In the Srimad Bhagavatam it is
said that Sri Krishna has unlimited incarnations, like the
countless waves in an ocean. Through these incarnations Sri
Krishna appears at different times and different places to
perform many pastimes. However only once in a day of Lord Brahma
(which lasts for 4,320 million of our years) does Sri Krishna
descend in His original form, and this happened 5,000 years ago.
It is said that He descends in His original form to only one
place of all the millions of planets in the material universe and
that is Bhuvaraloka, our Earth planet.
We are therefore extremely fortunate to have been born in the
same kalpa as Sri Krishna and on the same planet on which He
performed His pastimes just 5,000 years ago. We can to this day
visit the birth site of Sri Krishna in Mathura about 90 miles
south of New Delhi, India. We can also go to Vraja, an area that
includes Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Nandagram, etc., where Sri
Krishna performed His childhood pastimes with the cowherd boys
(gopas) and damsels (gopis). So holy is the land of Vraja, that
simply living there is considered to be the greatest of
devotional service, and if a devotee is fortunate to give up his
body in this holy land, he is assured of going back home, back to
Godhead.
Krishna descended in an answer to the prayers by Bhudevi, Mother
Earth personified, to relieve her of the burden of innumerable
asuras (demons), who had taken birth as kings and were ruling
tyrannically. Actually Sri Krishna has nothing to do with
non-devotees. They all eventually destroy themselves by their own
karmic reactions. But, Sri Krishna always has the welfare of His
devotees in His heart. Just as He always resides in the hearts of
His devotees, His devotees are always there in His heart. and, it
was to give protection to His devotees and establish religiosity
that Krishna descends. He comes to enjoy His pastimes in the
association of His devotees and give them the pleasure of His own
association.
When
Krishna descended, every one knew He was the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, unlike His later descent as Caitanya Mahaprabhu about
500 years ago which is called a ‘gupta’ (confidential)
avatar, where in He came in the guise of His own devotee and His
identity was only known by a very few intimate associates.
However Sri Krishna came as the performer of super human
activities. When he was just a child of 6 months He killed the
powerful demoness Putna and as a boy of just 6 years old He
lifted the Govardhana hill on His little finger. But the people
of Vraja were so immersed in the love of Krishna, that they were
never awed by His opulence as God. For them He was their son or
friend or master, and that was all that mattered. The Gopis of
Vraja were the highest of His devotees who had crossed all stages
of sadhna-vaidhi bhakti and reached a stage where they knew
nothing but the spontaneous love for Krishna. Such a stage is
very exalted and reached by a very few devotees.
It is impossible for non-devotees to even approach Sri Krishna.
Many people try to rationalize or worse, emulate the activities
of Krishna. Such people as destined to fall in the darkest of
nescience. Even elevated personalities like Lord Brahma cannot
approach Sri Krishna by dint of mental speculation. There is only
one way to approach Him, and that is in the mood of a devotee,
one of complete surrender, love and service. When Krishna is
pleased with surrender of a devotee, He gives him the benediction
of pure devotional service by which the devotee freed from the
illusory energy of maya, transcends the glaring effulgence of the
impersonal Brahamajyoti emanating from Krishna and can eternally
associate with Him personally.
Just as the devotees of Krishna, covered by His internal
spiritual potency called Yogamaya, are able to relish His
association; the demons who were envious of Sri Krishna, come
under His external, illusory potency called Maya, and are never
able to approach Him. Jarasandha with his army of millions of
soldiers was defeated 17 times by Krishna and Balarama alone, but
he never accepted Their supremacy. Similarly Kamsa, Shishupala,
Shalva, Rukmi – all had witnessed the transcendental
activities of Krishna, but out of their envy and pride they chose
to be illusioned and continued to plan to kill Krishna, till
their own very end.
In Bhagavad Gita (4.9), Sri Krishna says “One who knows the
transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not,
upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material
world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna”. So Krishna
is not without activity, in fact He is sac-cit-andanda-vigraha -
full of eternal truth, knowledge and bliss in a personal form.
But His activities are mysterious for mundane people. In fact Sri
Krishna Himself says ( BG 9.11) that “Fools deride Me when I
descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental
nature and My supreme dominion over all that be”.
So if we are serious about our spiritual lives, then we must hear
and read about the pastimes of Krishna from a self-realized, bona
fide source. Krishna katha is words spoken by Krishna (as in the
Bhagavad Gita), and words spoken about Krishna (as in Srimad
Bhagavatam). Both are transcendental and can liberate one from
the cycle of birth and death. However, just as milk that has been
tasted by a serpent is poison, Krishna katha delivered by
materialistic people and professional reciters is devastating to
spiritual progress. We must therefore seek out a self-realized
spiritual master in a bona fide disciplic succession, render
service to him, inquire submissively from him, and try and
understand the glories of Sri Krishna from him.
Sri Krishna Janmashtmi, the appearance day of Sri Krishna is being celebrated on a very grand manner. This is the most auspicious of all Vaishnava festivals. Celebrating this festival is highest form of devotional service. One hears (sravanam) the pastimes of Sri Krishna, sings His glories (kirtana), remembers Him (smaranam) and worships Him (pujan, arcanam). The perfection of any one of these form of devotional service can liberate a person from the material world and on this most auspicious occasion, we have the special benediction of none else than Sri Krishna Himself.