Krishna’s Birthday Month Week 2Janmasthami

Week 1- Balaram Purnima- Balaram’s Birthday

Week 2- Janmasthami Krishna’s Birthday

Week 3- Prabhupad Vyasa Puja-Prabhupad’s Birthday

Week 4- Radhasthami- Radha’s Birthday

August 14-20, 2017

I always feel a lot of pressure on Janmasthami. It’s like some kind of ISKCON Christmas- a day celebrating the birth of God on earth and I feel like I have to make it super special!!! I have all these expectations that there is going to be a grand spiritual awakening or ecstatic experience, or that I am going to float on a cloud of prema bhakti for the whole day. Of course these kind of expectations are coming from no one but myself, and they often result in disappointment and fights with my husband and or kids when it doesn happen the way I want it to. I have found that although often Janmasthami can indeed include a grand spiritual awakening or ecstatic experience, focusing on those expectations has always made me self-absorbed and grumpy in the end. When I focus on how to serve Krishna’s devotees (my kids) by gently helping them to remember Him, at the end of the day, I feel that perhaps Krishna is more pleased and sometimes rewards me with that grand spiritual awakening that I craved.

Ironically, although I live in Mayapur, I long for the quiet, low key family gathering kind of festival, so I am planning this year to hold a small Janmasthami festival with a handful of families. The focus will be on facilitating an Abhishekh bathing ceremony for the children’s Gopal deities, followed by a kirtan, aroti and a few games. We decided that holding a potluck would be too complicated, so each family will bring some fruit and we will share charanamrita and fruit at the end. Look in “This week’s activity” for more suggestions on hosting a Janmasthami festival.

I have decided to rearrange the document with the stories at the end since they are very long.

While Prabhupad’s Vyasa Puja is on Wednesday this week, I will include resources related to Srila Prabhupad in next week’s email. Next week will also include some of Krishna’s baby pastimes. There is just a lot to cover! You could make a card for Srila Prabhupad however if you feel inspired.

This week I summarized and paraphrased the Krishna book and tried to make it something you could read more comfortably to your little person. Tell me how you like it!

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Resources and LinksParividha- Krishna janma

As a child, one of my favorite albums was Krishna Janma- a musical rendition of the story of the birth of Krishna. It is actually quite dramatic and could be a bit too scary for your little person- my daughter age 5 is a bit scared. Big kids really really love it though. The Album was composed and produced by Parividha, who sells them by email. You can buy the album for only $10, or all of his work for only $50. I definitely recommend Krishna Janma and his Govardhan musical- they are my favorites and I will be including the Govardhan drama in future emails for Kartik. His stories are great for putting kids to sleep when you just don’t have the energy to read stories at night…

Email him now because he is a bit busy and might not be able to get back to you immediately so you can get this amazing professional production before Janmasthami! His email is parividha@pamho.net

Karnamrita- Most of you probably have, or at least have heard Karnamrita’s popular Album, named Dasi. The “Devaki” track from that album is a beautiful meditation on the birth of Krishna as she sings the prayers that the demigods sang to Vishnu when He was in Devaki’s womb. You can listen to and purchase her songs here:

http://dasimusic.com/albums/dasi/

Mrigakshi- Mrigakshi also produced a very sweet rendition- “Krishna’s birth and Putana liberated” from the album Krishna stories- you can download it for only $10 http://www.littlevaisnava.com/shop/ I have included one melody from that recording with this email- “Krishna’s the supreme personality of Godhead”

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Songs for Week 1You can find all the lyrics for the songs for Krishna Janma on Parividha.com

I thought you might like to memorize this little verse from the musical that captures the demigod’s prayers to Vishnu:

You are the Lord behind everything that beyet You are peacefully sleeping on the vast milk sea.We know You’re aware of the earth’s great despair

so we are begging You show that You are hearing our prayer

This little verse is so sweet and easy for kids to learn-

By the legendary Mrigakshi-

Krishna’s the supreme personality of godhead.Wherever He appears, He dissipates all fears!The Holy Name alone can liberate us from death.If we accept His grace, we’ll go to His own place.

This song can be used for the demon stories too- in the last line you can sing- “Putana got his grace, and went to his own place.

