Krishna, the unborn appears. Lets celebrate together

Vedic Cultural Home felicitates people of all races and background, the most wonderful Krishna Janmastami celebrations and prays for elevation to Krishna Consciousness.

Krishna janmastami is a moment for the soul to interact with his super soul, the God. To interact favourably one has to realise God.

Krishnajanmastami:

It means the celebration of the appearance of the Lord Krishna on earth.He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The extensive information in this regard is given by Srila His Divine Grace Prabhupada in his Srimad Bhagavatam and Krishna book.

 More than five thousand years ago the lord appeared on the 8^th tithi of Sravan month of the Vedic calendar that corresponds to different dates in every Western calendar year, one day before Srila Prabhupada descended on earth.

The appropriate expression to mark this auspicious day is the ‘Appearance day’ instead of ‘birth day’ because Krishna is unborn, eternal. His appearance on the earth is referred as the rising of the sun in the morning and setting. The sun exists in its abode even in the night and appears to us in the morning. Its rising does not mean that the Eastern direction give birth to the sun nor Western horizon takes him away. God is omnipresent and omnipotent that He appears on his own will and on His own way. He appeared in front of Hiranya Kasepu and Praladh from a pillar as Nrsimhadev, to save His devotee Praladh and eliminate the miscreant Kasepu, as He himself declared in the Bhagavad Gita originally revealed at the beginning of the creation to the Sun God and then later retold to Arjun. A pillar can’t give birth to any living creature, but in this context the Lord Krishna appeared out of it out of His own will.

Krishnajanmastami is celebrated in the Hindu society to remind oneself his relationship with the God, an event established by the king of Vrindavan Nanda Maharaj more than five thousand years ago. Now one may ask, why should we celebrate Krishna’s birthday and why not of other gods as there are millions in Hindu theology?  Or after all who is Krishna? This article attempts to illustrate the answer conforming the Vedic history, the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.  

Krishna? Vedic literature conforms Krishna as the God (Bhagavan) and all others such as Siva, Brahma etc as the subordinate heads (devatas or demigods) responsible to maintain the different faculties of the God’s creations. God is always one and He has innumerable names; just like there is one sun in this galaxy, it is being named according to one’s language. One may question why the God’s name be Krishna. The Sanskrit meaning of ‘Krishna’ means all attractive. Krishna is Bhagavan, all attractive for He possesses everything both spiritual and material which can be summarised in to six opulences namely - wisdom, beauty, fame, power, wealth and renunciation. While, there are many great personalities who are also attractive by being famous or wealthy, but only Krishna as God is replete in all these six opulence. The vidic scriptures do not prescribe to celebrate such an event of any demigods. Krishna the God is singular without a second, all mighty, omnipotent and all pervading. He is unborn and his transcendental body never deteriorates. Thus by pleasing Krishna all other personalities will be pleased as is watering to the root of a tree reaches to its branches and doesn’t require to water the branches of the tree separately.

How do we know Krishna as the supreme God?

Srimad Bhagavatam describes more directly of Bhagavan as Sri Krishna. To trace out how this knowledge came down to us, a disciplic succession is the streamlined system passed down from teachers to disciples. The source is Krishna himself. In the beginning of creation, Lord Brahma, the first created human person found himself seated on a lotus flower on the cosmic galaxy. He was amazed how he appeared there. He underwent research and austerity to understand about his existence. He then heard a sound “tapa” and meditated on it.  Pleased with his meditation and sacrifice, Krishna revealed him the Vedas in to his heart. He then understood that the God is Krishna to whom he worships. He understood that the Lord Krishna expanded himself to the form of Garbodakshayi Vishnu from whose naval the lotus flower, where he was born, was emanated. Similarly Ksirodakshayi Vishnu was expanded on the cosmic ocean who releases innumerable planets. Then Maha Vishnu was expanded, to reside as super soul in every living entity. Krishna is thus the father, the origin, as is He Himself has confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita 10.8 - “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds, everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts”. On seeing Krishna the God, Brahma prayed with awe as noted in the Brahma Samhita. This scripture gives full evidence of the Lord and His abode- Goloka.

