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Janmastami; Lord Sri Krsna’s Appearance Day Lecture
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Montreal, August 16, 1968

So today, is the birth appearance ceremony of Lord Krsna. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says:

janma karma me divyam
yo janati tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti kaunteya
[Bg. 4.9]

“My dear Arjuna, any person who simply tries to understand about My transcendental birth or appearance and disappearance and activities, janma karma…” The Personality of Godhead is

The Temple in our Hearts

A Guide for celebrating Krsna Janmastami At  home

Śrī  Kṛṣṇa  Janmāṣṭamī  mahā-mahotsava, the  advent  of  Lord  Kṛṣṇa  on  this  earthly planet  is  the  biggest  religious  festival  in our vaishnava calendar and it is celebrated by  hundreds  of  millions  of  people  around the  world.  On  this  day,  devotees  flock  to various temples including the holy land of  Vrndavana  to  take  darshan  of  the Supreme  Personality  of  Godhead  in  his arca  vigraha  form 

Madhavananda das GGS (Gopal Jiu Publications – IN)

Notes from Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa

Texts 247 to 542 of the 15th section of Hari-bhakti-vilasa describe the glories of Janmastami and how to observe it. The introduction to this section describes three reasons for observing the Lord’s appearance day:

nityatvam ca param tasya bhagavat-prinanan matam
vidhi-vakya-visesac cakarane pratyavayatah

The observance of Janmastami is accepted as a regulative principle in three ways: 1) the Supreme Lord becomes

Janmastami is just one day, but how we spend it can deeply inspire us for the whole year.
Krishna consciousness mean we are conscious of Krishna. He becomes an active part of our life – like a close friend or an affectionate family member we love to be around. Krishna consciousness, then, is loving to be around Krishna.
Here are 5 ways to love and be with Krishna on his birthday:
1. Come early, stay late – be close to Krishna today, close to the Temple. This is our day with Krishna. There will

In the chapter of the Krishna book titled “Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Krishna in the Womb” Srila Prabhupada cautions against the tendency to be a bit impersonal towards God. We understand that Krishna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has both personal and impersonal aspects – He is simultaneously one with everything and different from everything. It’s easy to see and appreciate the power and energy of Krishna in the world in front of us, but sometimes not so easy to see or understa

While attending the Janmastami festival at the ISKCON farm in Czechoslovakia several years ago, I was asked to give a lecture about the appearance of Lord Krishna. Afterwards I asked for questions and an elderly, red-haired lady raised her hand. Since almost all the devotees there spoke only Czech, I was surprised when she began to speak in English. She said, “Satsvarupa Gosvami, could you tell us something about Prabhupada, because you knew him very well?”

I started out by remembering Janmasta

From Ananda Vrindavan Champu by Srila Kavi Karnapura Translated by Bhanu Swami & Subhaga Swami.

Now we will discuss the truth about the transcendental birthplace of Bhagavan and the appearance of Lord Sri Krishna. Once upon a time, Bhumi, the predominating deity of the earth, felt overburdened by different demons posing as members of the royal order. Feeling aggrieved upon seeing her miserable condition, the lotus-born Brahma appealed to Ksirodakasayi Visnu, the maintainer of the universe, sayi

By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Yamuna Devi: Three Years Ago, on Janmastami, Lord Krsna’s appearance day, I received a copy of the diary Srila Prabhupada wrote aboard the steamship Jaladuta. It’s a personal account of his first journey from India to America. Though I had read excerpts in various publications, the full handwritten text revealed a richness I had barely realized before.
Often difficult to read, the cramped and sometimes blurry script describes dramatic events with life-threatening heart attacks, repeated illness

By Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami

It was Janmastami, the annual celebration of the advent of Lord Krsna some five thousand years before. Residents of Calcutta, mostly Vaisnavas (devotees of Lord Krsna) but also many Muslims and even some British, were observing the festive day, moving here and there through the city’s streets to visit the temples of Lord Krsna. Devout Vaisnavas, fasting until midnight, chanted Hare Krsna and heard about the birth and activities of Krsna from Srimad-Bhagavatam, one of

