I send you my warmest aloha from Hawai’i. Every year, I eagerly look forward to the joyful celebration of Lord Krishna’s appearance in this world, Janmashtami.
But this year, it is especially welcome because there seems to be so much darkness on the horizon. Newscasts are filled with stories of atrocities and terrorism being carried out in the name of God, and bloodthirsty calls of hatred against so-called religious “minorities” fill the air.
Janmashtami reminds the world that God is not hate; God is love. God is not darkness; God is light.
When God appears in this world, He does not do so because He is forced to. Rather, He appears in this world out of His divine love for all living beings and Mother Earth herself. God loves us and beckons to us to love Him. His very essence is divine love.
Krishna is all-loving and all-lovable. And the more our love for Him grows, so does our love for others, regardless of their race, religion, or nationality. Such divine love is the essence of Krishna, the essence of Janmashtami, and the essence of real religion.
So on this day of celebrating Krishna’s birthday, let us dive deep into this ocean of divine love and pray that our words and actions be imbued with and motivated by such love. And let the transcendental light of divine love dispel the darkness of hatred which we see manifested in this world today as intolerant sectarianism and fanaticism.
Let me share with you two of my favorite verses from the Bhagavad-gita:
Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form. ~Bhagavad-gita 4:6
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna. ~Bhagavad-gita 4:9
My best wishes and aloha to you all. Jai Sri Krishna!
