Thursday, July 21, 2011

Janmashtami History

Janmashtami is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Krishna, the re-embodiment of Lord Vishnu who gave us the vital message of Bhagwat Gita- the guiding principle for every Hindu. Janmashtmi is celebrated with full energy all over the country. It is celebrated in various parts of India to mark the birth of Lord Krishna. It is observed on the eight day of the Shravan month according to the Hindu calendar. The temples throughout the country witness an extravagant and colorful celebration on this occasion.


Raslila (an act) is performed to recreate incidents from the life of Krishna and to commemorate his love for Radha.

Lord Vishnu is invoked in his human manifestation as Krishna on his birth anniversary in the festival of Janmashtmi. The idol of Krishna is taken for bath in the midnight and is placed in the cradle. Devotional songs and dances mark the celebration of this festive occasion all over the northern India.

Janmashtmi is a very auspicious night for those seeking for God's realization. It is the day when the supreme power appeared on earth. It may seem totally unbelievable that the creator that the creator himself appeared in a province, in a village in India. If you will try to understand all this, your mind will fail. So make one thing very clear that he came on earth because he had great compassion for all souls. He appeared to help the souls. He appeared among us. And what did he do? He did everything to help us.

On this day, in some parts of India, especially Maharashtra, youths celebrate it by breaking the clay pots filled with curd and butter suspended high above the ground. Young men and children form human pyramid to reach the pot and break it. This custom follows from Lord Krishna who use to steal butter from the villagers in this manner along with his friends. The reason for this is that Gokul; the place where Lord Krishna spend his childhood used to generate a lot of milk and people used to sell it in Mathura, thus depriving their children from milk and butter which was very essential for them.

Therefore in order to pay our homage to a such great god, we celebrate his birthday all over the country.

No comments: