[nukkad] Happy Janmashtmi, Nukkies!

[Sandeep Budhrani <>]

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Happy Janmashtmi, Nukkies!

 Who is Sri Krishna?
 *******************
 Krishna is God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This fact is stated
 and corroborated in the Vedic scriptures and by various authorities. Lord
 Brahma in Brahma Samhita says, "Krishna who is known as Govinda is the
 Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the
 origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all
 causes" (BS 5.1). In the Bhagavata Purana Krishna becomes the chief object
 of devotion. After describing various incarnations of the Lord such as
 Rama, Balarama, Vamana, Nrsimha, and Vishnu, Srila Sukadeva Goswami
 states,  "All of the above mentioned incarnations are either plenary
 portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Krishna
 is the original Personality of Godhead” (SB 1.3.28).

 Lord Shiva in Gita Mahatmya, states that “let there be only one God –
 Krishna, the son of Devaki” (Verse 7). In the Padma Purana it is stated,
 "By scrutinizingly reviewing all the revealed scriptures and judging them
 again and again, it is now concluded that Lord Narayana is the Supreme
 Absolute Truth, and thus He alone should be worshipped". Similarly it is
 said in the Skanda Purana, “In the material world, which is full of
 darkness and dangers, combined with birth and death and full of different
 anxieties, the only way to get out of the great entanglement is to accept
 loving transcendental devotional service to Lord Vasudeva. This is
 accepted by all classes of philosophers”.

 The position of Krishna as God is confirmed by great personalities like
 Narada, Asita, Devala, Vyasa, Parasara, Brahma and Shiva. Finally Krishna
 Himself confirms this fact in the Bhagavad Gita to His friend and devotee,
 Arjuna. He clearly says that He is “the Supreme Lord of all planets and
 demigods" (BG 5.29), that “there is no truth superior to Me” (BG 7.7)
 and - "I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything
 emanates from Me" (BG 10.8).


 What is the position of Krishna?
 ********************************
 As God, there is no one equal to or greater than Krishna. He is the
 original, unborn, eternal person, the most ancient, completely
 independent, and the cause of all causes. Parasara Muni, the father of
 Srila Vyasadeva and a great scholar who had himself held the position of
 Vyasa in a previous kalpa, very nicely defines the position of Bhagavana
 (God) as one Who is complete in six kinds of opulence namely -  wisdom,
 beauty, fame, power, wealth and renunciation. While there are many great
 personalities who are very famous or very wealthy, only Krishna as God is
 replete in all six opulence.

 The scriptures not only give us the unique position of Krishna but also
 give us a detailed description of all His aspects. They tell us that above
 this temporary material universe is an eternal spiritual world called
 Vaikuntha, and Krishna lives in the topmost planet of this universe called
 Goloka Vrindavana which is full of palaces made of touch-stone
 (cintamani), with trees that are capable of fulfilling all desires
 (kalpa-vraksha) and cows that are called Surabhi.

 Here Krishna eternally resides, served by hundreds and thousands of
 goddesses of fortune. He sports with His most confidential and intimate
 devotees, headed by Srimati Radharani. He has a form just like us but His
 body is spiritual and thus eternal. His complexion is dark-blue, like that
 of a rain-filled cloud and His eyes are like lotus petals. He is ever
 youthful, full of bliss and His beauty excels that of thousands of cupids.
 He likes to play the flute, He sports a crown with a peacock feather and
 He is adorned by the exquisite kastuba jewel.


 What is Krishna avatar?
 ************************
 In Caitanya-caritamrita (2.20.263–264) it is stated that the “avatara, or
 incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for creating and
 maintaining the material manifestation. And the particular form of the
 Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or
 avatara.  Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the
 kingdom of God. When They descend to the material creation, They assume
 the name avatar.”

 The Srimad Bhagavatam states that there are countless incarnations just
 like the waves of the oceans. They fall in various categories like lila
 (pastime), yuga (period of yuga), manavantara (period of Manu), purusa
 (Vishnu expansions) and shaktivesa (empowered). These avatars perform
 various pastimes based on the time, place and circumstances, but their
 purpose is always the same – “to attract the conditioned souls back to
 their eternal spiritual abode”.

 The incarnations emanate from Vishnu. Maha-Vishnu is the original cause of
 all material creation and from Him Garbhodakashai-Vishnu expands and then
 Ksirodakasayi-Vishnu. Generally all incarnations appearing within the
 material world are plenary portions of Ksirodakasayi-Vishnu (also known as
 Hari).

 However only once in a day of Lord Brahma (which lasts for 4.32 billion of
 our years), does Krishna descend in His original form, as the avataree,
 the cause of all avatars. When Krishna appears all the incarnations join
 with Him. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the complete whole and all
 the plenary portions and incarnations always live with Him. So when
 Krishna appeared, Lord Vishnu was always with Him, and while Krishna
 enjoyed His pastimes in Vrindavana, the killing of the demons was actually
 carried out by the His Vishnu portion. Since Krishna eternally resides in
 Vrindavana, when He left Vrindavana at the age of ten, it was His Vasudeva
 expansion that actually left.


