janmashtami is a festival celebrating the birth of lord Krishna. Janam means birth and ashtami means 8th day of lunar fortnight so his birthday is called Janmashtami. It is celebrated with great fervor and gaiety in the states of Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra and other Northern States.
Krishna temples all over the world celebrate this day with vibrant enthusiasm. Devotees observe a fast on this day. Fasting and meditating on Janmashtami is supposed to completely still all senses so that the divine lord can show his presence. The temples are decorated on this occasion with tableau depicting scenes of Krishna’s birth, his miraculous transfer to Gokul and his childhood pranks. And idol of Krishna in his Bal or baby form is kept in a cradle and the devotees take turns pulling its strings to rock the baby Krishna.
Our Mandir in Green Park depicts a tableau. There is Geeta path, kirtan bhajan on the day till 12 at night, the time of Krishna’s birth. Then there is Aarti and Prasad distribution. Almost every Hindu house in the colony celebrates this day with Krishna’s statue or photo beautifully decorated. Hunger is the most difficult part to control, so the fast. Ladies gather in a particular household and read 18 chapter of Geeta with Hindi translation. There is a bogh ceremony when charnamrit – Prasad of dhaniya, fruits and mewas mix with sugar is offered to the lord and then to devotees who partake it at 12 o’clock at night after the birth of the lord. Certain devotees keep ‘nirjala’ fast which means not even water till 12 o’clock at night. Then there are others who take only tea, water, nimbu pani etc followed by a meal of ‘kuttu ka aata’, aloo ki sabji and makhane ki kheer. This is how a lay man celebrates yet there are other learned people who try to understand the mystery of Geeta and share it with others, because Geeta seems to answer all problems of life. It cleanses the sensuous nature of our ‘indrias’ and come out pure ‘pavitra’.
Bhagwat Geeta and lord Krishna are synonyms to each other. People like Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote ‘Geeta ka Rahasya’ while he was in jail fighting for the freedom of India. Later on Mahatma Gandhi wrote ‘Bhagavad Gita as understood by Gandhi’. Since everybody cannot be Tilak or Gandhi the laymen follow the normal rituals.
We at A18 Green Park celebrated the pooja in a very simple way. The photos accompanying the article tell the story of our celebrations. Me and my staff got together to surrender ourselves to God all mighty and we prayed for our self control, humility in thoughts and mind and purity of soul and body. “Om namo bhagavate Vasudevaya”. On this auspicious day I pray to God almighty, my Kanhaiya the light giver – may my intellect be steady without agitation, may it be clean without the dirt of passion, may the light of consciousness come to shine forth a brilliant hue of radiance. Thus may my perception be clear, my discrimination subtle and judgment correct and clear.
