Janam Ashtami
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Leela Purushottam
Sunil Raina Rajanaka , Leela Purushottam "Daily Excelsior" 13/8/2017
The birth of Bhagwan Krishna is celebrated as Janam Ashtami, the eighth day of the dark half of Krishna paksha of the month of Bhadrapada of Hindu calendar, when Rohini constellation is ascendant.
The festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion by Hindus across the globe. Believers keep day long fast and pray till mid night to rejoice the birth of Lord. On this day the images of Bhagwan Krishna are placed on swing and are worshipped as Kanha besides well decorated and colorful processions is taken with messages from Bhagwan Krishna’s life. Special events of Raas Leela, enactment of Krishna’s youthful days is showcased to convey the subtle message of compassion, love, humility and glory of Lord.
Devotees recite the story and teachings of Sri Krishna from the Magnum Opus of Rishi Vyasa’s Mahabharata besides chanting the shlokas from The Bhagwad Gita the metaphysical chapters narrated by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in the battle field of Kurushetra. Temples of Sri Krishna are fully decorated and children are fully adorned as Lord Krishna and Radha – the spiritual companion of Krishna. Sri Krishna leela or the plays form the Krishna’s life are enacted and fast is broken at mid night.
The central motif of Krishna’s life for mankind is the aspiration to embody all that is divine. Affectionate and loyal, his playful nature is gentle reprimand to remain good natured in the face of life’s challenges. According to Rishi Vyasa after shedding his body as Ram, Lord Vishnu ascends to Vaikuntha, his celestial abode on the ocean of milk, and then returns with a new body, that is Krishna for the emancipation of humanity who are suffering in the world of casualty.
Bhagwan Sri Krishna is described as –
Makhan Chor – One who steals butter
Chitta Chor – One who steals one’s heart
Rana Chor – One who runs away from battle and lives to fight another day
Leela Purushottam – The supreme play-actor
The birth of Krishna is an absorbing one. It goes that Mother Earth appealed to Lord Brahma to help reduce sins on Earth. Seeing Mother Earth’s genuine urge to get rid of sin’s Lord Brahma prayed to Lord Vishnu for help who in turn promised that he will take birth on Earth and will destroy every kind of sin and restore justice, peace and dharma in order to save humanity from falling to appalling conditions.
Janamashtami Special
During Lord’s time Kansa was a tyrant who ruled Mathura and was responsible of putting Vasudev and Devaki in prison as there was a prophecy that 8th child of Devaki shall be responsible for the annihilation of Kansa and his tyrannical rule. Frightened Kansa vows to kill all the children of Deviki. Kansa was successful in killing first seven infants. When Divine eighth baby is born Vasudeva finds himself magically freed from prison and he takes the infant across the river Yamuna to a family of cowherds and exchanging him for a new born girl. Kansa on learning the birth of a child rushes to prison to kill the infant who in turn slips from his hands and conveys to Kansa that his despotic rule is about to end and the one who will annihilate him is born and is safe. Subsequently in later years Krishna kills the tyrannical Kansa.
Sri Krishna was a perfect communicator, motivator, strategist, coach and leader. During battle of Mahabharata he did not pick any weapon as promised to Arjuna and was in fact a charioteer to Arjuna. He was a motivator and mentor of Pandava’s thus as a motivator he was inspiring confidence in them so that they can make correct judgement, develop right understanding among themselves and work for the victory which was for righteousness and establishment of justice. Krishna acted like a coach to Pandava’s at every step as they had completely surrendered to Him for the outcome of the battle. This conveys the message to humanity that Lord is ready to help the myriad souls who completely beseech him as he is the final refugee.
Sri Krishna is also associated with Raas Leela as his playfulness encompasses all aspects of human tastes which includes music, dance, love, compassion, aesthetics and spirituality. Infact he is closely associated with various art and dance forms since the beginning.
Sri Krishna serves as an ethical compass to Arjuna who is confused and frightened in the battle field of Mahabharata. He not only encourages him to fulfill the role of a warrior but announces the great mystical truths in the form of Bhagvad Gita – the Divine Song which since time immemorial acts as a guiding force across the world among believers.
In Bhagvad Gita – Sri Krishna implores humanity that he will keep on saving the humanity from the evils and sins from time to time and will establish justice, righteousness and lawful order so that humanity lives in peace and achieves the transcendental state of Moksha.
Sri Krishna is depicted with blue- black color holding flute and accompanied by a cow. Krishna is also known by many names among them Govinda, Madhusudhana, Gopala and Vasudeva are popular. On Janamashtami Krishna is depicted as infant or a child who is engaged in playful pranks such as that of stealing butter.
In Kashmir since earlier times Sri Krishna’s birth is celebrated a day earlier than rest of the country. The reason being as the Lord was born on midnight hence a fast prior to his birth was kept by the devotees in accordance with astrological calculations. The earlier references of Sri Krishna Janamashtami can be found in Nilmat Puran where it is mentioned that Lord Krishna his consort besides Devaki and Yashoda were worshipped and devotional hymns sung amidst vocal and instrumental music. People used to prepare purified butter and barley food along with sugarcane which was partaken as prasadam. The Avantiswamin temple depicted Krishna with the cow herds besides a river in North Kashmir was referred as Kishan Ganga.
Therefore, let us whole heartedly pray to Lord Krishna – The Leela Purshottam to give us enough wisdom, strength, honesty, humility and knowledge so as to serve humanity with righteousness and bring peace and prosperity in our family and nation.
Sri Krishna teaches us;
Be a good friend – Value friendship and give your best to sustain the relationship with friends.
Be humble – Serve the people around you with compassion and be humble.
Be a good leader – Motivate the team and keep imploring them to achieve the best.
Be a good Administrator – Serve people with compassion, truthfulness and honesty so that these virtues are developed in society which will lead to a prosperous society.
Be a good Strategist – Analyze things properly and subtly before taking any task and when a task is undertaken then give your best to accomplish it successfully.
