Glorifying Krishna on Janmashtami/Krishnajayanti stands apart from the other days for its own sake, though His Grace is prevalent all the time.
The word beauty would not contain in itself the form of Krishna. If formlessness is His true nature, His manifested enchanting form captures the heart and has it enraptured. The yellow garment wrapped around His waist compliments His natural luster. He sports a beautiful peacock feather on His head, the flute is in close proximity to his beautiful lips, and the crowning glory is His brilliant blue colour. Words fall short in describing His beautiful form.
Each of the aforesaid aspects of Krishna has something more to it apart from beauty. They all carry the element of the eternal truth in them.
The Flute
When one thinks of Krishna, the flute is what that pops up in the mind after the Lord's form. Mellifluous music flows out of it when Krishna breathes air into it. Both the animate and inanimate were charmed by it.
The music that came forth from Krishna's flute was capable of stilling the mind and immersing the listeners in eternal bliss. It immerses one into the Anahata sound, the unmade sound or the primal sound. The Gopis lost themselves to the music of the flute.
The flute is an embodiment of the human body. It is always used as a metaphor for spiritual surrender. It is the Lord who breathes life into it which pours forth as melody. The melody is possible only because it is being handled by the Lord. So also only when one surrenders to the Lord, the music of life flows smoothly.
The Peacock Feather
One cannot miss the peacock feather which Krishna sports on His head. The Peacock feather has all the seven colours in it. He wears it to signify the entire range of colours which portray human beings so different from each other in the periphery yet beyond all distinctions as they are all in Him, the centre. He encompasses the whole universe in Him.
The Blue Colour of Krishna
Krishna is also addressed as 'Ratnabahu' as His hands looked as if they were carved out of Sapphire. He is also called as the 'Ujjvala Nilamani' which means a brilliant dark blue gem.
The Lord is blue in order to indicate that He is infinite. The sky is infinite and blue in colour. Hence Krishna is in blue in order to indicate His immeasurable vastness, His all pervasiveness. It also indicates that it is impossible to perceive the Lord owing to His limitlessness.
Butter, His favourite
It is a well known fact that Krishna loved butter. He stealthily stole butter and savoured them. It was beyond the will of Yashoda to reprimand Him when complaints poured in, owing to His adorable naughtiness. One cannot help but adore the naughtiness of little Krishna when heard or read.
Butter stands for the human heart. He stealthy and effortlessly steals the hearts of people. One cannot help but melt like the butter out of devotion when one comes into His fold.
The Gopis
The Gopis depict the Jeevatma (Individual soul) allured by the Paramatma, Krishna (the Absolute), yearning for eternal consummation. It is but the yearning of the individual soul to merge with the absolute that is portrayed in the love and devotion of the Gopis
Vrindavan
Vrindavan is the hearts of the devotees where the Lord sports ceaselessly, and Krishna Himself is the pure consciousness, the ultimate reality and the essence of all that is created.
On Janmashtami lets us all surrender to the infinite blue Lord, like the flute, and realise his ceaseless sporting in Vrindavan, our hearts, understanding that we all are made of the same essence and are in Him, recalling the significance of the peacock feather and forever melting with devotion like the butter.
The word beauty would not contain in itself the form of Krishna. If formlessness is His true nature, His manifested enchanting form captures the heart and has it enraptured. The yellow garment wrapped around His waist compliments His natural luster. He sports a beautiful peacock feather on His head, the flute is in close proximity to his beautiful lips, and the crowning glory is His brilliant blue colour. Words fall short in describing His beautiful form.
Each of the aforesaid aspects of Krishna has something more to it apart from beauty. They all carry the element of the eternal truth in them.
The Flute
When one thinks of Krishna, the flute is what that pops up in the mind after the Lord's form. Mellifluous music flows out of it when Krishna breathes air into it. Both the animate and inanimate were charmed by it.
The music that came forth from Krishna's flute was capable of stilling the mind and immersing the listeners in eternal bliss. It immerses one into the Anahata sound, the unmade sound or the primal sound. The Gopis lost themselves to the music of the flute.
The flute is an embodiment of the human body. It is always used as a metaphor for spiritual surrender. It is the Lord who breathes life into it which pours forth as melody. The melody is possible only because it is being handled by the Lord. So also only when one surrenders to the Lord, the music of life flows smoothly.
The Peacock Feather
One cannot miss the peacock feather which Krishna sports on His head. The Peacock feather has all the seven colours in it. He wears it to signify the entire range of colours which portray human beings so different from each other in the periphery yet beyond all distinctions as they are all in Him, the centre. He encompasses the whole universe in Him.
The Blue Colour of Krishna
Krishna is also addressed as 'Ratnabahu' as His hands looked as if they were carved out of Sapphire. He is also called as the 'Ujjvala Nilamani' which means a brilliant dark blue gem.
The Lord is blue in order to indicate that He is infinite. The sky is infinite and blue in colour. Hence Krishna is in blue in order to indicate His immeasurable vastness, His all pervasiveness. It also indicates that it is impossible to perceive the Lord owing to His limitlessness.
Butter, His favourite
It is a well known fact that Krishna loved butter. He stealthily stole butter and savoured them. It was beyond the will of Yashoda to reprimand Him when complaints poured in, owing to His adorable naughtiness. One cannot help but adore the naughtiness of little Krishna when heard or read.
Butter stands for the human heart. He stealthy and effortlessly steals the hearts of people. One cannot help but melt like the butter out of devotion when one comes into His fold.
The Gopis
The Gopis depict the Jeevatma (Individual soul) allured by the Paramatma, Krishna (the Absolute), yearning for eternal consummation. It is but the yearning of the individual soul to merge with the absolute that is portrayed in the love and devotion of the Gopis
Vrindavan
Vrindavan is the hearts of the devotees where the Lord sports ceaselessly, and Krishna Himself is the pure consciousness, the ultimate reality and the essence of all that is created.
On Janmashtami lets us all surrender to the infinite blue Lord, like the flute, and realise his ceaseless sporting in Vrindavan, our hearts, understanding that we all are made of the same essence and are in Him, recalling the significance of the peacock feather and forever melting with devotion like the butter.
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