Happy Janmashtami!

The annual celebration of the birth of Lord Kirshna is celebrated with great devotion across India and many countries. Everyone stays up till midnight to usher in Lord Krishna’s birth with chants, prayers, devotional songs and sweets. Though Janmashtami is celebrated in different ways and rituals, the underlying devotion to Lord Krishna remains the same.

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna is known and worshipped in two forms, as the Baal Krishna (child Krishna) and as Yogeshwar Krishna. However, the only person who truly understands Lord Krishna is the Gnani Purush (Self Realized person), for such a person has the same awareness of the soul as Lord Krishna.

In essence, Lord Krishna had constant awareness of being a Pure Soul - the constant awareness that, ’The body is separate and I am a Pure Soul’. Despite his physical involvement in worldly affairs, he always had the awareness that 'I am not the 'doer' of anything’ – which in fact is the essence of The Bhagwad Gita as well.

This Janmashtami, irrespective of the form or ritual or religion associated with Lord Krishna, let us bow down to His Pure Soul –  may we also achieve the awareness of Pure Soul and continue our worldly life with equanimity.