Brahma, through his meditation, saw Krishna in His transcendental planet Golok Vrindavan, the topmost planet of the Vaikuntha galaxy. Krishna Himself described His planet in the Bhagavad Gita very briefly when He re-told this to Arjun when He personally appeared in Mathura, India about 5000 years ago. He said that in His planet, there need no sun or moon, it is self-illuminated and cities are made of touchstones. There are forests of desire trees and Sauravi cows. There Krishna eternally resides, served by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune. He sports with His most confidential and intimate devotees, headed by Srimati Radharani. He has a form just like us but His body is spiritual and thus eternal. His complexion is dark-blue, like that of a rain-filled cloud and His eyes are like lotus petals. He is ever youthful, full of bliss and His beauty excels that of thousands of cupids. He likes to play the flute, He sports a crown with a peacock feather and the exquisite kastuba jewels adorn him. His planet, the kingdom of God never annihilates like this material world. Krishna welcomes every body to come there and assures that one, who reaches there, doesn’t have to return to this material world where one has to suffer from birth, old age, diseases and death life after life. He is all omnipotent, all pervading, eternal and sat cit ananda- complete with bliss, truth and knowledge. One who reaches there by the dint of loving devotional service, one attains the same sat cit ananda, the final liberation.

Appearance of Krishna on this material world.

By the time this millennium of materialism was about to begin some 5000 years ago, this world was bereft of spiritual knowledge and detachment. Rulers were tyrannical and people were devoid of piety. Thus the mother earth personified Bhudevi approached Narad Muni to reinstate the God consciousness as a remedy. In view of the fact that modern civilization conditions the soul to entangle in the materialism Krishna mercifully turned to bestow this earth with His pastimes in His original sacidananda rupa so that people would be conscious of Him. When approached to Him by Narad and other demigods, Krishna appeared as a child in the family of Vasudev and Devaki in the prison cell of Kamsa, a very cruel king of Mathura. This was predicted in Bhagavad Gita 4.7-8 “Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendent of Bharata, and a predominant of irreligion, at that time, I descend myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I myself appear millennium after millennium. Here His purpose of coming to this world is explained and predicted.

Krishna lila- the pastimes.

When Krishna descended on earth, in Mathura, all his entourages also came as different personalities convenient to exchange the pastimes with Krishna. On the very night of His appearance in the prison of Kamsa, Krishna appeared in the Vishnu form because His Vishnu form of expansion is to serve as a manager of the earth. But Devaki and Vasudev requested again to appear in His original blissful personal form so that they could express their love as parents, Krsna agreed.  The bhairanga-external energy of the lord- Durga quickly covered the parents with her illusory energy and agitated to take the baby Krishna to Yasoda and Nanda Maharaj nearby Vrindavan and exchange with their daughter; Durga herself. When Kamsa came to kill Krishna he was stupefied to see a female child with Devaki. Even then he attempted to kill but Durga escaped showing her feature. Kamsa was terrified and sent many demons in different forms and techniques to find out Krishna and kill. But all of them were killed by Krishna even though He was just like a child. Such are His pastimes.

In the previous millenniums the demons used to live in different planets but in the later millenniums, they came gradually to live in the same planet with humans, and then with human family and now in the mentality of human beings. Krishna’s pastimes were to eliminate these demons and demonic mentalities.  He was very lovable to her parents and fond of cows, milk and butter. He attracts the young girls with his bodily opulence, young boys with friendship and elderly with mollycoddling love expressions, sometimes described as naughty. 

The essence of Janmastami celebration

Celebrating the appearance day or commonly known as the birth day of Krishna is one of the perfect opportunity for the devotional services. The natural position of human beings in relation to God is as loving servitors. So one may develop his loving devotional service in a passive state, active state, as a friend, parent or as a conjugal lover. He says; One can understand me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter in to the Kingdom of God. BG 18.55.

There are nine process of devotional service. They are sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam, padasevanam, dasyam and pujana, sakhijana and atmanivedana with love. (hearing the glories of the lord, chanting, remembering Him, offering prayers, serving Him, serving as servant, worshiping, serving as friend and surrendering oneself completely).

While celebrating the Krsna Janmastami, all these 9 methods of devotion or Bhaktiyoga is applied. One can listen to the stories of Krsna, sing and dance for him, respect Him, serve Him in His deity form, etc. and surrender unto Him completely. The process is that the devotee should fast till the middle of the night and remain clean. In the temple usually deity incarnation of the Lord will be there. The devotees bath the deity, offer garlands, offer different vegetarian and milk products, offer presents or donation and entertain the Lord with hymns. If in devotion, such an occasion is celebrated, the love for God that is dormant in the heart will grow and fructify making the human form of life very successful and perfectly blissful.

At present celebrating this auspicious day is made possible worldwide by AC Bhaktivedanda Srila Prabhupada through the Hare Krsna movement. Where there is no temple, people gather with their family and read Krishna stories and sing bhajan. In this way the goal of human life will be perfected to go back to Godhead, the kingdom of God.

Everyone of you are invited to Naamhat in Boxtel for this celebration