and Balarama were sons of Vasudeva and Devaki, though they were raised in Vrindavana to avoid Kamsa in the early years. Balarama is the same Ananta Shesha Naga, the serpent bed on whom Lord Vishnu resides in the spiritual sky. Krishna and Balarama did everything together in their childhood, including play different pranks and exhibit naughty behavior. When they began to crawl, they would both regularly get dirt on their bodies. Krishna was raised in Vrindavana by Mother Yashoda and Balarama by Mother Rohini. The mothers would smear their children with saffron in the morning, but by midday the boys would be covered with dirt and come to their mothers. All the hard work of preparation had gone for naught, but seeing their children so happily engaged in play gave the mothers endless delight.

Vrindavana was a farm community, so there were many cows around. The milk products produced by the cows would be used to maintain the citizens. Thus the cows were honored, respected and taken care of. As is natural for young, curious children, Krishna and Balarama would make their way to the different places in the community that were mysterious and unknown to them, places that adults regularly went. The cowshed was obviously one of these places. Krishna and Balarama would make their way to where the cows were and grab their tails. An adult cow is rather large compared to a child that can’t even walk yet, so we can just imagine what would happen next.

The cows, feeling the pressure on their tails, would then run away. Krishna and Balarama of course did not let go. Hence they would go for a ride in the mud and cow dung, similar to how people “jet ski” on the water for fun. Seeing the beautiful Krishna and Balarama roaming around in the mud like this brought great delight to the mothers and the gopis, the cowherd women of the community. They would huddle up together to enjoy the fun. Actually, just remembering this sight every day is enough to cure the most punishing mental ailment. To be given the chance to witness this, the gopis had to be extremely pious and fortunate. The Supreme Lord, who cannot be caught by the penances of ascetics, the meditation of yogis, or the study of Vedantists, was being dragged around by cows through the mud of Vrindavana. Transcendental love ruled over the community.

As time went by, Krishna would fulfill the prophesy known to Kamsa about his death. More pastimes would occur later on in life as well, but Krishna’s time spent in Vrindavana is what the devotees remember the most. Janmashtami allows any person of any religious persuasion to bask in the delightful sound vibrations of Krishna-katha. Just by regularly hearing about Krishna, one is sure to become a devotee. One who never forgets the beautiful Shyamasundara, the youth who roamed the sacred land of Vrindavana with Balarama and had the complexion of a dark raincloud, will find felicity in both this life and the next.

Krishna Janmashtami 2010

“While Krishna was going to the fruit vendor very hastily, most of the grains He was holding fell. Nonetheless, the fruit vendor filled Krishna’s hands with fruits, and her fruit basket was immediately filled with jewels and gold.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.11.11)

Janmashtami is the appearance day celebration of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The appearance day is the equivalent of the birthday, except that since God never actually takes birth, the occasions of His advents on earth are referred to as appearances. Celebrating the anniversary of this day is important because not everyone has the time nor the dedication to always think about God. In reality, every day should be treated as Krishna’s birthday, for His blessings are around us at all times. Yet by just remembering the Lord’s appearance and His transcendental activities, one makes great progress towards the ultimate spiritual perfection, that of thinking of the Lord at the time of death. Just a little service, a small exchange of sincere emotion and love, directed at the Lord can prove to be pivotal in turning our fortunes around. This principle was illustrated in one small incident during the Lord’s youth.

When we speak of Krishna’s youth, it is in reference to the timeline of His stay on earth. Around five thousand years ago, there was a powerful king named Kamsa who was ruling over Mathura, a town in what is presently known as India. During those times, “back in the day” so to speak, there was no such thing as India. The land was called Bharatavarsha, for the inhabitants of that land were descendants of the great King Bharata. Sometimes when a king or military leader is very successful or popular, the land will be named after him. This is true nowadays of celebrity figures as well. A famous baseball player, musician, or politician will have streets, buildings, and bridges named after them. Maharaja Bharata was so great that the entire planet was named after him.

