Two years ago on Krishna Janmashtami while flipping through devotional songs on You Tube I stumbled upon this video. I remember a flow of emotions sweeping over me and leaving me yearning for something. I had never felt this feeling before, a hollow type feeling wanting almost needing ‘it’ to happen immediately. I placed my hand on my stomach and made a wish, “Please Babaji (god) make me a mother”. One month later Little Mirchi was conceived. I will never forget that day. It was almost as if my inner core was saying, “I’m ready for motherhood”.
Krishna Janmashtami is the annual festival celebrating the birth of the Hindu deity Krishna, the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu. This year Krishna Janmashtami will be on Sunday, August 17th. There are thousands of colorful tales sharing the naughtiness and sweetness of Bal (Baby) Krishna. Storybooks are filled with tales of his love for butter and yogurt and how he & his friends would sneak into neighboring homes and devour all their dairy. Many have written of how his mother Yashoda would have to hear a long list of complaints of her naughty little one. One thing however that everyone agrees upon in anything penned or pictured is the love between mother and child.
On the day of the celebration babies and toddlers are dressed up as Bal Krishna. Competitions are held where teams of young men form human towers to reach high-hanging pots of butter to break just as Krishna and his friends would do. Many stay up fasting until the wee hours of early morning when he was born.
We have a tradition in our family of dressing up all the babies as Krishna at least once. My Nanima (maternal grandmother) would take out her pearls and saris to dress us cousins up as the naughty butter thief when we were young. Keeping with tradition, Little Mirchi’s Nanima (my mom ;)) dressed her up this year. We decided to do it a few days early as we would be busy in the Mandir (temple) the day of. My mom was so excited that just as her mom dressed up her baby she did the same for my baby. And as if life wasn’t full circle enough, that same song that had me yearning for a child is now my darling’s favorite song. Funny how life works huh?!
Wishing you and yours a blessed Krishna Janmashtami!
Your baby’s pic dressed by Neema r plain simple adorable.