Hari
OM
Story-day is for cultural exploration, puraanas and
parables and finding out about leading lights in spiritual philosophy.
Sri Krishna Janmaashtami.
Today
is given over to celebration of the birth of Lord Krishna; eighth child born to
Devaki and Vasudeva in Mathura, North India. The tyrannical King Kamsa had
heard that a child of this couple would rise and be his downfall. To try and
ward off fate, the king imprisoned them and at the birth of each of the first
seven children, he arranged the slaughter of the newborns. However, before the
birth of number eight, Lord Vishnu gave darshan (vision) to the couple, saying
that He would be the child, manifesting on earth through them in order to
tupple the tyrant. Arrangements were made to secrete the newly born boy to the
home of Nanda, the chief cowherd of Vasudeva, where the herd's wife, Yashoda
had given birth to a daughter. That child was brought back, to certain death it
might be thought; however, the girl child slipped from the grasp of the
soldiers and rose large before them as the Goddess Yogamaya.
In
his teens, Sri Krishna served out that purpose of ousting the evil king.
However His childhood had brought with it much laughter and frustration for
Nanda and Yashoda, for He was ever up to mischief! One of the favourite games
was to go into others' homes and steal their "butter" (may have been
ghee, but could also be curd/yoghurt). Many of the festivities on Janmaashtami
are based around this naughty but cute behaviour and children especially have
fun with this. In Maharashtra, the youths play at building a human pyramid to
help the "Lord" reach the butter!
As He grew, Krishna took up Nanda's work as cowherd
and therein lay some other potential mischief, for He was the handsomest boy
around and not a single woman in the village was immune to His charms. Yet no
man could be angry with this charismatic boy, for when He played His flute, all
was forgotten and forgiven. For all that
there were many gopis (milkmaids) with whom He could have made much sport, the
flirting amounted to nothing and all His heart was kept for one girl only.
Radha. However, despite all His assurances, "How could Radha not be
jealous/Radha Kaise Na Jale"?...
The
flute of Sri Krishna is of special significance. It is Sri Visnu's way of
demonstrating that He is Supreme Lord and capable of playing mankind in many
ways. The flute represents the body of a human and has the same 'nava golakaaH'
- nine gates through which the spirit in a man connects with the world… two
eyes, two nostrils, two ears, mouth, anus and reproductive organs. By placing
His mouth against the 'body's mouth, the Lord provides praana, the very essence
of life by which all the other golakas operate. If we allow the breath of the
Lord to blow through us cleanly, surrendering to His will on our behalf, our
life will play well and according to correct order. If we resist, considering
ourselves to be separate from Him, the lack of His breath causes us to fall
short of our potential. Knowing this, when praying to the Lord, asking to 'become an instrument of His peace' takes on a whole fresh meaning!