Krishna Janmashtami
August 18-19, 2022
Krishna Janmashtami (or simply, Janmashtami) is the annual Hindu/Vedic celebration of the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna. This year it occurs on August 18 and 19. Please see specific timing details on Drik Panchang. Lord Krishna was born on the ashtami tithi (eighth day) of the Krishna paksha (waning half of the lunar month). The celebration falls annually in either the Shravana or Bhadrapada month of the luni-solar calendar. Devotees observe this special spiritual event with celebrations, fasting, prayer, pujas, chanting mantras, singing bhajans, and reciting the verses of Bhagavad Gita together.
Konddiah Raja, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Bhagavan Sri Krishna was the eighth avatar or divine incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He lived in the third millennium before Christ. Sri Krishna embodied the highest human ideals, and as the lord of yoga, he taught all the supreme truths to Arjuna as recorded in the Bhagavad Gita. As with all great avatars, Sri Krishna came to Earth to eliminate vice and ignorance and restore balance and virtue. He was ultimately an incarnation of divine love, tenderness, protection, and compassion; and this, His divine essence, is available to us at any time, even now, within our own hearts.
Sri Krishna is the ocean of bliss. His soul-stirring Lilas, which are the wonder of wonders, are its waves. The honeyed music of His flute attracts the minds of His devotees from all three regions. His unequalled and unsurpassed wealth of beauty amazes the animate and the inanimate beings. He adorns His friends with His incomparable love…His Form is composed of condensed universal consciousness and bliss. His Body pervades the entire cosmos.
Devotion is the only means of attaining Lord Krishna. Bhakti kindles love for the Lord. When love is directed towards Krishna, man is freed from the bondage of the world. Though Lord Krishna appeared in a human body, He had a divine body not composed of the five elements. He did not take any birth here in the usual sense of the term. He did not die. He appeared and disappeared through His Yoga Maya as He has declared in the Gita. This is a secret, known only to His devotees, Yogis and sages.
His enchanting form with flute in hand is worshipped in myriads of homes in India. It is a form to which is poured out devotion and supreme love from the hearts of countless devotees not only in India but also in the West. Millions of spiritual seekers worship Him and repeat His Mantra, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Lord Krishna was great in knowledge, great in emotion, great in action, all at once. The scriptures have not recorded any life more full, more intense, more sublime and grander than the life of Sri Krishna. Krishna Janmashtami by Swami Sivananda, from Hindu Fasts and Festivals.
This Krishna Arati chant below has been one of my favorites since I first heard Bhagavan Das singing it almost 50 years ago: Shri Krishna Govinda Hare Murari, He Nath Narayan Vasudeva (Provided to YouTube by CDBaby Krishna Arati · Bhagavan Das Golden Voice ℗ 2007 Golden Voice Records Released on: 2007-01-01)
By manifesting our innate soul qualities, as did Lord Krishna and all the great ones, we have the power to live and serve in the consciousness of God, radiating His light and love to all who cross our path. Let us walk together in the inclusiveness of Spirit, following humbly in the footsteps of the beloved Krishna who is for all humanity an embodiment of divine love, giving joy to all. Through our willingness to be divine, we augment the energies that are steadily and surely evolving a better world. May the message and blessings of Bhagavan Sri Krishna guide you unceasingly. Brother Chidananda, “A Message for Janmashtami From the Ashrams of Paramahansa Yogananda",” August 21, 2021.