Lord Krishna established an empire right from Kanyakumari up to Himalayan Mountains. However, he did not aspire to rule, but coronated Dharmaraja, the eldest Pandava, as the emperor. This is an example of the liberal attitude of the Lord whose power is unparalleled.

In addition, Krishna the Perfect Master taught the Bhagavad-gita – the quintessence of spiritualism. Also, He propagated the superb system of musical service as an easy path to divinity. Krishna is the Teacher of spiritual teachers. He is the Universal Teacher. I vow to follow the Master – Lord Krishna.”

On the 8th day of the dark fortnight of the month Shravana , at midnight, Krishna was born. Midnight symbolizes that He will remove our inner darkness i.e. our spiritual ignorance and fill us with enlightenment.

The star Rohini was ruling at the time when Krishna was born. This star is very favourable to the moon. Moon’s power of attraction will be the highest when this star is ruling. Having incarnated during that time, Krishna attracted not only the humans, but also the cows, by his divine music and miraculous benevolent grace. For this reason, it is highly auspicious to make offerings to moon at midnight during the festival of Krishna Ashtami.

When the Lord incarnated as Rama, He strengthened righteousness so that it was effective for the entire remining period of Treta-yuga (the second eon). His next incarnation as Krishna, was at the end of Dwapara-yuga (the third eon. At this time, He laid a firm foundation of righteousness (dharma) for the benefit of mankind in the fourth Age i.e. the present period of Kali.

Even during His incarnation as Rama, Lord Vishnu made preparations to His next incarnation as Krishna. Let us look at some examples.

(a) As we all know, Rama built a bridge from Rameswaram to Sri Lanka. Lord Hanuman brought a big mountain for this purpose. When the construction of the bridge was complete, Hanuman, as per the directions of Rama, placed the mountain on the bank of the river Yamuna. This was because the mountain prayed to Rama to be used in His service. The Lord said, “Let the mountain remain there by the banks of Yamuna. I will use it at the end of the next age Dwapara”. This is the Govardhana mountain which Lord Krishna lifted up in order to protect the cows and cowherds.

(b) As directed by Krishna, Hanuman made several favours to Arjuna and Bhima, the Pandava brothers.

The incarnation of Krishna is said to be perfect in all aspects. During this incarnation, He blessed many with the vision of His Universal form. All those who sought His grace in the previous three eons, were reborn as His contemporaries during His incarnation as Krishna. In this incarnation, He blessed them with boons.

An emperor protects only his subjects. However, Krishna liberates all His devotees, irrespective of whether they are sinners and demons. He is the emperor of the realm of devotion. His grace is limitless. There is an intimate link between the master and servant; between the Supreme Soul and His power of illusion (Maya); between the teacher and the disciple. However, the power of attraction of Krishna is matchless. It was enjoyed by one and all.

Throughout His transcendental sports, whether among the cowherds in His childhood, or among the several people and rulers, Krishna eternally remained unaffected by any event – such was His detachment. Here is a practical lesson for us to maintain equipoise even in the period of crisis.

In other incarnations, the Supreme Lord liberated the wrong doers by killing them. However, Krishna showed the gradual path to salvation both to the good and the bad ones; He helped them cleanse the evil effect of their sins by righteous conduct. Thus, people were purified by His grace.

During the Mahabharata was, although Krishna did not wield any weapon, the Pandavas won the war. In the beginning of the war, Arjuna stated that he preferred to lose everything. He wanted to avoid the war as he was unwilling to kill the opponents who were his friends and relations. Krishna taught him the pious principle that “it is not winning the war that is important, but fighting well for the righteous cause”. Ultimately Arjuna met with success.

On the other hand, Duryodhana tried to grab the empire by any means – fair or foul. His greed and wickedness boomeranged against him. Thus Krishna demonstrated by several practical examples that a good work never goes unrewarded and the sinner shall be punished.

Krishna propagated the music of flute – Venu. The kind Lord’s divine melodies were rapturous. Every one enjoyed the ecstatic bliss of His spiritual music of Saptaswaras. Krishna rescued the suffering and fulfilled the desires of the seeker.

Swamiji enquires a devotee “Oh! How are you? Your wife and children are Ok?” These enquiries are made by Swamiji with a purpose. Generally a householder is attached to the family ties and responsibilities. He feels at home if such topics are referred to. Thereafter Swamiji draws the devotee’s attention towards the Guru and Guru seva. The devotee is pleased and satisfied that Swamiji evinces interest in the welfare of his family. The best teacher made the best preaching to the best disciple. This is what we infer from Krishna’s teaching of Bhagavadgita to Arjuna.

- 1998 janmasthami