Though he was the King of Mathura, Kamsa’s presence was felt in the neighboring lands as well. He crafted strategic alliances with other kings as a way to consolidate his power. Normally this kind of reign isn’t a bad thing. If we have a pious king, one who is dedicated to the welfare of the innocent, it would surely be a good thing to have that king’s presence felt in as large an area as possible. Sadly, this was not the case with Kamsa. From the Shrimad Bhagavatam, the crown jewel of Vedic literature, we understand that Kamsa was formerly a pious soul who made a transgression that caused him to be thrown into the material world. Upon landing in this temporary and miserable place where God is forgotten and man is allured by the energy known as maya, Kamsa assumed all demonic qualities. He was pious from time to time, but his underlying nature was that of a demon. This was by design, for Lord Krishna Himself was destined to come to earth to kill him. When Krishna fights with enemies, His adversaries are no ordinary human beings. Since they act as God’s sparring partners, these demons are some of the most exalted personalities.

Kamsa was made aware of his future fate at the most unexpected of moments. His sister Devaki had just gotten married to a kshatriya named Vasudeva. In Vedic style marriages, or in any traditional type of marriage, the bride is deemed to be given away to the groom’s family. Since that is the case, the marriage ceremony represents the parting of the girl from the family she grew up with. To ease the pain of separation, the tradition is that the bride’s brother will usually escort her, along with her husband, to her new home. This is what occurred with Kamsa and Devaki. During their ride to Vasudeva’s home, a voice in the sky proclaimed that Devaki’s eighth son would kill Kamsa. Shocked to hear this announcement, Kamsa took out his sword and was ready to kill his sister immediately. This was certainly strange behavior, for Devaki had done nothing wrong. Yet not wanting to risk future injury, Kamsa lost all sense of rationale. Vasudeva kindly stepped in and was able to pacify Kamsa with clever words. Vasudeva offered to give up each one of Devaki’s sons to Kamsa as a sign of good faith. This way, the husband and wife could go on living, and Kamsa’s fears could be alleviated.

Day and night Kamsa thought about Devaki’s eighth son. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat, whatever he would do, wherever he would go, he would simply think about this eighth child. Not wanting to take any chances, Kamsa had Vasudeva and Devaki locked up in a jail. With every child that was born to Devaki, Kamsa would take it and throw it against a stone wall. There is much controversy today about the abortion issue, where the child is killed within the womb through some medical procedure. Kamsa didn’t mess around with that idea; he went straight for infanticide. Leaving no room for doubt, he killed the infants in the worst possible way. One certainly has to be the greatest barbarian to take to such action.

When Devaki finally gave birth to her eighth child, it was in the middle of the night, at midnight to be more exact. This was no ordinary child; it was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Krishna came to earth to save Devaki and Vasudeva, who technically became His biological parents. In order to reveal His divine nature to His parents, Krishna appeared in His four-handed form of Lord Vishnu. Devotees of Vishnu are known as Vaishnavas. Since there is no difference between Krishna and Vishnu, for they are the same original God, devotees of Krishna are also known as Vaishnavas. After offering wonderful prayers to Vishnu, both Devaki and Vasudeva began to worry about what Kamsa would do. Krishna was their savior after all, so if Kamsa were to kill Him, all hope would be lost. Krishna’s parents asked Him to hide His true form out of fear of Kamsa. The Lord then requested Vasudeva to transfer Him to the nearby town of Gokula, which was headed by Nanda Maharaja.

