The phenomenon call 'Krishna' is ever eternal and is a universally acclaimed character. The Lord's Janmashtami or birthday is being celebrated across the country on August 10, Friday. The celebrations will start at 6pm and will last until 12 midnight. Krishna took birth at midnight on the ashtami or the 8th day of the Krishnapaksha or dark fortnight in the Hindu month of Shravan (August-September). The word Krishna means “one who is always in the transport of joy”, also means “black” which was the colour of Lord Krishna.
Indian as well as Western scholars have now accepted the period between 3200 and 3100 BC as the period in which Lord Krishna lived on earth. The devotees of Lord Krishna observe fast for the whole day and night, worshiping him and keeping vigil through the night while listening to his tales and recite hymns from the Gita, sing devotional songs, and chant the mantra 'Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.' The celebrations also include ecstatic performances, dance, interactive media shows, children’s shows and devouring the most delicious of dishes and delicacies prepared especially for the occasion of Janmashtami.
While the whole country celebrates the Janmashtami, it is at Dwaraka that the celebrations are most talked off. Dwaraka is one of the four dhamas or abodes of the Lord, the other three being Rameshwaram in the South, Puri in the East and Badrinath in the North. As per the myth Lord Krishna founded the city of Dwaraka. And the Dwarakanath or Sri Krishna temple celebrates the festival with fervour and grandeur. All pilgrims who visit Dwaraka must take a bath in this sacred Gomati kunda (tank) which is considered very auspicious by the Hindu myth.
Phenomenon of Sri Krishna is quite amazing and yet to be fully realized for better insight into the character. As per the myth the birth of Sri Krishna is due to the various boons granted by the lord in earlier mortal forms. To fulfill all those vows he takes the incarnation of Sri Krishna. Three things that keep us intrigued are the mischievous butter robbery in the childhood, frivolous rapport with Gopikas as an adult and the political planning in Kurukshetra.
As for the butter issue the lord meant to warn his devotees is feed the wanting and simply donot store it away to stale. Many of us are in the habit of storing the excess in to our cold storage than parting with it. He simply meant prepare, consume or store what you need and donot crave for beyond your need which might turn into greed.
In the case of Gopikas issue, was totally misconstrued by many. If one takes a deeper look then the fact is at the same time Sri Krishna keeps the company of every Gopika and comforts her. If the Gopikas are his subjects, infact Dwaraka was constructed by Viswakarma for the lord. And in it he lived with his 16,000 concerts as per one story and had nearly 1,61,080 sons. That simply means that a ruler must treat all his subjects as his chiledren and must be by there side in the hour of need. Such a leader is considered as good King. But many have taken the negative analysis on the whole issue.
The last is the Kuruskhetra affair where the lord is known for his politicking as per modern words. This only shows that truth triumphs by all means. In a nutshell Lord meant to show that following the path of Dharma (Righteousness) and good Karma (Deeds) is the basic path to attain Moksha (salvation). As per His divine grace A.C. BHAKTIVEDANT SWAMI PRABHUPAD 'Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is an historical person who appeared on this earth 5,000 years ago. He stayed on this earth for 125 years and played exactly like a human being, but His activities were unparalleled.' (With inputs from internet-AW AarKay)
