Yesterday the students at Goodness School celebrated the holiday of Janmashtami and sent some photos of their special day along with this note from the school administrator.
“Yesterday, we celebrated Janmashtami in our class with great enthusiasm. The classroom was beautifully decorated, and students dressed up as Krishna, Radha, and other characters.
We started with a brief introduction about the significance of the festival, followed by activities like a Krishna-themed quiz, storytelling, and a dance performance depicting Krishna’s life. The highlight was the “Dahi Handi” event, where students formed human pyramids to break a pot filled with sweets.
The celebration ended with the distribution of prasad and sweets. It was a joyous and memorable day, filled with learning and fun.
Wishing you a blessed and joyous Janmashtami! May Krishna’s blessings bring love, peace, and prosperity to your life.”
So…Who is Krishna?
Krishna, according to Hindu belief, is the eighth incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, who, has come in every cosmic age to save humankind from its sin and folly. (Sound familiar?)
Hindus decided that Vishnu’s ninth incarnation was Lord Buddha, whom Gandhi called the greatest ever teacher of non-violence.
The earliest mentions of Krishna date to 750 BC. (Yes… more than 700 years before Jesus…and 200 years before the books of Moses (Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers) were written.
There are many striking and instructive similarities between Krishna and Christ.
-Both were miraculously conceived;
-Both had royal genealogies;
-Both were threatened with death by a wicked ruler.
In fact: the Hindu equivalent of the slaughter of the infants–Prince Kansa’s attempt to kill Krishna–was found in a bas relief from the 3rd Century BC.
Krishna and Christ were human incarnations of a triune God; (The concept of the trinity came first in Hinduism)
-Both were tempted by demons;
-Both performed miracles for crowds
-Both transfigured themselves
-Both predicted their own deaths
Krishna and Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Christ died on a cross, while Krishna died by an arrow to his heel (like the Greek god Achilles)
As the book of Ecclesiastes tells us “There is nothing new under the sun.” Indeed all of our stories are retellings of stories from generations before, changed and differentiated by the people, place and time.
Happy Janmashtami!
