Anupama Nair
India is known as the “spiritual guru” of the world. In India, “spiritualism is not an obsession of the human mind, rather it is a heritage as well as a continuous tradition”. India is famous for her culture, civilization, traditions, literature and epics, ancient medicine – Ayurveda, Yoga, ancient scientific theses like gravitation, atomic theory (later proved by modern science), ancient temples and holy cities, you imagine and we have it all. However, the greatness of Indian culture, especially “spiritualism” have contributed a lot — connecting the spirit of Indians throughout the ages. As a result, the spiritual-minded Indians have succeeded in maintaining their Indianness which could not have been possible otherwise. Indian life is dominated by personality which is well linked to spiritualism.
I am writing a topic close to my heart i.e., about Lord Krishna. It is the grace of the Lord that we have managed to survive the pandemic. If you and your family is safe from Corona for more than a year, it is the blessing of the Lord. Janmashtami is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu. It is celebrated on the Ashtami of the Krishna Paksha in the Hindu calendar month of Shraavana or Bhadrapada that mostly comes in August or September of the Gregorian calendar. Janmashtami this year is celebrated on Monday, August 30, 2021.
Krishna’s life is centered around three cities – Mathura, Vrindavan and Dwarka. Now I am going to tell you about the importance of the two cities on the life of Krishna. In Hinduism, Mathura is believed to be the birthplace of Lord Krishna. Mathura was the capital of the kingdom of Surasena ruled by Kamsa, the maternal uncle of Krishna. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love. He is one of the most popular and widely revered among all Indian gods. The name ‘Krishna’ originated from the Sanskrit word ‘Kṛṣṇa’, which is primarily an adjective meaning ‘black’, ‘dark’, or ‘dark blue’. The waning moon, in Sanskrit is also called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective, meaning ‘darkening’.
Krishna became the motivation of numerous bhakti cults, which have over the centuries formed a wealth of religious poetry, music, and painting. The basic sources of Krishna’s story are the epic Mahabharata and the Bhagwat Purana. Krishna was the eighth child of Kamsa’s sister Devaki and Vasudev. It is said Devaki was Kamsa’s beloved sister till he heard an oracle say “the eighth child of Devaki is born to slay you”. An enraged Kamsa imprisoned Devaki and Vasudev and killed seven children of the couple. He was awaiting the birth of the eight child to kill it too. But fate had decided something else. On the night Devaki gave birth there was a huge storm and by Lord’s will, everybody was sleeping in the prison. Historians estimate the birth of Lord Krishna as 3220 BC, however, nothing is confirmed. Taking advantage of this and with help from Sheshnaga to protect the Lord from rain, Vasudev went to Vrindavan and left the baby with the chief of the clan Nanda and took away the daughter of Nanda and Yashoda. He replaced the girl in the prison. When Kamsa tried to kill the girl, Yog Maya flew from his hands and said “the one who is supposed to kill you is living elsewhere”. Kamsa sent his guards all over his kingdom to locate all new-born babies. He killed all of them but still could not locate Krishna.
(To be continued)
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