Happy Janmashtami! Prabhupada on Janmashtami “One has to learn how Krishna takes birth. It is not an ordinary birth. Had it been an ordinary birth, then why should we observe the Janmashtami ceremony? It is Divine, Transcendental” “We observe Janmashtami annually, but Janmashtami is ongoing at every moment. In the vast expanse of multiple universes, each moment that happens on this earth is replicated a hundred times over each and every second somewhere else. Meaning Janmashtami is every moment of everyday everywhere.” “Janmashtami is the day Lord Krishna appeared five thousand years ago in India, Mathura. It’s a place about ninety miles south of New Delhi. Mathura still exists, and is eternally existing. Krishna appeared in Mathura in His maternal uncle’s house in a very precarious condition. That birthplace, Lord Krishnas’ birthplace, is now maintained very nicely. One who goes to India, they see. So anyway, Lord Krishna appeared on this planet five thousand years ago. It should not be understood just like we take our birth, Krishna does not take his birth like ours. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-Gita. When Arjuna inquired from Krishna, “My dear Krishna, You are speaking that formerly You spoke this yoga system of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god. That means it is millions and trillions years ago You spoke. How can I believe it?” Because Krishna was contemporary to Arjuna, so he was thinking that “Krishna is my friend, is my cousin brother, how it is possible that He spoke this Bhagavad-Gita yoga to sun-god?” So what was the reply? The reply was this, that “You also appear many, many times; I also appear many, many times. The difference is that I can remember. You cannot remember.” “That is the difference between God and ordinary living creatures, that we are also taking birth after birth. There are 8,400,000 species of life, and so long as we are in this material world, we are cycling round this universe birth after birth, but Krishna’s birth is not like that. If anyone wants to know God, or Krishna, in truth, not superficially, then he has to undertake the process of devotional service. In another place Krishna says, patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati [Bg. 9.26]. “Any person who gives Me a little fruit, a little flower, a little water, but with devotion, That is the only qualification”. So Krishna says, taya bhaktya upahrtam asnami. “Because he brings it with devotion and faith and love, I eat.” Krishna eats.”
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 13:00:38 +0000
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