Every year on this day, the post remains the same.
As I mentioned yesterday, Sri Krishna Janmashtami is one day that I feel at peace. Actually I feel ecstatic, and at peace, and joyful, and content all at the same time. Somehow I think that it’s the closest that I’ve got to bliss, and the funny part is that I don’t really have to make any effort to make me feel this way. Just happens.
As I went shopping for stuff that I needed for tomorrow, I saw a lot many others picking up small things for the occasion – a chotu sa bal gopal here, a jhula there. Some agarbatti, some dhoop, some flowers and sweets…
I don’t think anyone had any kind of set procedure, or vidhi in their minds. Pure love is what it is…like you pick little things for the people you love. No, this was not for a God, or a devta, or any supreme being. This was for someone they cared for, and who cared back for them.
For that is the beauty of this being. There is love and only love when you interact with him, with no scope for fear at all. There is no right way or wrong way to celebrate him – you can offer a feast, or a single leaf – he receives both with equal love. There is no fixed time, nor fixed place – anywhere and anytime – all you need to do is close your eyes, and open your heart. He will be there. With you. To hold your hand and guide you. Not to do your work for you no. But guide he will. He leaves the rest up to you.
श्री कृष्ण जनमष्टमी की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ! – जय श्री कृष्ण!
Krishna Janmashtami, also known simply as Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, is an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu.It is observed according to Hindu luni-solar calendar, on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) in Shraavana of the lunar Hindu Calendar and Krishna Paksha in Bhadrapad of the lunisolar Hindu Calendar, which overlaps with August and September of the Gregorian calendar.
It is an important festival particularly to the Vaishnavism tradition of Sanatana Dharma. Dance-drama enactments of the life of Krishna according to the Bhagavata Purana (such as Rasa lila or Krishna Lila), devotional singing through the midnight when Krishna was born, fasting (upavasa), a night vigil (ratri jagaran), and a festival (mahotsava) on the following day are a part of the Janmashtami celebrations. It is celebrated particularly in Mathura and Vrindavan, along with major Vaishnava and non-sectarian communities found in Manipur, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and all other states of India.
Krishna Janmashtami is followed by the festival Nandotsav, which celebrates the occasion when Nanda Baba distributed gifts to the community in honour of the birth.
