Self-Realization Fellowship Blog

Janmashtami 2023

Dear Ones,

On the joyous occasion of Janmashtami, the birth anniversary of Bhagavan Sri Krishna, we have the blessed opportunity of joining with millions around the world whose hearts are turning anew toward his all-encompassing love and solacing wisdom. May his immortal promise of the soul’s victory over defeatism and delusion, through the God-given science of yoga, infuse each of us with new courage and inspiration to make our lives divine!

In the Bhagavad Gita, the All-Compassionate Spirit speaks through Lord Krishna to the disciple Arjuna — and to sincere devotees of all eras — this simple but profoundly redemptive counsel: “Always keep your consciousness in My sheltering Presence.” By bringing our hearts and minds, again and again, back into that Eternal Shelter through meditation, we reduce the soul-stifling influence of maya and our tendency to see ourselves in terms of human limitations. Most importantly, in that temple of interiorized devotion we establish an all-satisfying relationship with a Divine Friend who becomes our most cherished ally, guide, and benefactor in the Kurukshetra battle of our own lives.

The Gita describes how the unconditional love and blessings of the Lord of Yoga uplifted and awakened the noble but temporarily confounded Arjuna. As we celebrate Janmashtami, I pray that your own life be likewise transformed. It can surely be so, if you take to heart our Gurudeva Paramahansa Yogananda’s illuminating revelation of the Gita’s soul-revivifying truths, along with Lord Krishna’s sacred techniques of Raja Yoga — which our Guru has joyously imparted to God’s worldwide family in this modern age.

How great is the opportunity that has been placed before us! I urge you not to forget it. For just like Krishna’s supremely achieving disciple Arjuna, each one of us can learn to act with such unflinching courage and intuitional attunement that we win our own liberation on the light-versus-darkness battlefield of contemporary existence.

May the celebration of Sri Krishna’s birth revitalize in each of us the meditation-born recognition that God’s love is more real, more lasting, than anything the earth can offer — and that at all times we can call upon His ever-ready aid, His unfailing friendship, and His infinitely caring presence.

Jai Sri Krishna! Jai Guru!

Brother Chidananda

The date of Janmashtami is determined according to the Hindu lunar calendar; this year it falls on September 7.