The celebrations to commemorate the birth of Lord Krishna, believed to be the eight incarnation of Lord Vishnu as per Hindu faith, known as ‘Janmashtami’ took place all over the globe. The festival of Janmashtami is celebrated every year on the eighth day or Ashtami of Krishna Paksha in the month of Shravan or Bhadrapad as per Hindu calendar. This year the festival fell on 11th August and believers and devotees of Lord Krishna thronged temples in India and world over to pay their obeisance by worshiping, singing, and dancing. The celebrations all over the world, went until middle of the night which is believed to be the time Krishna was born. Many devotees celebrate Janmashtami till the next day following 16 step ritualistic puja called Shodashopachara puja Vidhi. The most amazing and main celebrations of Janmashtami take place in the holy city of Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Krishna, where not only the locals but people from across India and from world over to take part in it.

Here in New Zealand also, Janmashtami was celebrated with lot of joy and fervour in all major Hindu temples. In Auckland, the main venue was the ISCON’s Krishna temple in Kumeu and Bhartiya Mandir at Balmoral. Thousands of devotees visited both the temples and singing, chanting, and dancing went on until midnight. At Bharatiya Mandir, all devotees were served delicious food which was enjoyed by more than 1500 people. The young children of Mandir’s Bal Vikas classes presented many performances depicting Lord Krishna’s childhood activities to the thunderous applauses of the packed Bharatiya Mandir main hall. After Bal Vikas children programme the Art of Living group presented their beautiful narration about Krishna and rendering bhajans. Programme concluded with a discourse from the disciple of Sri Sri Ravishankar, Swami Sadyojathah, who came visiting New Zealand a few months ago but got stuck here due the Corona crisis. The evening concluded with celebration of birth of Lord Krishna at middle of the night.

-Yugal Parashar