Drastum ichhami!

Has there ever been such a sad feeling in our country about Janmashtami? There certainly has. In 1757, in 1857, in 1943 Bengal famine, in ...

Has there ever been such a sad feeling in our country about Janmashtami? There certainly has. In 1757, in 1857, in 1943 Bengal famine, in 1999 Kargil and heaps before and between. There8217;s a 8217;muhnochwa8217; waiting to hit almost every year, either as a national, international or personal calamity, sometimes as a triple whammy. So why care about Baby Krishna, when all he seems to do is loll on his leaf, kararavindena padaravindam lotus foot in lotus hand like in fat, jolly Tanjore paintings? Do city kids still make 8216;jhankis8217;, with a soap-powder Yamuna, clay cows and a mini-mutkut crowning the Krishna doll? Do we wake up to tiny rice-powder 8216;feet8217; leading from the front door to the puja room, where a ball of sugary butter waits to tempt the Divine Baby into our house? But this is no lament for the way we were. It8217;s our present and future that demand urgent attention.

Janmashtami is then relevant as a happy festival, celebrating the renewal of hope. Also, the present political scenario eerily recalls verses from the Bhagvad Gita. Remember Arjuna asks in BG 11:1, Drastum icchami te rupam aisvaram purushottama. I really want to see You, Lord, in Your supreme form. As we all know, he8217;s terrified at what he gets to view, BG 11:29: yatha pradiptam jwalanam patanga/visanti nasaya samrddha vegah/tathaiva nasaya visanti lokas /tavapi vaktrani samrddha vegah. As moths hurl themselves at a blazing fire, I see countless people dash themselves to destruction into Your mouth. Aren8217;t we doing precisely that right now as a nation? How can anyone hope for personal salvation unless public life improves enough to a norm? But how do we pull it off? Let8217;s go back to the preceding chapter, BG 10:4-5. Krishna says, in a verse as musical as it is inspiring: buddhir jnanam asam-mohah/kshama satyam damah samah/ sukham dukham bhavo bhavo/bhayam cabhayam eva cha. Ahimsa samata tustis/tapo danam yaso yasah/bhavanti bhava bhutanam/matta eva prthag-vidhah.

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, honesty, self-control, calmness, pleasure and pain, birth, death, fearlessness, non-violence, equanimity, fulfilment, austerity, charity, fame and notoriety, are created by Me alone. The silly way to read the Gita is like in the movie Aks Since God is responsible for everything, how is anything my fault?. Perhaps a more useful way would be to see it as a checklist for our life code? This verse, for instance, defines the parameters of the human experience. The points we choose to activate from it are ours. Krishna compliments us as a thinking species, the only one that perceives a moral law. To abuse this trust, to waste this precious human birth, especially if we are born sound in limb, seems a terrible pity. It means a lot that Krishna, who was born in chains, freed his people of evil. God8217;s birthday thus reminds us: get a life!