Gokulashtami
Festival Significance of Gokulashtami
On Gokulashtami day, we celebrate the Advent of Krishna. The name Krishna means ‘He who attracts, He who cultivates the heart-land. He who is ever in bliss.’ Krishna draws people into his presence. He sows, grows and harvests Love in barren, broken hearts and confers supreme delight. Balaram asks for dedication to Bhoomata (the land) and Krishna, to Gomata (the cattle). They have raised agriculture, the process of providing food, to the level of sacred Sadhana. Krishna is worshipped as Gopala. The word ‘Go’ means jivi (living beings). So, when you serve fellow men and other beings with selfless love and total compassion, you are offering to Krishna, the worship He accepts most gladly and with full grace.
[Sanatana Sarathi sep. 85]
Society and the world need the inspiring examples of Ideal leaders. There are Individuals who are exemplars in their particular fields. But it is rare to find any one person who is an Ideal in every respect. It is possible for God alone to be such an ideal. Lord Shri Krishna stands out as a unique ideal figure, exemplifying the highest qualities in every respect- social, political, ethical & spiritual.
Today, people worship God as God but do not try to understand the ideal human qualities displayed by Avatar. It is only when the human ideals exemplified by Shri Krishna, when He incarnated as man and lived and moved amongst men, are recognised that human life can be rendered meaningful. Correcting the defects among men, directing them on the right path, the Lord in His human incarnation seeks to raise humanity the highest level by all methods.
Men should first of all develop faith in God. On the basis of that faith, they should strive to live up to the ideals. God in His human form has given, both by precept and example. The human life is a great gift from God. It should be valued as such and used for sacred purposes.
[Sanatana Sarathi Sept. 87]
The Krishna, whose advent you should celebrate, is not the cowherd boy who charmed the village folk with His flute, but the Krishna, the indefinable, inscrutable, Divine Principle that is born in the navel of the body (Mathura) as the product of the Divine Energy (Devaki), that is then transported to the mouth (Gokulam) and fostered by the tongue (Yashoda) as its source of sweetness. Krishna is the visualization of the Atma that the repetition of the name grants the vision that was gained by Yashoda. You must foster that Krishna on your tongue, when He dances on it, the poison of the tongue will be ejected completely, without harming anyone, as happened when as a child He danced on the hoods of the serpent Kalinga.
Yashoda traces Krishna to the place He hides in, by the foot prints He leaves, when He has broken the curds-pot, which she was churning. This is a symbolic story to illustrate how the Lord breaks our identification with the body and leads us on to Himself, by signs which are ever present in the nature around each one of us, in the beauty of the rising sun, the ecstasy of the rainbow, the melody of the birds, the lotus-spangled surfaces of lakes, the silence of snow crowned peaks. In fact, since God is Rasa, Sweetness, Ecstasy, all nature, which is but Himself in action, is sweet and ecstatic, with or without form, it is Ananda.
Welcome it into the heart, as Rama. He who is Joy and grants Joy- or as Krishna- He draws you by means of the joy. He imports and lives all your moments with it, offering it your dhyana, your puja, your japa. That will open the doors of jnana and liberation. This is the mark of the wise, while those who are otherwise, wander in the wildness, filling their moments with meaningless trifles, toys and geegaws.
[By Baba – Bal Vikas magazine, Aug. 85]
Brindavan (the forest of Brinda) is the tangled jungle of life. The cows tendered by Lord Krishna in Brindavan are none other than the humans that are helpless without His care and guidance. Gokulam is the region inhabitated by man. His blue colour means that he is as deep as the sky and sea. The Gopis, the simple sincere cowherd maids of Gokulam sought Krishna within or behind every bush and bower for he was fascinating them but ever keeping himself away. This is only another way of describing the search of God that we know to be within us, who eluded the efforts to sink into the sweetness. Krishna is hiding in the recesses of your hearts, you have to trace Him there but hold fast. He runs away, but leaves foot prints marked by the spoilt milk on which he has trodden, in His hurry to be beyond our reach. Recognise His footprints in every act of Godness, every tear of gratitude, and every sigh of compassion and discover Him in the bower of your own heart filled with the fragrance of Love and light of virtue.
[Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol.pg.105]
To live up to the teachings of Krishna is the true way to celebrate His birthday.
[Adapted from ‘Sri Sathya Sai Balvikas Guru Hand Book Group I, first Year’.]