Krishna Janmashtami

Tomorrow (August 30, 2021) is Krishna Janmashtami.. Birthday of Krishna. 

All of us know about Krishna from two sources, Mahabharatham and Bhagavatham. Even though both of them are written by Veda Vyasa, they are different in some aspects and similar in some other aspects. Janmashtami is based on Bhagavatham, which describes about Krishna's birth, childhood, kamsa vadham etc. In Bhagavatham, Krishna is considered to be a God or incarnation of God and people celebrate Janmashtami with that Godly feeling. But, is that enough? 

Janmashtami have been celebrated for years and it looks like we are stuck at that point for a quite a long time. Janmashatami should be celebrated, but one should start seeing Krishna as a human being and only then it will be possible to fully understand the message he had given for humanity. The message is how to attain moksha (moksha does not mean free from rebirth) or the liberation or utmost freedom, from all attachments and bondage. It is that freedom which will bring the utmost bliss. For a common man, reaching that level is difficult, but at least thinking along that perspective will bring a level of purification to mind and intellect which will make every individual better and hence a better society. So, how can we start seeing Krishna as a human being? The answer is Mahabharatham and Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna is just a mortal like us and one will be able to grasp the message

So, going to Mahabharatham and Bhagavatham...

Vyasa wrote Mahabharatham which describes the struggles in his own family with the decline and fall of Hasthinapura. It is a treasure for future generations and if properly understood it can be a guide to everyone to lead a proper life.  Ideally, Vyasa should have been happy after writing Mahabharatham since it covered the entire spectrum of human behavior, character and life. But, he was not happy and something was missing and that was bothering him. Then he met Narada. Narada told him that, Vyasa's work is great, but Mahabharata is the story of mortals (many with a lot of wickedness and immoral acts), and people may fail to understand the real essence of it and eventually ignoring it altogether. They do not sufficiently contain the glories of Sri Hari (Mahavishnu). So, Vyasa had to write something that directly chants the glories of Sri Hari and by reading that, people could taste the sweet names of Sri Hari and will not get misguided. That's why Vyasa wrote Bhagavatham. Bhagavatham talks in detail about Krishna as God - his birth, early life etc.

One thing that is common to both of Mahabharatham and Bhagavatham is the 4 purusharthas, dharma-artha-kaama-moksha way of life. It means,  fulfill all your wishes (kaama) with wealth (artha) earned by living righteously (dharma way), and later should relieve everything to be free from all attachments/bondage (moksha). It is more evident in Mahabharatham since it contains the raw life of greedy selfish (artha-kaama) humans in contention with righteous humans (dharma) and the core is Bhagavad Gita (moksha) which influenced the results of the contention (it helped Arjuna to let go of his attachments so as to do his karma as a kshathriya).  In Bhagavatham also, purusharthas are discussed, but more along the lines of devotion (bhakthi) to God. 

By seeing Krishna just as a God, one will get stuck at his birth, early life, kamsa vadham, kaaliya mardanam etc.  These are to get people interested in Krishna as a character and have their focus and attention towards him. If that focus and attention are achieved, one should start looking at Krishna as a human and see what he had offered to humanity. In other words, rather than getting stuck at Krishna pooja, making sweets, murukku etc. people should start focussing on the spiritual and philosophical aspects, which Krishna delivered as a human.

PS1: In Bhagavatham also, the Moksha part is present in detail as Uddhava Gita. Very rarely people get to that part.

PS2: I don't have a complete knowledge on both Mahabharatham and Bhagavatham. And knowledge on Bhagavatham is relatively very small compared to Mahabharatham. So, if there is any mistake, please point it out.

PS3: Finally, what I am trying to say is that all Pooja and Godly functions are just a stepping stone to the more important spiritual and philosophical aspects. Most of the people gets stuck at the "stepping stone" itself. So, make sure to go beyond the stepping stone

[08/29/2021]