In the dead of night, while all the guards were sleeping, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His blissful, love-evoking infant form, was taken by Vasudeva from Mathura to Gokula. Though the guards were asleep and the shackles removed from Vasudeva, the path to Gokula was not without impediment. There was a strong storm which threatened to obstruct Vasudeva’s path across a raging river. Yet miraculously, Ananta Shesha Naga, the serpent bed of Lord Vishnu in the spiritual sky, appeared on the scene and acted as an umbrella for Krishna and Vasudeva. Just as Shri Lakshmana had stood alongside Lord Rama many thousands of years before, the same Ananta Shesha Naga came to protect Rama in His form of Krishna. As he waded through the Yamuna River, which had kindly allowed for Krishna’s passage, Vasudeva held his son above his head so as to keep Krishna safe from the water. With Ananta Shesha Naga acting as the umbrella for both of them, the scene became quite a memorable one. On the day of Janmashtami, this scene of the three great personalities travelling to Gokula is often remembered by Vaishnavas.

Upon reaching Gokula, Vasudeva dropped Krishna off at Nanda Maharaja’s house, while at the same time taking the baby girl who had just been born to Nanda’s wife Yashoda. A short while after Vasudeva’s return to Mathura with the little girl, Kamsa found out about the birth of Devaki’s eighth child. Even though the prophecy said that it would be Devaki’s eighth son to kill him, Kamsa wasn’t going to take any chances. When he was about ready to throw the girl on the stone slab, the child slipped out of his hands and took to the sky. The child revealed her true form, that of Goddess Durga, the faithful servant of Lord Krishna and controller of the material energy. She laughed at Kamsa and told him that his angel of death had already appeared in this world and was ready to kill him. Though over the next few years Kamsa would try his best to have the child Krishna killed, he would be unsuccessful in his attempts. Eventually Krishna would come to Mathura and kill Kamsa and thus fulfill the prophecy.

Krishna’s childhood in Gokula and Vrindavana is what the devotees are especially fond of. The residents of these towns loved Krishna.  This was especially true of Krishna’s foster-parents Nanda and Yashoda. There are so many incidents from Krishna’s childhood that evoke emotions of love and attachment; so one can learn great lessons from all of them. One incident in particular really crystallizes the relationship between the devotee and God and what it takes to keep this relationship intact.

Nanda Maharaja belonged to the farming community, technically known as the vaishyas. The Vedic system for societal maintenance calls for four divisions, or classes, of men. The third division is the vaishya, and their duty is to engage in agriculture, banking, cow protection, and general commerce. The four divisions can be thought of in terms of the different work prescribed to employees of a successful company. In any profitable company, there will be different people engaged in different work. Some people will serve as the leaders; they will be in charge of the big picture, determining what the future course of action will be. There are others who serve as the laborers; they will take to the nitty-gritty, hard labor. Others will be involved in assessing risk and running analysis on profits and future outlooks. Others will be the brains of the productivity side; they will write software and manage the human and physical assets. For the company to be successful, each person must do the job they are best suited for. If a person is suited to be a leader, it would be silly to put them in charge of the hard labor, the nuts and bolts of the operation. If a person is suited to be a salesmen, it would be silly to put them in charge of writing software and doing work that didn’t involve human interaction.

By the same token, a successful and peaceful society requires the cooperation of all four divisions. Since Nanda Maharaja belonged to the mercantile division, he and his family spent most of their time engaged in cow protection. If one keeps a few cows protected and well-maintained, they can have all of their economic problems solved. Nanda Maharaja’s family also took part in agriculture, so they had a decent stock of grain in their house. Grain, milk, butter, yogurt, etc., are all that is needed to survive in this world. There is no need for the eating of animal flesh when these commodities are in good supply.

On one occasion, a fruit vendor came to Nanda’s house. At the time, Krishna was very young; He could barely walk or speak. Krishna delighted everyone around Him, especially when He took to imitating the activities of the adults. It is quite common to see young children try to imitate the activities of adults, and Krishna was no different in this regard. The fruit vendor had a surplus supply of various fruits, so they would go out and sell the surplus around town. The buying and selling during those times took place through the barter system. This also teaches us how currencies work. The currency of a given area can actually be anything. In times past, the currencies of particular areas have been gold coins, seashells, and even cigarettes.

