Makhan ka katora
Mishri ka thaal, mitti ki khushbu
Baarish ki fuhar, Tusli maiya ki pavitrata,Radha ki ummide
Kanhaiya ka pyar, mubarak ho apko sabko "JANMASHTAMI" ka tyohar.
Yes...I was extremely delighted and highly impressed to celebrate Janamashtami with my dear friend here in USA.You wont believe even in India I never attended this festival celebrated in midnight at temple with great pomp and joy but here we got a golden oppurtunity to visit Indian temple of kentucky and enjoy the celebration.I consider our families to be very lucky as we got to see this auspicious celebration on 10th August 2012.This date will remain carved in my mind forever..
Janamashtami which is also referred to as Gokulashtami, Krishnasthami, Srijayanti.-The Birth Anniversary of Lord Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu is celebrated with great fervour all over India especially at Mathura and Vrindavan where Lord Krishna spent his childhood....Devotees from across the world come to these pious places to celebrate Janmasthami...The temples especially in Vrindavan witness an extravagant and colourful celebration on this occasion. Raslila is performed to recreate incidents from the life of Krishna and to commemorate his love for Radha.
My friend being from mathura explained me the importance in such a manner that on hearing it..my joy knew no bounds....My ears were stucked with pride hearing pious stories,incidents,songs of shri krishna from her...Well, I am a married woman now. It is high time I get to know the significance of all the festivals. I wanted to find more information on Janamashtami, so I googled and was amazed to read so much about the festival...net search gave me lot many details about janamashtami...which was considered as simply "dahi handi" by me...but its great and beyond that...Its indeed the day to recall feelings Bhakti (devotion) and Bhav (intent) towards shri krishna...
Dahi handi is generally celebrated by youths. They break clay pots called 'Dahi-Handi', filled with curd and butter suspended high above the ground, young men and children form human pyramid to reach the pot and break it. This custom follows the habit of Lord Krishna who used to steal butter in this manner from villagers along with his friends. The reason for this is that Gokul; the place where lord Krishna spent his childhood used to generate a lot of milk and the people used to sell it in Mathura, thus depriving their children from milk and butter which is very essential for young boys and girls...
Homemade decoration made by her,Rangoli and sweet preparations,Kuttu ke pakode and lot more was so very fabulous that everything left me speechless...
Celebration began 2 days before...on very first day we planted moong seeds and barley in clay pot hoping that it will sprout very nicely...and to its surprise it sprouted so very nicely that when I had a look I was left surprised...clay was not at all visible and whole pot was filled with green color within 8 days...Thus we were very happy about it...we tied holy thread around coconut which was worn by us in our hands the very next day...
On the very same day we celebrated B'day of shri krishna by cutting homemade cake-made of dudhi ie dudhi halwa..we sang B'day rhymes and lit candles for god...we were totally enchanted to see all this...we enjoyed fast food in the form of prasadam like kuttu ke pakode,dahi aloo,lassi,charanamrit and lot more..
On the next day we visited temple during night...Temple was beautifully decorated and illuminated. Devotees had kept daylong fasts and kept themselves awake while chanting 'bhajans', until midnight follows... Midnight is the moment when Lord Krishna was born. The prayer ceremony is a simple affair. Night long prayers which extol greatness of lord krishna... mantras were being offered and religious hymns were being sung.The priests chant holy mantras and bathed the idol with Panchamrit or charanamrit which comprises of Gangajal (water from the holy Ganges River), milk, ghee (clarified butter), curd, and honey pouring all these from a conch shell....After this bath the idol of the infant Krishna (also known as Balmukund) was placed in a cradle. Devotional songs and bhajans along with garba marked the celebration of this festive occasion till 12.00 at night...everyone was given oppurtunity to give zula to bal krishna placed in cradle...seeing all this I was so very touched that tears rolled down my eyes..It was indeed happiest moment for all of us...Prasad consisting of makhan,kheer,fruits was distributed among all of us...Devotees break their day-long fast and chant - "Radhe Krishna, Hare Krishna, Radhe Radhe."
Thus it was awesome experience to celebrate Janamashatami here in USA.We will never ever forget this in our life.Looking forward to celebrate few more janamashtamis in US I thank god for the golden oppurtunity in our life....