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This Week’s Recipe

This quantity is great if you are having a few families over and basically want a lot of cake for a large gathering. If it is just your family, cut the recipe in half. I definitely recommend making this the day before as you will probably be really busy on Janmasthami!

All of these recipes work with carob powder instead of cocoa powder as well.

4 layer vegan chocolate cake (aka Chocolate Knock Out Cake)

4 Cups flour3 Cups sugar1 C cocoa1 Tablespoon baking soda,½ Tbs salt 1 Tbs vinegar1 Tbs vanilla extract--you can use something instead of vanilla like the orange flower extract or cinnamon or whatever you fancy.1 Cup vegetable oil or coconut oil (not melted butter- it will not turn out moist)3 Cups warm water1 jar jam or marmalade for filling (optional) or caramel... :-)

Frosting-like whipped cream or whatever. I am including the frosting recipe from Balaram’s birthday after the cake recipe.

- preheat oven to 350 F- cut out wax paper and put it in the bottom of 2 spring form cakepans. No greasing or flouring with this method. Or you can grease and flour if you prefer-sift the flour and dry ingredients and whisk them together in a large bowl.- make three wells in the dry ingredient mixture- pour vinegar, vanilla and oil into each of the three holes respectively.- pour warm water over the whole mixture and mix.- pour batter into two or three spring form pans- bake 40 minutes.- take cake out of oven and let cool 10 minutes- take the cakes out of spring forms and let them cool further- if you like, cut cakes in half for a four layer cake, or leave themfor a two layer- for filling, you can heat up a jar of jam, poke holes in the cakeand let the hot jam seep into the middle of the cake. Don't be skimpywith the jam!- frost with whatever you like- like whipped cream, cream cheese frosting, (equal parts icing sugar and cream cheese beaten) or the frosting on the next page.

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Creamy Chocolate frosting that is to die for:

This really is a great recipe to do with your kids as there is a lot of stirring and whisking. You do need an eggbeater for this one though. Read the whole recipe before you start. Seriously.

Take 1 Cup of butter out of the fridge to let it get to room temp. This is two sticks if you are in the US.

Dissolve 1 cup of sugar into 1 cup of milk on medium heat.

In a bowl, whisk ¼ Cup cocoa powder, ¼ Cup white flour, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, half a cup milk and 1 tsp vanilla essence.

When the milk syrup is boiling, whisk it as you pour in the liquid. Keep whisking for about a minute till the whole thing becomes a bubbly mass.

Alternatively, you could start with everything in the pot- all the milk, flours, sugar etc and then just whisk it as you heat it on low. That way your little person could sit at the stove and whisk for a good ten minutes which he/she might really love.

Take it off the heat and let it cool to room temp. Then, get your eggbeater out and beat the butter together with the pudding-like stuff you made on the stove. Your kids will love to do this part!

Your icing is ready to ice a cake-but make sure the cake is not hot or it will melt the icing.

Watch even the adults lick the icing off of the cake.

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This Week’s Activity- AbhishekhHere in Mayapur we are planning to have a small gathering for Janmasthami. You can emphasize that this is Krishna’s birthday, and buy some things or make somethings for Krishna.

This is my plan for our gathering:

Invite friends to attend and bring:

- An item for the abhishekh (milk, yogurt, ghee, honey or fruit juice)- A kilo of fruit- If their child has a deity of Gopal, they can bring Him too, to be bathed. He will need another set

of clothes as well. - Flowers is also nice if anyone has.- Explain to everyone that this is an abhishekh and they should be clean wearing clean clothes if

they want to bathe the Lord. o I have heard of a loophole if you get your period- you can wash your hair and wear silk

to be considered suchi… can anyone verify this?

I am going to ask a friend if they can bring an aroti set. I will bring the pots etc for the abhishekh.

Someone will need to bring paper plates and cups, and another will need to bring a cutting board for any fruit that has to be cut.

You could have this festival all outdoors like us in a park or someone’s yard. Abhishekhs can get messy!

How to do an Abhishekh

Set the right mood… This is actually a real challenge for me so if anyone has suggestions, please share. Sometimes music or kirtan helps, and always a bit of planning and preparing help everyone stay calm.

1. You will need to set up your table where you will do the abhishekh. I like to put a cloth on my table and I try to make sure it is the right height for kids to bathe.

