Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
The celebration of Janmashtami commemorates the birth of the Lord Krishna. Known as Krishnashtami or Gokulashtami, the festival falls on Ashtami of Krishna Paksh that is the eighth day of a lunar fortnight. Ashtami, the half moon, is significant as it indicates a perfect balance between the seen and the unseen aspects of reality; the visible material world and the invisible spiritual realm It is believed that Lord Krishna was born to kill the wicked king Kansa and other demons, to free the earth from all sources of evil and to spread the message of brotherhood.
One of the most enchanting legends about Janmashtami beautifully brings out the essence of Shri Krishna.
Mathura, a prominent city of North India and the birthplace of Lord Krishna, was ruled by King Ugrasena. He ruled righteously and was loved by his subjects. He had a son Kansa, who was very cruel by nature. Kansa soon jailed his father and forcefully became the King of Mathura.
King Kansa loved his cousin Devaki dearly. However, on the day of Devaki's marriage to Vasudeva, Kansa who was acting as a charioteer to the married couple, heard a Celestial prediction wherein a heavenly voice from the sky foretold the death of Kansa at the hands of the eighth child of Devaki. Kansa became furious and was about to kill Devaki then and there. He, however, spared her life on a promise made by Vasudeva that he would hand over all their children to Kansa to be killed by him.
Kansa imprisons Vasudeva and Devaki and kills their six newborn babies. However, the seventh child was rescued by divine intervention when the child was transferred from Devaki's womb to Rohini's womb. Thus, Balrama, the elder brother of Lord Krishna was born but Kansa was led to believe that Devaki had suffered a miscarriage.
Lord Krishna, the eighth child was finally born in the prison on a stormy and a rainy midnight. His birth was followed by many dramatic events. As soon as the child was born, all the guards miraculously fell asleep and the gates of the jail opened themselves. Vasudeva now decided to take his son to his friend Nanda in Gokula. He carried the child in a basket placed over his head. It was raining heavily and as Vasudeva was crossing the river Yamuna, the water level of the river was rising rapidly. Vasudeva feared that both he and his son would be drowned. However, as soon as the feet of the child touched the river, the water level fell and the flow of the river became normal and Vasudeva was able to cross it easily. Vasudeva gave his son to his dear friend Nanda and returned with a girl child belonging to Nanda and his wife Yashoda, without anybody else coming to know about this.
Kansa tried to kill the girl child as well, but she slipped from his hand, and disappeared into the ether above, after telling him that his annihilator has been born and was safe in Gokula. The child was none other than Yogamaya, the divine illusive power of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna grew up as Yashoda and Nanda's son in Gokul and later killed his maternal uncle Kansa, freeing all the people of Mathura from his tyranny.
Janmashtami is celebrated with great reverence and obeisance to Lord Krishna who is worshipped on this day. Krishna's teachings are most relevant to our times in the sense that they neither let you get lost in material pursuits nor make you completely withdrawn. They rekindle your life; from being a burnt-out and stressed personality to a more centred and dynamic one. Krishna teaches us of devotion with skill. Often people with skill have no feeling or devotion and people with devotion and innocence seriously lack skill in action. Krishna's personality brings together these opposites of total devotion and skilful action. To celebrate Gokulashtami is to imbibe extremely opposite yet compatible qualities and manifest them in your own life.
Krishna is the Self of every being and when our true natural self shines through our personality, skills and abundance follow suit. As Krishna himself says in the Gita, he is the strength in the strong, the wisdom in the wise, the beauty in the beautiful and the dignity in the dignified.
Krishna simply means the most attractive. He is the Self of every being. He is the very life force in every living being. And Janmashtami is the day when you enliven that virat swaroop of Krishna in your own consciousness once again. Letting your true nature manifest in your day-to-day life is the real secret of Krishna's birth.
