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Gokulashtami Celebration in My Home!

Krishna Bal Leela

Lord Krishna is one of the most loved and adored Gods of Hindu religion. The foremost reason of the glorification and reverence of Bhagwan Krishna is his Bal Leela. Bal Leela depicts various episodes between the period of his birth till the age of ten. Lord Krishna right from the time of his birth displayed the signs of his divine being.

Episode of Killing of Demoness Putana

According to legend, King Kansa wanted to kill Krishna as it was predicted that he would grow up to kill the King. So Demoness Putana went about killing all the male infants in Mathura and other neighboring towns in the move to kill the new born Lord Krishna. She took the form of a beautiful woman and smeared her breast with poison. While roaming from one town to another, she reached Nand baba's house, and saw Bal Krishna lying in the cradle. She then fled with the child and fed Lord Krishna her milk in the vain hope of killing him. Lord Krishna kept smiling and drinking the milk and after a while Putana shrieked with pain. It is said that while sucking the milk, Lord Krishna sucked her life thus killing her.

Episode of Overturning the Cart by Lord Krishna

As per a folklore, during one of the birth ceremonies of Lord Krishna, Mata Yashoda kept fast asleep Krishna under a cart full of milk . Lord Krishna started crying for milk after getting up, but Mata Yashoda didn't hear his cries so Lord Krishna kicked the cart with his feet and overturned it. The pots were shattered and milk started flowing into his mouth. When the story of overturned cart was narrated to Mata Yashoda, she could not believe it.

Episode of Displaying the Cosmos to Mother Yashoda


Legend has it that one day Mata Yashoda was cuddling Lord Krishna and playing with him. The child lying on his mother's lap yawned and opened his mouth. Mata Yashoda saw the whole universe in his mouth, the sun, the moon and all the stars, the sky, mountains, rivers, islands, oceans, all the continents, all living as well as non living beings.

Episode of Killing of Demon Trinivarta

It is believed that King Kansa sent one of his loyal servant, Demon Trinivarta to kill Lord Krishna. The demon took the form of a whirlwind and carried the child away. As soon as the demon reached the sky, he found it difficult to proceed further on account of the heaviness of the child. Unable to bear his own weight as well as the weight of the child, demon Trinivarta fell on the ground and met his fate. His took his original form after the death and Mata Yashoda was astonished to see her child lying on the dead demon.

Episode with the Fruit Seller

According to another famous folklore, Lord Krishna went to a woman fruit seller and asked her to give him some fruits in exchange for a handful of grains. The woman took the handful of grains from Lord Krishna and put in her basket and left. On reaching home, the woman was astonished to see her basket full of precious stones and gems instead of grains.

Episode of Omnipresent Lord Krishna

Bal Gopal was very mischievous and found great pleasure in playing pranks on gopis. He would steal their milk, butter, break their earthen pots to get butter. One day Lord Krishna, broke all the earthen pots of a gopi in order to get butter. On being caught red handed, the gopi went to mother Yashoda to inform her of her son's mischievous deeds. She was shocked to see the Lord standing next to his mother; Feeling embarrassed she left the place.

There are many more popular Bal Leelas of God like the killing of demons Aghasura, Bakasura, brothers of demoness Putana . Mata Yashoda tying Lord Krishna with a rope but each time the rope would fall short by a few inches is another famous episode of Krishna Bal Leela.


Janmashtami Pooja Process

Janmashtami


The festival of Janmashtami is considered a very pious day by Hindus. Lot of bhajan singing, hymn chanting and poojas are performed this day. Devotees queue all the major Krishna temples to seek his blessings. People perform elaborate poojas during the festival. They keep day long fast. Functions and prayer meetings are organised to share the glory of their favourite God.

The general pooja process begins early in the morning with devotees giving a bath or abhishek to Bal Gopal's idol with gangajal, ghee, water, honey and curd. The idol is then adorned with new clothes (preferably in yellow colour), stone or other precious jewellery.

Next, the idol of lord is offered bhog, the contents of bhog may vary. Fruits, kheer, pedha, milk, and milk products are made. There are devotees who offer chappan bhog(56 dishes) to Bal Gopal.