When this fruit vendor would come to Nanda’s house, they would receive grains in exchange for the fruit. Obviously there would be a certain amount of grain needed to purchase a certain amount of fruit. Whatever was peaceably and voluntarily agreed upon was the going exchange rate. Lord Krishna must have seen these exchanges going on from time to time. On one particular occasion, baby Krishna decided to make His own exchange. He grabbed a small handful of grains and eagerly approached the vendor to make the trade. Since He was a small child, obviously He couldn’t fit much grain into His hands. To make matters worse, while running towards the vendor, much of the grain fell out of Krishna’s hands. The small child was a little despondent upon seeing that He didn’t have much to offer the fruit vendor, but the vendor was so taken by Krishna’s sincerity that they made the exchange anyway. The Supreme Personality of Godhead kindly offered some grains with love and sincerity, and this was all the fruit vendor needed. This was deemed a fair exchange.

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.26)

After giving Krishna the fruit, the vendor looked at their basket and saw that all the fruit had been transformed into valuable jewels. Everyone was quite astonished and they couldn’t figure out what had happened. The vendor, who was honest, sincere, and a pure devotee of Krishna, offered some small fruits to Krishna and was rewarded with jewels. Obviously as an honest and humble person, the fruit vendor didn’t require these jewels, but the Lord wanted to make them happy. With a more valuable commodity, the vendor wouldn’t have to worry so much about making a living.

This one incident is a great reminder of the meaning of life and how we can go about utilizing everything in our possession the proper way. Since God is the creator, He is the original owner of everything. All of our possessions, bodily attributes, and familial relationships are due to Krishna’s mercy. The Lord offered the fruit vendor a small quantity of grain, but the Lord has already given us much more. The fruit vendor was more than satisfied with this blessing from the Lord, so they returned the favor by parting with something that was valuable to them, a commodity which was the source of their livelihood. By the same token, we should be equally as kind to the Lord by offering Him everything in our possession, including those things we value the most. The most valuable thing that we own is time, so this is what we should sacrifice to the Lord.

The best way to give our time to Krishna is to chant the Lord’s holy names, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”. This chanting process is most sublime because it takes care of hearing, speaking, and remembering. Moreover, it is a sacrifice, the yajna of of all yajnas. On Janmashtami Day, and on every other day of the year, we should make the necessary sacrifice to spend time with Krishna. Just as the fruit vendor had their ordinary commodity turned into valuable jewels, the chanting sacrifice will reward us with the beautification of everything in our lives, including our own bodies. At the time of death, our soul will get an upgrade of bodies, from a temporary and miserable one to an eternally blissful and spiritual one. This spiritual body will allow us to associate with Krishna all the time, thus enabling us to derive the same pleasure felt by the residents of Gokula.

Krishna Janmashtami 2009

“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita 4.8)

Janmashtami is the appearance day celebration of Lord Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to the Vedas, the ultimate authority on all matters of religion and life. The Lord came to this earth around five thousand years ago, towards the end of the Dvapara Yuga, in Mathura, India. Born as the eighth son of Mother Devaki, the Lord specially came to deliver His devotees. Technically, the Lord doesn’t take birth since He is eternal. Therefore, the birthday of Krishna is referred to as His appearance day.

"My dear Lord, it is not a very wonderful thing that You appear within the womb of Devaki because the creation was also made in that way. You were lying in the Causal Ocean as Maha-Vishnu, and by Your breathing process, innumerable universes came into existence.” (Vasudeva speaking to Krishna, Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume 1, Ch 1.3)

The Lord’s appearance day is celebrated by the devotees since they love to always think of the Lord and remember His pastimes. Similar to the way we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and other holidays, devotees celebrate the anniversary dates of occasions related to God. In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna declares that He comes to earth from time to time to reinstitute the principles of dharma and to give protection to His dependents.

