Celebrating the charioteer who gave us the gita

Celebrating the charioteer who gave us the gita

Every year, countless devotees of Krishn eagerly await the blessed day of Janmashtami, the day when the Divine appeared on this earthly plane some five thousand years ago. Janmashtami is especially spectacular in the holy place of Vrindavan and the surrounding area, called Vraj-mandala, where Krishn enacted his charming and captivating childhood pastimes. While serving him through a myriad of devotional ways – such as hearing about his divine activities, chanting his holy names, serving his deity form, and offering him hundreds of food items – most devotees fast throughout the day in the mood of single-minded absorption in his loving service. The festivities of the day reach their climax at midnight with a grand celebration.

Krishn himself makes a categorical statement on the divinity of his birth while speaking to Arjun in the Bhagwad Gita verse 4:9: “One who knows the transcendental nature of my appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains my eternal abode, O Arjun.”

Brahma, the engineer of the universe, too addresses Krishn as the cause of all causes. Krishn is thus unborn, and hence the events leading up to and including his ‘birth’ are all unique and divine, as recounted in the pages of numerous Vedic scriptures, primarily in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Therefore, spiritualists and scholars across the board have written voluminous commentaries on just this one episode.

Undoubtedly, the birth process in this world is both a labour of love and a harbinger of celebration for family members. However, the mother, relatives, and the medical staff involved in the process would all attest that childbirth is a highly traumatic event even in a normal delivery, let alone when there are associated complications.

Krishn’s birth, however, is far from ordinary. Therefore, we celebrate the day not as ‘birthday’ but ‘appearance day’. Not only his birth but all other activities are extraordinary. For instance, he killed the various demons sent to Vrindavan by his maternal uncle Kans, not with any weapons but just as a sport when he was a mere boy. He established a just rule in Mathura and went on to become the adviser for the righteous Pandavs as is recounted in the pages of the Mahabharat. Nested right in the womb of this longest epic, is the famous 700 verse poem, the Bhagwad Gita, spoken by Krishn to his devotee and friend, Arjun, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. This was when Arjun was at the crossroads of crisis. Playing the humble role of a charioteer for his friend, Krishn spoke this concise science, not only relevant to Arjun but to all of us, on how to navigate the complex and ever-changing material world, with timeless principles of spirituality.

Arjun became the mouthpiece through which Krishn spoke to all of us, not only the first ever self-help manual of mind-control and personal growth but also of universal brotherhood and unconditional love which is beyond considerations of any temporary ‘ism’ – casteism, racism, genderism, or even ‘speciesism’.