The Journey from Darkness towards Light with Krishna!

Krishna Janmashtami is one of the most celebrated festivals in India. Lord Krishna has always been a God who is associated with innumerable characteristics. He’s seen as this little mischievous kid, as a teenager with charms that captured the hearts of every Gopi, as a profound teacher to the mighty Arjuna, and as the Supreme Ultimate power. It’s like a perfect combination of qualities one can expect and what all of us wish to possess.

I have no expertise over the vast scriptures available about Lord Krishna, but this Janmashtami has set me wondering about how and why these mythological stories were ever created with so much perfection and meaning. We, in India have grown up following so many traditional ceremonies and rituals, that these procedures flow in our blood. As kids, we have troubled our parents, our grandparents etc with a lot of ‘Why’ questions. Those questions form fond memories for them about us, but why don’t we take a moment to ponder what really happened to those questions. No one ever answered them, did they?

Maybe a few of them were, but most were met with a ‘Go Away! Don’t trouble be now!’ or a ‘Dont disturb me now with your never ending questions!’ or a ‘That’s the way it has always been! So just do it!’ or a ‘If you don’t do it, God will be angry!’. Maybe we just brushed it off back then and scrammed, only to come across more questions which were to be left unanswered too. When none of them were ever answered, we learnt to get on with it as a part of our life. And this has been carried on for generations.

Today, I don’t find everyone who follow all traditions really spiritual. They do it blindly, but yes… with faith. A blind faith! It even shows results. But I wonder what the results would be if we really knew what and why we are doing what we are doing. It would be phenomenal. All these ancient scriptures are not just text by a bunch of ancestors. Those are packages of such intense knowledge that today, we find very difficult to even realize them, because the world dived into ignorance from the day the questions asked were not answered.

I feel the rigid caste system might have been one reason for this. Selected people were educated with the real meaning and the rest just followed. It worked then. But today, when all of us are struggling to understand ourselves, striving to realize what life is all about.. delving into some serious study of the ancient past would be very beneficial, I feel!

Wishing for a journey towards light from darkness this day, I wish everyone a very Happy Krishna Janmashtami! 

Jai Sri Krishna.