History
- Krishna appeared on earth roughly 5,000 years ago. However, according to http://www.salagram.net/janmastami-whoisKrishna.html:
"Historically, Lord Krishna appeared in the Dvapara yuga, on the midnight of the 8th day of the dark half of the month of Sravan, in Mathura. This corresponds to July 19th in the year 3228 BC. He exhibited His pastimes for a little over 125 years and disappeared on February 18th 3102 BC on the new moon night of Phalgun. His departure marks the beginning of the current age of corruption known as Kali."
(Various respected sources are cited, including Vedic philosopher Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
- The basic story of Janmastami is: Krishna was born to Vasudeva and Devaki, the cousin of the ruling King Kamsa. It was prophesied that Devaki’s eighth son would kill Kamsa. Kamsa imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva and killed her children as they were born. Their eighth child, Krishna, appeared with all the accouterments of Vishnu, the formal deity of God. However, He shed them at his parents’ request so they could smuggle him out of jail to Gokul, where he was brought up as the child of the cowherd Nanda and his wife Yashoda at Gokul.
- Most information of Krishna’s activities are garnered from the ancient Vedic texts Hari-Vamsa, Vishnu Purana, Brahma Purana, and most notably, the Bhagavata Purana.
- Krishna is the ultimate paradox: He’s born yet unborn. He’s the ultimate supreme divinity, but he’s also the most intimate supreme divinity. He’s most transcendent, and he’s most imminent. He’s enjoying pleasure activities with the cowherd maidens, and yet he’s on the battlefield with Arjuna.
- While Krishna worship continued on since the time of Krishna’s appearance, there was a Bhakti renaissance, or resurgence of Krishna worship, from the 11th to the 16th century. This culminated with the appearance of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Bengal in 1486. A great saint who is believed by Vaishnavas to be Krishna Himself, Chaitanya re-established Vrindavana (where Krishna performed most of his pastimes) as a great pilgrimage site and developed Janmastami as it is celebrated today.
- An interesting side fact is that when in 1492, Columbus sailed the blue searching for India and accidentally discovering America, Lord Chaitanya was six years old. (born in 1486)
- Shri Chaitanya’s immediate disciples, the six Goswamis, carried on his teachings, continuing to establish Krishna worship and building many temples in Vrindavana. But then the Muslim regime invaded. The Govindaji temple previously had seven floors but the top four were destroyed by Muslim emperor Aurangzeb. Over a span of eighty or ninety years, major deities of Vrindavana were moved in bullock cars by their priests to outlying areas to protect them. Some, like Govindaji, as far as Jaipur in Rajasthan.
- Krishna worship faced another threat when in the 19th century, British Christian missionaries traveled to India, with the goal of converting the "heathens." Upon arriving, they were amazed at the rich and complex theology that they found. Furthermore the locals, rather than converting to Christianity and replacing what they already had, with trademark Indian hospitality, just included Jesus. Somewhat disappointed at this, the missionaries returned to England, and began indological scholarship.
- Krishna’s Janmasthan (birthplace) is still preserved in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh, India), commemorated by the Katra Keshava Deo temple. (http://us.makemytrip.com/indiabest/pilgrimage-mathura.htm)
- It is estimated that on Janmastami, almost seven hundred thousand pilgrims pour into Mathura and surrounding towns. http://indiafairs.dgreetings.com/indian/festivals/janamashtami/janamashtami.htm
- Many holy places and temples commemorating different activities of Krishna’s earthly appearance still exist all over India, particularly in Vrindavana and Mathura.
- Recently, in the 1960s, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a monk in the direct disciplic line of Shri Chaitanya, brought his teachings, and the Janmastami festival, to America and the Western world.
- At the same time – post 1965 – Indian immigration into the U.S. began again after a lapse of about 40 years, and of course they brought their culture with them. (US Federal Census Department)
- There are now about 930 million Hindus in the world. Some 560 million of these are Vaishnavas. (See "The Hindu Community")
- There are 2 million Hindus in the US. (See "The Hindu Community")
- Now, this ancient 5,000 year old festival has been brought into this modern age of technology and is being celebrated online at Krishna.com.
