JANAMASHTMI is a propitious day in the Hindu calendar that annually pays obeisance to the birth or appearance of Lord Krishna. Guyanese Hindus in the diaspora paid great reverence to the Lord Thursday night and Friday morning. This year I observed the celebration in New Zealand where there are several beautiful temples established by Fijian Hindus and nationals from India. The festival is made very popular in New Zealand by the Hare Krishna movement just like in Guyana.
Janamashtmi is a holiday in India and several Guyanese from New York have been on a tour in India and celebrated Janamashtmi there thanks to the effort of Ramesh Kalicharran. My experience of Janamashtmi in India in previous years was that magnificent decorations and colourful lights adorn homes, temples, streets and businesses. The same is true among some Guyanese Hindus in N.Y and the temples in N.Y. are also well lit on the outside as well as in the interior. As it was in New York and Guyana, temples in New Zealand were jam-packed for Thursday night. The Indo-Fijian friends I met in New Zealand said temples are usually packed in Fiji for the celebration. Like Guyanese Hindus, Fijian Hindus conduct Gita Bhagavad Katha (discourses) in their temples as well as in their homes. In India, there are usually throngs of gatherings at the more famous temples in the big cities with mile-long lines paying tribute to Lord Krishna.  People would perform elaborate poojas all night and the following day with special offerings of Prasad prepared for the occasion. In New Zealand, Fiji and New York worshippers performed rituals and sang religious bhajans all night into the morning daylight.
According to Hindu belief, Lord Krishna was not really born, but made his appearance on earth as a baby to show parents how to care for their children and for adults how to live.
Hence, Lord Krishna’s human appearance in the world over 5,000 years ago.  God and Goddess take human forms to protect the good and destroy the evil. In fact, Krishna said that whenever there is a decline of dharma, “I shall manifest myself in order to restore balance”. Krishna established a code of conduct for our behaviour.  One code of conduct is to fight injustice. In the battle at Kuruskshetra, Krishna instructed Arjune to fight on the side of justice and to slay his evil Kauravas cousins. Arjune did not want to kill his cousins whom he loved dearly. But Krishna advised him it was the right thing to do in order to defeat injustice. The lesson from this battle is that people must not shirk their responsibility to fight injustice.  Whenever people feel weak and unable to perform their duties against bullies, they need to recall Krishna’s message because it remains timeless — do not yield to bullyism.
Lord Krishna is one of the most revered Gods among Hindus. And for Janamashtmi, they would hold kathas or religious discourses on the Bhagavad Gita. The tradition is the same in Fiji, New Zealand, New York, Trinidad and Guyana as took place last week. All of the temples and mandirs in the NYC area conducted mid-night vigils and kathas as is the norm; virtually all also held several nights of discourses that culminated with Janamashtmi as was the case in New Zealand and Fiji. Kirtan groups led the congregations with devotional songs. While devotees felt fulfilled and blessed that they made generous offerings to Lord Krishna, they must not think of Janamashtmi as a once- in-a-year event. Every moment of our lives should be spent prostrating to the Lord and of performing services to humanity and of resisting those who seek to bully others in our fragile nation.