Thereafter, special Krishna pooja is performed. The cradle containing the divine infant's idol is rocked, conch is blown. Devotees sing Krishna arti, some people read out 108 names of lord. They get totally immersed in the name and praise of Gopal.

After the entire pooja is over, devotees break their fast by having panchamrit. The time of breaking the fast may vary, this is so, because the time of performing pooja also differs from place to place. While some devotees choose to perform pooja at midnight and break fast, others perform pooja in the evening and have food.


Janmashtami Pooja Items

The festival of janmashtami is observed with lot of gay and happiness all over India. Special poojas are performed both in homes as well as temples. The entire day is devoted to remembering and singing the praise of Lord Krishna. Devotees welcome and celebrate the birth of their favorite god with lot of fervor.

There are certain special items required for Krishnashtami pooja. Important pooja items are listed below:

* Lord Krishna's idol with cradle and conch
* New clothes, flute and ornaments for Lord Krishna
* Pooja thali containing a bell, diya, rice, elaichi(cardamom), supari, paan leaves, roli, small container filled with water, sindoor, incense sticks, flowers and ghee.
* For Panchamrit -milk, curd, gangajal, honey and ghee.
* A book containing shri Krishna's arti.


The list of items may vary according to pooja process performed by different people.
Thanks for the source:www.krishnajanmashtami.com
Pictures Clicked During Gokulashtami Celebration at My Home!








We celebrated Gokulashtami in a good way by yesterday evening and i decorated my 2 years old son, Amiitesh, as Lord Krishna and he looked so cute in that costume! i dressed him like Lord Krishna last year also but this year he didn't let me to dress! After a lot of efforts, we dressed him and he started to smile and play, once he got dressed and start telling " Lord Krishna has arrived!" in his cute little voice and he made as so happy by his smiles!

We dipped Amiitesh's legs in rice batter (rice flour mixed in water to dosa batter consistency), and asked him to walk from our doorsteps to Pooja room. He refused to dip his legs in the batter, since he felt little uneasy and my hubby made him to dip his legs and he ran away from our doorsteps to puja room and that was a fun! Hindu people will do like this because its a belif that Lord Krishna is coming to our home to celebrate Janmashtami and his foot steps are stamped in our home!

I prepared lot of snacks for Gokulashtami and let's see the recipes in coming days soon and am little busy now-a-days, in performing pooja's and we are going to celebrate Amiitesh's 2nd birthday on september 3rd and planning for it and so i may be little irregular in updating my blog and sorry guys.

Comments

Cham said…
Wow that is a feast! Love Krisna jayanthi for all the snacks. I will try to post on monday my entry!
Srikitchen said…
thanks cham and u r right everyone of us love to celebrate gokulashtami!
david santos said…
Really beautiful!!!
Congratulations.
notyet100 said…
wow,..everythin lookin good,..u can send this for janmashtami event too,..hosted by purva,..and ya mailme pic,.of ur son,..tk care,..ceeya,,
Srikitchen said…
thanks priyanka! but let me try to send it for the event since am planning to go for a short break!
CurryLeaf said…
Hi,Srilekha,Please confirm my mail.I have remailed my milkshake entry to your event.Kindly confirm.Sorry for the trouble.Wishing your son a very happy birthday!
Srikitchen said…
no problem curry leaf! if i receive ur entries i will surely mail u!
Vani said…
Thanks for the award, Srilekha! I've been too busy to even look at my blog! Happy Gokulashtami! Did you make all those goodies? I notice today is the last day for your event. Sorry I could not participate this time. Life has been too hectic lately.
Hope youa re doing well. I wish Icould see Amitesh in the Krishna costume. I'm sure he looked adorable!
Srikitchen said…
congrats on ur award vani! yes seen ur post before a long time dear and waiting for it eagerly!
Lakshmi said…
Nice post on Gokulastami and those snacks look yummy!!
Nidhi said…
Thats a lovely collection of Shri Krishna's Bal lilas. Lovely spread for the prasad.
Unknown said…
lord Krishna looks exceptionally cute,Love the idol and food.
Srikitchen said…
thanks LG!
thank u nidhi!
thanks pearl of featst!

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