By Srigarbha das

Hare Krishna, this year Janmastami festival was celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm in Bangladesh. Thousands of devotees gathered together for a huge extravaganza. Janmastami festival is celebrated as the holy appearance day of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna. Srimad Bhagavatam told, Krishna is the only God and all others are his expansions. Various acharyas like Shankaracharya, Madhavacharya, Ramanujacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu have accepted Lord Sri

Last week Janmastami & Prabhupada Vyasa Puja was celebrated all over the world. At Bhaktivedanta Manor, it was extra special with British Politician Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy joining the celebrations.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a written message to ISKCON on the occasion of Janmastami, quoting Bhagavad Gita & glorifying Srila Prabhupada’s mission.

Janmastami Day was also special as Narayani devi dasi, ISKCON’s first Vaishnavi (female devotee) diksa guru formally a

This year’s Janmastami festival was the best attended to date. I think the post pandemic mood combined with a weekend day combined to encourage devotees and congregation to celebrate Krishna’s birthday in force. There was a blissful feeling throughout.
Thanking the many, many devotees who made this festival a joy to attend, in person or even online, is the cherry on the cake for me.
While the days of preparing are long, they aren’t arduous. Devotees take so much transcendental enjoyment in thei

By Madhava Smullen

Surendra Singh, an engineer and ISKCON devotee, has distributed Bhagavad-gita As It Is, celebrated Janmastami (Lord Krishna’s appearance day), and practiced Krishna consciousness with fellow scientific expedition team members at the Indian Antarctic research station “Maitri.”

Antarctica, the Earth’s southernmost continent, is home to the the South Pole. It is the world’s coldest, driest and windiest continent, and 98% of it is covered with ice. Only scientists and supporting s

Janmastami is coming up… we celebrate the appearance of Lord Krsna in this world. Remember that this week is especially a week for serving Krsna, and the more we do so then the more Krsna will reveal Himself and we begin to see right here and now, and at the end of our life, we can go back the spiritual world!
In this world, there are churches, mosques, temples – there are so many different religious groups. Sometimes, in the airport, I see Jews with their black hats and curls on the side of th

The glorious advent of Lord Krishna or Janmastami is celebrated with charming grandeur and magnificent pomp worldwide by millions of exuberant Vaishnavas. Due to the outbreak of a global pandemic, the entire devotee community has been urged to celebrate Janmastami at home.

Since the pandemic, the ISKCON GBC Strategic Planning Team has been providing useful resources online. For this Janmastami we have compiled a celebrate-at-home Janmastami portfolio, which is a compilation of guidelines and in

While attending the Janmastami festival at the ISKCON farm in Czechoslovakia several years ago, I was asked to give a lecture about the appearance of Lord Krishna. Afterwards I asked for questions and an elderly, red-haired lady raised her hand. Since almost all the devotees there spoke only Czech, I was surprised when she began to speak in English. She said, “Satsvarupa Gosvami, could you tell us something about Prabhupada, because you knew him very well?”

I started out by remembering Janmasta

Janmastami is about focusing on the lotus feet of Krsna, about meditating on Krsna, thinking about Him, reading about Him and just getting totally absorbed in the thoughts of Krsna. This is the purpose of Janmastami, to somehow or other be completely absorbed in Krsna. In some temples, the Krsna book is being read the whole day on Janmastami. So in this way, devotees can go in and out of this room and hear about pastimes of Krsna all day, and it is a nice thing to do for Janmastami. Many devotee

“Today we are observing the Sri Krishna janmasahtami adhivas because lord Krishna Janmastami is one of the most holy days in the universe. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita  My birth and My work is transcendental. We will offer about 26 sacred items to the deities. We will offer that with various prayers. We have here the gurukula students who will chant the mantras and different pujaris, brahmanas and sanyasis will offer the sacred items. See the deities have come forward in their utsav murti and