Mishri ka thaal, mitti ki khushbu
Baarish ki fuhar, Tusli maiya ki pavitrata,Radha ki ummide
Kanhaiya ka pyar, mubarak ho apko sabko "JANMASHTAMI" ka tyohar.
Yes...I was extremely delighted and highly impressed to celebrate Janamashtami with my dear friend here in USA.You wont believe even in India I never attended this festival celebrated in midnight at temple with great pomp and joy but here we got a golden oppurtunity to visit Indian temple of kentucky and enjoy the celebration.I consider our families to be very lucky as we got to see this auspicious celebration on 10th August 2012.This date will remain carved in my mind forever..
Janamashtami which is also referred to as Gokulashtami, Krishnasthami, Srijayanti.-The Birth Anniversary of Lord Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu is celebrated with great fervour all over India especially at Mathura and Vrindavan where Lord Krishna spent his childhood....Devotees from across the world come to these pious places to celebrate Janmasthami...The temples especially in Vrindavan witness an extravagant and colourful celebration on this occasion. Raslila is performed to recreate incidents from the life of Krishna and to commemorate his love for Radha.
My friend being from mathura explained me the importance in such a manner that on hearing it..my joy knew no bounds....My ears were stucked with pride hearing pious stories,incidents,songs of shri krishna from her...Well, I am a married woman now. It is high time I get to know the significance of all the festivals. I wanted to find more information on Janamashtami, so I googled and was amazed to read so much about the festival...net search gave me lot many details about janamashtami...which was considered as simply "dahi handi" by me...but its great and beyond that...Its indeed the day to recall feelings Bhakti (devotion) and Bhav (intent) towards shri krishna...
Dahi handi is generally celebrated by youths. They break clay pots called 'Dahi-Handi', filled with curd and butter suspended high above the ground, young men and children form human pyramid to reach the pot and break it. This custom follows the habit of Lord Krishna who used to steal butter in this manner from villagers along with his friends. The reason for this is that Gokul; the place where lord Krishna spent his childhood used to generate a lot of milk and the people used to sell it in Mathura, thus depriving their children from milk and butter which is very essential for young boys and girls...
Homemade decoration made by her,Rangoli and sweet preparations,Kuttu ke pakode and lot more was so very fabulous that everything left me speechless...
Celebration began 2 days before...on very first day we planted moong seeds and barley in clay pot hoping that it will sprout very nicely...and to its surprise it sprouted so very nicely that when I had a look I was left surprised...clay was not at all visible and whole pot was filled with green color within 8 days...Thus we were very happy about it...we tied holy thread around coconut which was worn by us in our hands the very next day...
On the very same day we celebrated B'day of shri krishna by cutting homemade cake-made of dudhi ie dudhi halwa..we sang B'day rhymes and lit candles for god...we were totally enchanted to see all this...we enjoyed fast food in the form of prasadam like kuttu ke pakode,dahi aloo,lassi,charanamrit and lot more..
On the next day we visited temple during night...Temple was beautifully decorated and illuminated. Devotees had kept daylong fasts and kept themselves awake while chanting 'bhajans', until midnight follows... Midnight is the moment when Lord Krishna was born. The prayer ceremony is a simple affair. Night long prayers which extol greatness of lord krishna... mantras were being offered and religious hymns were being sung.The priests chant holy mantras and bathed the idol with Panchamrit or charanamrit which comprises of Gangajal (water from the holy Ganges River), milk, ghee (clarified butter), curd, and honey pouring all these from a conch shell....After this bath the idol of the infant Krishna (also known as Balmukund) was placed in a cradle. Devotional songs and bhajans along with garba marked the celebration of this festive occasion till 12.00 at night...everyone was given oppurtunity to give zula to bal krishna placed in cradle...seeing all this I was so very touched that tears rolled down my eyes..It was indeed happiest moment for all of us...Prasad consisting of makhan,kheer,fruits was distributed among all of us...Devotees break their day-long fast and chant - "Radhe Krishna, Hare Krishna, Radhe Radhe."
Thus it was awesome experience to celebrate Janamashatami here in USA.We will never ever forget this in our life.Looking forward to celebrate few more janamashtamis in US I thank god for the golden oppurtunity in our life....
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