During the time of Krishna’s advent, there was a king named Kamsa who had amassed a great empire. Everyone lived in fear of Him due to His strength. A person of a demoniac nature, Kamsa had imprisoned his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva due to a prophecy that stated that Kamsa would killed by the eighth son of Devaki. As Devaki gave birth to her children, one by one Kamsa would mercilessly kill them by throwing them against a stone wall. In this way, he anxiously awaited the birth of Devaki’s eighth son. Krishna, seeing this predicament, decided to appear in the womb of Devaki to fulfill the prophecy and to free Devaki and Vasudeva. After being offered prayers from the demigods, Devaki gave birth to Krishna, who then appeared in His four-handed form of Narayana, or Vishnu.

“Thus eulogized by the gods, Devaki bore in her womb the lotus-eyed Lord Krishna, the protector of the world. On the day of His birth, the quarters of the horizon were filled with joy, as if moonlight was diffused over the whole earth. The pious experienced new delight, the strong winds were hushed, and the rivers glided tranquilly when Krishna was about to be born. The seas with their own melodious murmurings provided the music, while the Kinnaras and Gandharvas danced and sang and the demigods showered down flowers upon the earth. At midnight, when the supporter of all was about to be born, the clouds emitted low pleasing sounds and poured down a rain of flowers.

As soon as Vasudeva beheld the child of the complexion of lotus leaves, having four arms, and the shrivatsa mark on His chest, he addressed Him with love and reverence saying, ‘I understand that You have appeared to kill the uncivilized Kamsa and his followers. But knowing that You were to appear to kill him and his followers, he has already killed so many of Your predecessors, elder brothers. Now he is simply awaiting the news of Your birth. As soon as he hears about it, he will immediately appear with all kinds of weapons to kill You.’ Devaki also exclaimed, ‘My only cause of fear from my brother Kamsa is due to Your appearance. My Lord Madhusudana (Krishna), Kamsa may know that You are already born. Therefore I request You to conceal this four-armed form of Your Lordship which holds the four symbols of Vishnu. My dear Lord, at the end of the annihilation of the cosmic manifestation, You put the whole universe within Your abdomen; still by Your unalloyed mercy You have appeared in my womb. I am surprised that You imitate the activities of ordinary human beings just to please Your devotee.’

To these pleas Krishna answered and said, ‘Dear mother, in former times I was prayed to by you and adored in the hope of progeny: your prayers have been granted, for I am born as your son. I know you are very concerned about Me and afraid of Kamsa. Therefore I order you to take Me immediately to Gokula and replace Me with the daughter who has just been born to Yashoda.’ So saying, Vasudeva, taking the baby, went out that same night; for the guards were all charmed by Yogamaya, as were the warders at the gates of Mathura, and thus they didn’t obstruct Vasudeva’s path. To protect the infant from the heavy rain that fell from the clouds of night, Ananta Sesha Naga, the supporter of the universe, the serpent with unlimited hoods, followed Vasudeva and spread his hoods above their heads; and when Vasudeva, with the baby Krishna in his arms, crossed the Yamuna river, deep as it was, and dangerous with numerous whirlpools, the waters became stilled and cleared a path for Vasudeva. On the bank he saw Nanda and the rest who had come there to bring taxes due to Kamsa. At the same time Yashoda was also under the influence of Yogamaya, whom she had brought forth as her daughter, and whom the prudent Vasudeva took up, placing Krishna in her place by the side of Yashoda. He then quickly returned home. When Yashoda awaoke, she found that she had delivered a boy, as black as the dark leaves of the lotus, and she greatly rejoiced.” (Story of Krishna’s birth found in the Vishnu and Bhagavata Puranas)

Janmashtami Videos:

Cause for Celebration

Elegant dinners, lavish spending, and nights out on the town are all different ways of having a good time. We all like to treat ourselves every now and then. A night out at an expensive restaurant is a great way to celebrate a special occasion. We gather all our family and friends together, and spare no expense in the celebration. Fifty dollars steaks, hundred dollar bottles of wine, and savory soufflés are the staples of fine dining in America.