2. Set up the bathing items. I usually arrange the ingredients for the abhishekh, as well as the clean bowl or bucket to catch the Charanamrita (bathing liquids). I have a big salad bowl that I use with a kind of plate that has holes in it on top. I have seen people set up a big pot with bowls at the bottom, and then place a plate upside down on the bowls and then the deities stand on the plate. Find something that works for you and keep in mind the quanitity of liquids including water that is going to accumulate in the bowl/bucket.

3. If you want to get fancy, have some clean cloth for the deities to wear as They take a bath. You could also make dried fruit and nut garlands.

4. Set up your five items in order from least to most processed (that’s how I remember it)* You want bathe with water before and after

i. Milkii. Yogurt

iii. Ghee

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iv. Honeyv. Fruit juice (optional I think)

vi. Jugs of clean (drinkable) water. You can put rose petals and rose water and tulsi leaves in the water if you like.

You want bathe with water before and after… esp after! Someone might need to rub Their bodies a bit to get them cleaned properly.

Have an achaman for people to purify their hands before bathing as well. It’s nice to have a bathing conch shell but any easily pourable cup or small jug will

work. If you have lots of kids (like 20) you might want two.

5. When everything is set up, explain to the kids and adults how the bathing will take place. Designate one child to give people achaman and one child (or adult, or two children) to hand people the pourable jug/conch shell. Explain the order of ingredients to the second child, and demonstrate how they should do their job. Designate someone (an adult is easier) to clean up and dress the Deity after the Abhishekh is finished, and designate some one to do the aroti afterward, and another person to lead the kirtan during aroti. Talk about everyone standing in line and proper line behavior. Designate someone to take photos to post on the Krishna Conscious Homeschooling facebook page ;-)

6. When everyone is set up, you can ask someone to start a kirtan, or play a kirtan or bhajan to set the mood. People who want to bathe can start lining up.

7. Proceed with the Abhishekh in order as laid out in step 4. Kids often like to repeat and bathe again and again. Kids 4 and under probably need help. Pay attention to how full the bucket/bowl is getting and dump it when you need to in another container so it doesn’t overflow.

8. When the abhishekh is finished, the designated person can get the Deity dressed, while another can clear up the Abhishekh table and set up the aroti. Another person can decorate the altar.

9. You might need to remind kids of what you expect of them during aroti before you start. Some nice Aroti Bhajans are Yasomati Nandana, Braja Baro Nagara, or Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna Jaya Vrindavan. These are usually easy enough to follow if just the leader has the words. A very very easy song is Krishna Krishna Krishna He!

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Mayapur AdventuresComing soon…I am waiting for my lovely 12 year old writer

This Week’s Lila KathaThere is this great website that contains the full Krishna book as Srila Prabhupad wrote it. It is not as kid-friendly as the silver Krsna book, but it still has quite a few pictures. You can read the full version of Prabhupad’s Krishna book there. I have decided to abridge it a bit. You might want to leave out some parts for pretty little kids like the killing of the six babies, and just describe the appearance of Krishna in jail.

https://krsnabook.com/

Krishna’s Birth

Krishna has no beginning and no end- He is the original Person. How can He have a mother? Why does he take birth? Because He likes to have fun- and it is lots of fun to be a kid and have a mother. Also, Devaki prayed for many thousands of years to have Krishna as her son, so He wanted to make her dream come true, and take birth from her.

Krishna decided to take birth under the most auspicious star called Rohini. The Rohini star makes a person kind, sweet, and beautiful, and since Krishna is the most kind, sweet and beautiful of all, He decided to take birth under this star. All the planets went in their best places to show how auspicious the birth of Krishna was for the whole world.

At that time everything felt peaceful. There were good signs everywhere. The rivers were flowing full of waters, and lakes were beautifully decorated with lotus flowers. The forests were full with beautiful birds and peacocks. All the birds within the forests began to sing with sweet voices, and the peacocks began to dance along with their consorts. Pleasant breezes carried the sweet smells of various flowers, and felt pleasing on the skin. Brahmanas peacefully made offerings into the fire. Because of the demon kings, brahmanas were not allowed to make fire sacrifices, which made them feel very distressed, but now they were so happy because they could hear loud vibrations in the sky of transcendental sounds proclaiming the appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The denizens of the Gandharva (angels) and Kinnara (centaurs) planets began to sing, and the denizens of Siddhaloka and the planets of the Cāraṇas began to offer prayers in the service of the Personality of Godhead. In the heavenly planets, the angels along with their wives, accompanied by the Apsaras, began to dance.

