सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी |
नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् || 5.13||
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is living within the body of a living entity, is the controller of all living entities all over the universe. The body consists of nine gates: two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, the anus and the genital. The living entity in his conditioned stage identifies himself with the body, but when he identifies himself with the Lord within himself, he becomes just as free as the Lord, even while in the body. Gita - chapter 5, Verse 13.
The beginning of new tradition:
This year (2020) - Sharvari nama samvatsara, Lord Krishna started a new tradition at our home- Celebration of Krishna Janmashtami at our home!! Yes, Lord himself made that sankalpa through us and helped us celebrate by doing his puja.
Aug 11th, 2020 - Krishna Ashtami:
I cannot forget going from one store to another here gathering the required items for puja. All things were gathered, except the Idol of Sri Krishna. Though it was available in the store, I have vowed that I will buy it only from Udupi, when Lord gets me a chance to come there.
At the end, all went fine. Rekha sang bhajan, Jingu stayed put in her stroller throughout that 2 hrs of puja duration. It was my long time dream that we should do Puja at some festivals every year. Especially Krishna Janmashtami. We were so happy that the puja was finally done at our home.
Breaking the monotony of life and doing something new gives a fresh breath of air to life. Lord Krishna did just that to us by making us go through all of this.
Click to watch the bhajan video.
Miracle:
A week or so after Krishnashtami, I casually happened to tell Rekha- “Now that I was able to do puja by reading the mantra and following the rituals mentioned, I feel like I want to do it again soon. Next year seems so long away, I wish we got a chance to celebrate Janmashtami again very soon”
Now, comes the miracle part - Maybe a week later that I expressed my wish, the Lord made it come true! Yes, Janmashtami again in the same year!!
Keep reading to learn how this miracle happened.
The Basics:
Before we go to the Miracle part, we need to have understanding of how the date is decided for Krishnashtami by different set of Krishna followers:
Krishnashtami (Lunar calendar):
Generally, Krishnashtami is celebrated on the 8th day (ashtami) of the 2nd Fortnight (Krishna Paksha/ Dark phase of moon) of Shravana Masa. Let's call this as General Krishnashtami for our convenience sake.
So we too celebrated the Lord’s Janmadin according to this tradition, which was on 11th of Aug, 2020.
Krishna Jayanthi(Luni-Solar Calendar):
Krishna Jayanthi is different from Krishnashtami. There is a reason why we call it Krishna Jayanthi. Let’s see how they are determined.
Udupi Mutt and Guruvayoor temple follow the Luni-Solar calendar in determining Lord Krishna’s Janmadin.
So they don’t fix the Birthday on the Lunar month of Shravana. Instead they consider the Solar Month(Rashi) - Simha Rashi.
So Simha Rashi’s , 2nd fortnight’s (Krishna Paksha), Ashtami tithi (8th day) when there is Rohini Nakshatra during Moonrise time(midnight)- that day is Lord’s Janmadin. If the Rohini Nakshatra coincides with Moonrise time then it is very auspicious and thus called Krishna Jayanthi.
In point#3 above, if Rohini Nakshatra is not there at Moon rise time (Mid Night) then it is not called Krisna Jayanthi. Instead it will be just called Krishnashtami. Let’s call this Udupi Krishnashtami to differentiate it from General Krishnashtami.
So now we learnt 3 terms:
General Krishashtami
Krishna Jayanthi - Most Auspicious. Observe fasting on such years.
Udupi Krishnashtami - popularly called Rohini Ashtami
I will now explain the relationship between the General and Udupi Krishnashtami
Most of the years, Simha Rashi will coincide with Shravana Masa. So the General Krishnashtami date will be the same as the Udupi Krishnashtami date.
Very rarely though, the Simha Rashi will coincide with Bhadrapada Masa, which comes after Shravana Masa. On those years, the Udupi Krishnashtami date will be almost a month after General Krishnashtimi
The year 2020 was one such rare year and Udupi Krishnashtami date was on Sept 20th!!
So What is the miracle here?
We were not at all aware of this tradition at Udupi mutt!! So a week later, after i expressed my desire to celebrate the next Krishnashtami soon,while watching some YouTube videos, I got to know that udupi mutt is celebrating Krishnashtami on Sept 20th! I was so confused. Naturally I turned towards Google to know the reason. And that is when I learnt about all of that I explained above.
My Joy knew no bounds. Lord Krishna got Krishnashtami Puja done from us for the first time ever. And that too twice. I can’t express it here - To wish for something divine like doing Puja of Lord and Lord granting that wish immediately...
Sep 20th, 2020 - Krishna Jayanthi:
So on the day of Krishna Jayanthi, We decided to follow some of the rituals that we had skipped last time.
Fasted till the Puja is over at night
Did the Arghya Pradana (the main part of the Puja) right at the moonrise time at night. For us in Lombard, USA, that was 11pm at night and there was Rohini Nakshatra. So it was Krishna Jayanthi.
Each adult at home did Arghya Pradana and not just me. Mom did it as well, at Mysore.
We watched the Live telecast of the main puja at Udupi Mutt.
At the end, the sense of accomplishment was higher compared to the last month. There were lots of reason - the awareness that Lord fulfilled the wish immediately, Lord Narasimha had come in my dream the early morning, the first ever experience of fasting, Arghya pradana right at moonrise time, Jingi staying awake all the way till we completed the Puja… so many.
At times, while writing this blog, thoughts used to cross my mind as whether it is required to write this beautiful experience in a blog when it is already etched deeply in my memory. But then I realised that though I may not forget this miracle, chances are that I may forget the other associated events. So to not take any chances, I finally decided to roll out my memory in digital format. And while writing this, I had the same kind of Joy and happiness that I had experienced while going through the actual event.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article as well as the knowledge of determining Krishnashtami/Krishna Jayanthi date. I sincerely thank Vidwan Sri Bannanje Govindacharya, who explained that so beautifully in a discourse. Our rituals are so rich and based on so much science and logic. Let’s do our bit to learn, understand and follow our ancient culture.
I bow down with heartful respects to the only supreme Lord - Sriman Narayana - For making me put down this blog to remember this beautiful miracle forever.
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