Janmashtami

Janmashtami is the birthday of Lord Krishna, the re-incarnation of Lord Vishnu who gave us the vital message of the Bhagwat Gita - the guiding principles for every Hindu.Janmashtami is celebrated with full vigor all over the country. Janmashtami is celebrated in various parts of India to mark the birth of Lord Krishna. It is observed on the Ashtami day of the Shravan month[Hindu calendar].

The temples of Vrindavan witness an extravagant and colourful celebration on this occasion. Raslila is performed to recreate incidents from the life of Krishna and to commemorate his love for Radha.

Lord Vishnu is invoked in his human incarnation as Krishna on his birth anniversary in the festival of Janmashtami. The idol of the infant Krishna is bathed at midnight and is placed in a cradle. Devotional songs and dances mark the celebration of this festive occasion all over Northern India.

On this day, in some parts of India, especially Maharashtra, youths celebrate it by breaking clay pots called 'Dahi-Handi', 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 the habit of Lord Krishna who used to steal butter in this manner from villagers along with his friends. The reason for this is that Gokul; the place where lord Krishna spent his childhood used to generate a lot of milk and the people used to sell it in Mathura, thus depriving their children from milk and butter which is very essential for young boys and girls.

In Maharashtra, Janmashtami witnesses the exuberant enactment of the god's childhood endeavors to steal butter and curd from earthen pots beyond his reach. 

Krishna Janmashtami Celebration

 Yada yada hi dharmasya,glanirbhavati

Bharatah,Abhiyutthanam dharmasya,tadatmanam srijamyaham!Paritranaya sadhunam, vinashaya cha dushkritam,Dharmasamsthapanarthaya,

sambhabami yuge yuge!! 
Whenever and wherever there is decline of dharma (righteousness) and ascendance of adharma (unrighteousness), at that time I manifest Myself in visible form. For the protection of the righteous and destruction of the wicked, and for the sake of establishing dharma again, I incarnate Myself on earth ages after ages.
This is what the Lord Himself gave his word in the Bhagvat Geeta. The Lord did not ever fail to keep His words down the ages. From His heavenly abode at the Vaikuntha, He incarnated down to the earth to protect His devotees. Just like ‘the waves in an ocean,’ Lord Vishnu, the Supreme Soul and the sustainer, appeared down to the earth in different, different forms, one after another. However, His Avatar (incarnation) is considered as the God Himself incarnated on the eighth day of the new-moon fortnight (krishnapaksha) of the month of Shravana, when Lord Krishna appeared on this earth. Lord Krishna was born in the DuaparYug, which came just before the Kal Yug.

According to the legends, the birth of Lord Krishna took place under bizarre conditions. Krishna is considered as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who appears to the world to get rid of all evil demons. He was born at midnight stroke on a dark, rainy night to ‘Devaki’ and ‘Vasudev’ who was imprisoned by Devaki’s brother Kansa.
It had been prophesied that the eight son of Devaki would take the ghost out of the evil king Kansa. On hearing this prophesy, Kansa got his sister imprisoned and killed her seven children one by one but when Krishna was born, there was divine involvement to protect the life of baby Krishna. The guards had fallen into slumber and could not inform their master about the newborn child.
An echoing invisible voice powered Vasudev to carry the baby to Gokul and exchange with the newborn baby Nanda and Yashoda. The fetters and the jail gates were opened amazingly and Vasudev took the child in a tiny basket, through the waters of Yamuna. Being a dark stormy night, the waves of Yamuna water was in a fit of fury however parted to allow the carrier of the divine Krishna to pass. A gigantic snake recognized as Adisesha with 2000 hoods, glided behind them, its hoods made a shielding shelter over the child.

When Vasudev came back with Nanda’s child, the fetters fastened, the doors were closed and the guards awakened. Kansa came and lifted up the child to throw it to the wall and kill him however someway the baby slipped from his clutch and took the shape of a Goddess laughing at Kansa, she was nowhere to be found after revealing him that the one who would kill him had already been born and was elsewhere.
Krishna was the heartbeat of Gokul, as a small boy, a naughty prankster who was much loved amongst the Gopikas. He would steal curd and butter from the houses of gopikas. Though he was a child, yet he did numerous miraculous works. His exploits are now the everlasting legends of Braj. He killed a number of ‘asuras’(devils), vanquished the Kali Nag and later he killed Kansa as it had been predicted.

Janmashtami Celebration

The festival of Janmashtami (pronunciation: Janmashtami) is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Krishna, the re-incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who gave us the vital message of the Bhagwat Gita. Janmashtami is now prevalently celebrated outside of India because of the unusual efforts of numerous Krishna-devotees and numerous Hindu organizations.
Krishna Janmashtami is observed on the eighth day of the dark half (Krishna Paksha) of the month of Bhadrapadha in the Hindu calendar, when the Rohini Nakshatram is ascendent. The Hindu calendar being lunar, these two events [the day being the eighth of the waning moon (Krishna-paksha Ashtami) and the Rohini Nakshatram being ascendent] may overlap for only a few hours. In such an event, the festival may be celebrated on different (but successive) days by different people, depending on their local or family traditions.
Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Krishna, where his parents remained in confinement of the wicked Kansa and He, as a little boy, came and vanquished his maternal uncle Kansa to lead the throne and get his parents freed, commemorates Janmashtami with great pomp and show. The major celebrations are made at the Dwarakadhish temple, Mathura in the form of Jhulanotsava and the Ghatas in the course of the entire month of Shravana.
The Ghatas are an exclusive feature of the celebrations that goes for a long month. At the time of ghatas of a specific color, the entire temple is engulfed with beautification in the matching color. Even the Lord clothed up in the same color. The twin cities of Mathura-Vrindavan takes on a celebratory look and spirit of devotion runs high amongst the people. It was on the banks of the Yamuna River, where Lord Krishna used to play during his childhood and pandered to pranks and tricks with his friends and the Gopies. There are nearly 400 temples devoted to Lord Krishna in this sacrosanct city, and the most important festivities are conducted at the Shri Krishna Balaram temple, Gopinath temple, Banke Bihari and Rangaji. The Raslila of Braj is thematically the origin of numerous performing arts.