The great sages and the demigods, being pleased, began to shower flowers. At the seashore, there was the sound of mild waves, and above the sea there were clouds in the sky which began to thunder very pleasingly.

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At that time, Lord Viṣṇu, who is residing within the heart of every living entity, appeared in the darkness of night as the Supreme Personality of Godhead before Devakī, who also looked like a goddess. The birth of Krishna felt just like the rising of the full moon in the dark sky.

Vasudeva saw that wonderful child born as a baby with four hands, holding conchshell, club, disc, and lotus flower, decorated with the mark of Śrīvatsa, wearing the jeweled necklace of kaustubha stone, dressed in yellow silk, appearing dazzling like a bright blackish cloud, wearing a helmet bedecked with the vaidūrya stone, valuable bracelets, earrings and similar other ornaments all over His body and an abundance of hair on His head. Due to the extraordinary features of the child, Vasudeva was struck with wonder. How could a newly born child be so decorated? He could therefore understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa had now appeared, and he became overpowered by the occasion. Vasudeva very humbly wondered that although he was an ordinary living entity conditioned by material nature and was externally imprisoned by Kaṁsa, the all-pervading Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa, was appearing as a child in his home, exactly in His original form. No earthly child is born with four hands decorated with ornaments and nice clothing, fully equipped with all the signs of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Over and over again, Vasudeva glanced at his child, and he considered how to celebrate this auspicious moment: "Usually, when a baby boy is born," he thought, "people observe the occasion with big celebrations.” As he was looking at his newborn baby, he was so happy that he wanted to give many thousands of cows in charity to the brāhmaṇas.

Baby Krishna lit up the whole room with His effulgence, and Vasudev, bowed down with folded hands and began to offer Him prayers.- “My dear Lord, I can understand who You are. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul of all living entities and the Absolute Truth. I understand that because I am afraid of Kaṁsa, You have appeared just to deliver me from that fear. You are everywhere, but you have also come inside Devaki’s womb. Just as sunshine comes from the sun, everything comes from You. You are in charge of everything, but You are so kind that you took birth here in my home. You have come to kill all the demons, and I am sure you will. Knowing this, Kamsa has killed all the babies who were born before You, and I am afraid he will come to kill You.

Then Devaki offered prayers- “You hold all the universes in Your belly, but You are so kind that You appeared in my belly. You have so many forms that are beyond this material world. Even when everything in the world is destroyed, You remain. You are in charge of everything and making everything happen, so please save me from Kamsa. I am so afraid but I know you always protect Your devotees.

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I am so afraid that Kamsa will find out You are born and hurt You, so please become invisible to material eyes, and take away your four armed form.”

Then the Lord told them the story of how they became His parents: “My dear mother, a long long time ago, my father Vasudeva was living as Sutapā, and you were his wife named Pṛśni. At that time,

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when Lord Brahmā wanted to make more people, he requested you to have children. You controlled your senses and performed severe austerities for 12,000 years. By practicing the breathing exercise of the yoga system, both you and your husband could tolerate everything: the rainy season, the onslaught of the wind, and the scorching heat of the sunshine. You cleansed you heart and were able to control your body completely. You used to only eat the leaves of the trees which fell to the ground. Always thinking about Me in your hearts, you served Me and I became pleased with you, so I came to ask you what you desired. You told Me that you wanted Me as your son, even though I could have given you anything. I told you I would take birth as your son three times. The first time I was Prishnigarbha- and you were Prishni and Sutapa. The next time you were Aditi and Kashyapa, and I came as Vamanadev. And now I am here again taking birth from you.

I know you are very worried about Kamsa, so I want you to take me right now to Gokula and exchange me with the baby girl just been born to Yashoda and Nanda.

Then Vishnu changed his form into a beautiful blue baby.

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Exactly at that time, Yogamaya was born from Yasoda, and by the energy of Yogamaya, all the people at Kamsa’s palace were overwhelmed by a deep sleep, and all the palace doors magically opened. Even though it was a very dark night, Vasudev could see everything like it was daytime. That night was filled with loud thunder, lightning and heavy rain. But Ananta Sesha appeared in the form of serpent and spread his hood like an umbrella to shield Vasudeva and Baby Krishna from the rain. Vasudeva came onto the bank of the Yamunā and saw that the water of the Yamunā was roaring with waves and that the whole span was full of foam, but the waters parted to let Vasudev cross.