 Appearance of Krishna
 **********************
 In the era of the Svayambhuva Manu, prajapati Sutapa and his wife Prsni
 were instructed by Lord Brahma to have progeny. They performed severe
 austerities for twelve thousand years of the demigods to have the Lord as
 their child. Pleased by their austerities the Lord appeared and granted
 them this benediction. Since He gave them this benediction three times, in
 Satya-yuga He first appeared as the son of Prsni and Sutapa and was called
 Prsnigarba. In Treta-yuga they were Aditi and Kasyapa Muni and the Lord
 appeared as Vamanadeva. Finally in the Dvapara yuga, Krishna in His
 original form, appeared as the child of Devaki and Vasudeva.

 Krishna appeared specifically on the request of Bhudevi, the presiding
 deity of the Earth planet. Distressed by the burden of many demons who had
 appeared as powerful Kshatriyas and were ruling the planet impiously, she
 assumed the form of a cow and pleaded to Lord Brahma for help. Lord Brahma
 with all the demigods prayed to Vishnu in Svetadvipa by chanting the
 Purusa-sukta prayers. At this time the Lord informed Brahma that in order
 to establish religiosity and destroy evil, He would soon appear as His
 original Self. In the meantime the various demigods were instructed to
 take birth in various families in the Yadu dynasty and prepare for the
 appearance of the Lord.


 Lifeline of Krishna
 *******************
 Historically, Lord Krishna appeared in the Dvapara yuga, on the midnight
 of the 8th day of the dark half of the month of Sravana. This corresponds
 to July 19th 3228 BC. He exhibited His pastimes for a little over 125
 years and disappeared on February 18th 3102 BC on the new moon night of
 Phalguna. His departure marks the beginning of the current age of
 corruption known as Kali.

 The great scholar Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti neatly outlines Lord
 Krishna's activities in this way. He was born in Mathura in the prison
 cell of Kamsa and carried to Gokula. The first three years and four months
 were spent in Gokula, then equal lengths of time in Vrindavana and
 Nandagram.  At the age of eleven He left Vrindavan for Mathura where He
 lived for eighteen years and four months, and finally ninety-six years and
 eight months in Dvaraka totaling about 126 years of manifest pastimes. At
 the time of Mahabharata, when Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita, He was
 about ninety years of age.


 Pastimes of Krishna
 *******************
 The tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam describes the activities and transcen
 dental pastimes of Sri Krishna. They are also described in the epic
 Mahabharata, specially in the Bhishma parva which also contains the
 Bhagavad Gita. The pastimes of Krishna appeal to the liberated souls,
 those that are trying to get liberated and also to the gross materialists.

 The pastimes of Sri Krishna, known as Krishna-katha fall into two
 categories. Words spoken by Krishna, as the Bhagavad Gita, and words
 spoken about Krishna, as in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Souls in the liberated
 stage derive great pleasure in relishing anything and everything related
 to Krishna. For those that are trying to be liberated, Krishna-katha makes
 their path of liberation very clear. By studying the Gita one becomes
 fully conscious of the position of Sri Krishna; and when one is situated
 at the lotus feet of the Lord, he understands the narration’s of Krishna
 as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam.

 Even the gross materialists are attracted by the pleasure pastimes of
 Krishna with the Gopis and His wives. Even though the loving affairs of
 Krishna have nothing to do with the gross, mundane sex affairs, they
 attract the people engrossed in sense-gratification and gradually elevate
 them to higher levels of spirituality.

 Causeless mercy of Krishna
 *************************
 Even though Krishna is completely self sufficient and self satisfied, He
 descends for the benefit of all the conditioned souls. His most endearing
 quality is that of “bhakta vatsala”. His pure devotees are always trying
 to please Him, and He is always trying to please His devotees. Just as He
 lives in the heart of His devotees, His devotees constantly reside in Him.

 Krishna is so merciful that He not only helps His devotees, but also those
 who are envious of Him. Krishna destroys evil by providing them with an
 opportunity to take up devotion.

 On the greatly auspicious day of Krishna-Janamashtami, let us all pray to
 Sri Krishna for a drop of His causeless mercy, for only that alone is
 sufficient to take us out from this material word, back home, back to
 Godhead.

 All glories to the appearance day of Lord Krishna !
 All glories to Sri Krishna and His devotees !!


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Krishna Janmashtmi is the appearance day of Sri Krishna. It will be celebrated
with great love, devotion and enthusiasm at all Krishna temples in your 
town/city.
You could go to the Lord Krishna temple nearest to your place or the nearest
ISKCON temple and seek the blessings of Lord Hari.

Regards

Sandeep


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