Consuming food is necessary in order to properly maintain the body and satisfy hunger pains. Regular food items, such as vegetables, grains, and milk, are relatively inexpensive. Yet for special occasions, we don’t mind spend a little extra on something that normally doesn’t cost much. We like to have fun, and going out to expensive restaurants is exciting and it gives us something to look forward to at the same time.

Devotees of Lord Krishna similarly like to have lavish celebrations. It is a misconception that religious people don’t know how to have fun. In fact the Vedas advise us specifically to become servants of the Supreme Lord and that such service will be more fun than any ordinary material activity. Being religious doesn’t mean that we have to sit in quiet meditation and renounce all our activities. On the contrary, the highest form of religion is referred to as devotional service, which is full of action and excitement. Serving God means satisfying our spiritual senses and having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have. Since the Lord has appeared on earth many times in different incarnations, devotees use the calendar year to celebrate specific pastimes that the Lord performed during His time here. Couples very much in love often celebrate many different occasions and anniversaries aside from the standard Valentine’s Day and birthdays. Most married couples have a celebration each year on the calendar day of their wedding. However, newly formed couples might celebrate each month or each week on the day that they formally became a couple. They essentially look for any opportunity they can get to celebrate their love and affection for each others.

In a similar manner, devotees look for any opportunity they can get to celebrate a particular activity or appearance of Lord Krishna. The Lord specifically gave us these holidays so that we could have fun serving and remembering Him. Festivals likes Krishna’s birthday, Janmashtami, are celebrated with great pomp around the world. Devotees spend lavishly to decorate temples and their homes. Expensive flowers are purchased and offered to the Lord. Devotees gather around to sing songs and read stories about Krishna and His pastimes. Elaborate food preparations are made and offered to the Lord. Devotees fast and remain awake until midnight so that they can celebrate the exact time that the Lord appeared from the womb of Mother Devaki. The Lord’s appearance occurred around five thousand years ago in the town of Mathura, and it was under trying circumstances. Devaki and her husband Vasudeva were prisoners of King Kamsa, who was Devaki’s brother. On the day of their wedding, a voice from the sky informed Kamsa that his death would come at the hands of the eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva. For this reason, he locked up both Devaki and her husband, and killed each of their first seven sons. Krishna’s appearance was a cause for celebration, not only because He was God, but because His appearance signaled the end of the couple’s suffering since He was to kill Kamsa.

When Lord Krishna advented on this earth and was growing up in Vrindavana, He specifically instituted a great festival Himself, known as Govardhana Puja. Krishna’s foster father, Nanda Maharaja, regularly performed puja, or worship, to the demigod Indra. Lord Krishna convinced him to have a puja for Govardhana Hill instead. His specific instructions were,

“Prepare very nice foodstuffs of all descriptions from the grains and ghee collected for the yajna. Prepare rice, dahl, then halavah, pakora, puri and all kinds of milk preparations like sweet rice, sweetballs, sandesha, rasagulla and ladoo and invite the learned brahmanas who can chant the Vedic hymns and offer oblations to the fire. The brahmanas should be given all kinds of grains in charity. Then decorate all the cows and feed them well. After performing this, give money in charity to the brahmanas. As far as the lower animals are concerned, such as the dogs, and the lower grades of people, such as the candalas, or the fifth class of men who are considered untouchable, they also may be given sumptuous prasadam. After giving nice grasses to the cows, the sacrifice known as Govardhana Puja may immediately begin. This sacrifice will very much satisfy Me.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ch 24)

Govardhana Puja was subsequently performed, and it has been a tradition ever since. It was due to Lord Krishna’s kindness that He gave us this and many other wonderful festivals to celebrate. So let us spare no expense is glorifying the Lord. The Christmas Holiday is very nice, but why not dedicate every day to God? Living by this principle will make us happy and joyful throughout the year. The Lord has innumerable pastimes that we can celebrate, so there is always something to look forward to. By celebrating in this way, we purify ourselves and have fun doing it. We get the same thrills and excitement as having an elegant night out on the town, with all the spiritual benefits included.