On the other side, he went to the place of Nanda Mahārāja situated in Gokula, where he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep. He took the opportunity of silently entering into the house of Yaśodā,

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and without difficulty he replaced his son, taking away the baby girl newly born in the house of Yaśodā. Then, he returned to the prison of Kaṁsa and silently put the baby girl in the lap of Devakī, and then clamped the shackles on himself so that Kaṁsa could not recognize that so many things had happened.

Mother Yaśodā understood that she had given birth in the night, but because she was very tired from the labor of childbirth, she was fast asleep. When she awoke, she could not remember whether she had given birth to a male or female child.

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The next day, it was declared in Gokul that Yashoda had a baby boy! According to Vedic custom, Nanda Mahārāja called for learned astrologers and brāhmaṇas to perform the birth ceremony. The family members take baths, cleanse themselves and decorate themselves with ornaments and garlands; then they come before the child and the astrologer to hear of the future life of the child. Nanda Mahārāja and other members of the family dressed and sat down in front of the birthplace. All the brāhmaṇas who were assembled there on this occasion chanted auspicious mantras, according to the rituals, while the astrologers performed the birth ceremony. All the demigods are also worshiped on this occasion, as well as the forefathers of the family. Nanda Mahārāja distributed 200,000 well decorated, dressed and ornamented cows to the brāhmaṇas. He not only gave cows in charity, but hills of grains, decorated with golden-bordered garments and many ornaments.

In the material world people make money in so many ways, and not all of those ways are very good, so we can make them good by giving in charity, especially to brahmanas. This also purifies the newborn baby.

Then all the brahmanas began chanting mantras for good fortune, and other songs were heard throughout the house.

On this occasion, the joyous vibrations could be heard in all the pasturing grounds and all the houses. Within and outside of the houses there were varieties of artistic paintings, done with rice pulp, and scented water was sprinkled everywhere, even on the roads and streets. Ceilings and roofs were decorated with different kinds of flags, festoons and green leaves. The gates were made of green leaves and flowers. All the cows, bulls and calves were smeared with a mixture of oil and turmeric and painted

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with minerals like red oxide, yellow clay and manganese. They wore garlands of peacock feathers, and were covered with nice colored dresses and gold necklaces.

When the cowherd men heard that Nanda was celebrating the birth of his son, they were so happy that they got dressed up with, earrings, necklaces, and great big turbans, and went to Nanda’s house.

When the cowherd women heard that Yashoda was celebrating the birth of her son, they were so happy that they got dressed up with, pearl earrings, jeweled necklaces, gold bangles lipstick, eye shadow, and sweet perfume, flower garlands and kumkum bindis and went to Yashoda’s house. As they were rushing, the flower garlands fell off and covered the ground. As they reached the house, they blessed baby Krishna to live long and protect them. While they were blessing child Kṛṣṇa in this way, they offered a mixture of turmeric powder with oil, yogurt, milk and water. They not only sprinkled this mixture on the body of child Kṛṣṇa but on all other persons who were present there. Also on that auspicious occasion, there were different bands of expert musicians playing.

When the cowherd men saw the pastimes of the cowherd women, their hearts filled with joy, and they also began to throw yogurt, milk, ghee and water upon the bodies of the gopīs. Then both parties began to throw butter on each other's bodies. Nanda Mahārāja was also very happy to see this play fight between the cowherd men and women, and he felt very generous to the different singers who were assembled there. There were also many learned brāhmaṇas present, and Nanda Mahārāja, began to give them different kinds of garments, ornaments, and cows in charity. Just imagine how rich all the farmers in Vrindavan were! Just by taking care of cows, they had jewels, ghee, and expensive cloth in abundance. Because Krishna was there, the goddess of fortune Laxmi was there manifesting all opulence.

Thus Nanda Mahārāja, the foster father of Lord Kṛṣṇa, made everyone happy with gifts. He just wanted to make Krishna happy and didn’t know that He was Vishnu Himself, so he prayed to Vishnu for his baby’s protection.

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