Celebrating Lord Krishna Birth Day- Janmastami- with Devotional Fervor

Geetha Patil

CHICAGO: Hindu Mandir of Lake County celebrated Krishna Janmashtami, Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, with great devotion on the Ashtami of Krishna Paksha (Moon’s setting phase) or the 8th day of the month  that was on 29 August 2021.

Temples and shrine were beautifully decorated with cutouts that depicted the stories of Lord Krishna’s various Avatars and his childhood Leelas. Many devotees attended theannual Hindu festival that celebrated the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu with gaiety and devotional fervorand observed the rituals to mark the occasion. Temple management followed all the COVID-19 safety measures, such as masking instruments, social distancing and implementing time limits.

The program started with the sponsor’s Sankalpammantra. Later, Shree Ganesh, Shree Vishnu, and Shree Krishna Archana were performed with all the Vedic traditions and Mantras. Uma Iyer and Sangeeta Singh sang delightful Shree Krishna Bhajans. A well-known Choreographer Kiran Chauhan’s students presented Indian Classical dances to the Lord and the audiences. Devotion and melody filled Bhajans, and dances matched the festive outpouring of emotional fervor ofthe devotees. Little Krishna were received by the temple priest at the entrance of the shrine with all the Vedic rituals and Mantras.

Temple priest, Pt. Anil Joshi started removing one by one petals from the piled up rose pile while chanting Vedic Shree Krishna Mantras around 11:45PM and exactly at the stroke of midnight, he lifted beautiful baby Krishna, and everyone started shouting “Krishna Krishna Hare Krishna” and“Hathi Ghoda Palki Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki”,amidst the blowing of conch shells. Everyone screamed with joy, “May Lord Krishna shower His most cheerful blessing on all and gives strength to everyone facing difficulties in their lives.”

This was followed by an elaborativeAbhishekam of Baby Krishna, andHe was placed in a gorgeously decorated cradle after putting on new dresses and jewelries. All devotees along with the Pt. Joshi Ji performed Maha Mangala Aratiof Lord Krishna. And offered many kinds of Home-made Naivedyam recipes to baby Krishna after the Arati. All the devotees took turns in having Lord’s Darshan and rocking the cradle of Baby Krishna with most devotion. Later Naivedyam were distributed to all the devotees as Prasadam. Pt Joshi Ji blessed everyone to have a lot of happiness, prosperity, and great success in life.

Devotees said to the reporter, ‘We love Krishan Janmashtami since Lord Krishna is the mine of virtues, gives us an opportunity to know the secret behind his Leelas and helps to frame our own philosophy of life.”