Krishna Janmashtami – Celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna
The sacred day of “Krishna Janmashtami“, the Birthday of Lord Krishna falls on the 8th lunar day of the descending moon, Saturday, 5th September 2015.
To honor the energies of Lord Krishna, the Divine Bliss (DBI) family will be organizing a ceremony as an expression of our love, devotion and gratitude, on Friday, 4th September 2015, 8 pm to Saturday, 5th September 2015, 1 am at Divine Bliss International – Awakening Center of Self-realization located at 2319 Nursery Road, Clearwater, Florida – 33764, USA.
Another prayers and chanting ceremony will be held on Saturday, 5th September 2015, 6 pm onwards.
Join us for the celebrations in person or online !
What is Krishna Janmashtami?
Krishna Janmashtami is the festive occasion which marks the birth of Lord Krishna – the supreme deity who descended on Earth to free mankind from the shackles of the vicious cycle of life and death. “Krishna Janmashtami” (pronounced as Jan-mash-ta-me, a Sanskrit word that means birthday falling on the 8th day of the moon cycle) commemorates the earthly appearance of Lord Krishna, a highly venerated God in the Hindu religion.
Lord Krishna incarnated onto this earth as one of the greatest preachers of the highest philosophy of the truth for attaining emancipation. As Lord Krishna is the embodiment of the same divine energies as Jesus Christ, Krishna Janamashtami is energetically a highly significant occasion like Christmas.
Significance of Lord Krishna’s Earthly appearance
The birth of Lord Krishna is symbolic of the victory of light over darkness, to assist the seekers of light to connect to their true state of being, which is called Krishna consciousness (also called Christ-consciousness in the western world) meaning truest clear consciousness.
As humans we are bound in the shackles of anger, greed, temptations, attachments and pain and we tend to spend our lives engulfed in the darkness of our own vices. Lord Krishna shows people the pathway to freedom from all vices through His teachings compiled in Bhagavad Gita, the Holy book of the Hindus.
Teachings of Lord Krishna
Bhagavad Gita is considered an eminent guide for the seekers of self-realization. It teaches self-mastery and inner composure to conquer the binding emotions like anger, fear, ego, desire and manipulation. These are the key emotions while all other emotions are a direct or combined bi-product of these. For example, anger whether at self, others or a situation is the major emotion – irritation, frustration, anxiety and even depression are under all under its umbrella.
Understanding and acceptance of these emotions opens the pathway to ultimate freedom. For a true seeker, the focus should be – doing the rightful action with any attachment to the outcome, in order to pave their pathway to freedom.
Summary of the Bhagavad Gita
Your right is to work only,
But never to its fruits;
Let not the fruits of action be thy motive,
Nor let thy attachment be to inaction.
Lord Krishna brought forward the message of the four paths to liberation – Knowledge, Devotion, Good deeds / Duty and Meditation. In addition, the message of love for God and one another was also emphasized by Krishna. According to the preachings of Lord Krishna, those who are unable to follow any of the four paths to liberation can still achieve enlightenment by simply being devoted to Lord Krishna Himself.
Observances on the day of Janmashtami
In order to connect to the highest truth, the key is to travel inwards towards one’s true self where none other than the Lord resides. If one travels outwards, the mind gets entrapped in endless worldly activities and fails in making the true connection. The observances of the day of Janmashtami help the seeker to overcome the physical limitations of the mind and body and assist in making the highest connection to the divine truth.
Celebration of Janmashtami is observed by fasting and staying awake until midnight. Midnight is significant since Lord Krishna was born at midnight. To celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna devotees gather at midnight to sing devotional songs and chant mantras to honour the energies of the Lord. Connecting to the energies of Lord Krishna, connects one to purity of the mind making us capable of realizing and attaining the highest truth. Only a pure mind is capable of grasping the subtle formless truth.
The quest for attaining Krishna-consciousness / Christ consciousness is ultimately every soul’s eternal desire. On the day of Janmashtami the cosmic opens the universe’s light energy circuit to grant seekers of Krishna-consciousness a divine opportunity to connect to the energies of Lord Krishna.
Every soul wanting to connect to the eternal bliss is blessed with an opportunity to do so on this very blessed and sacred day.
For any further information or assistance, the Divine Bliss family is always here to assist at info@divineblissinternational.org
