Janmashtmi
Every question on the site tagged Janmashtmi, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
Computed for New Delhi. Sunrise decides which tithi a day belongs to, so these can differ elsewhere.
Notes from our sources
Can sadhana be done in the open at a river ghat at night on Amavasya?
I do not know, brother, what your state is, the speaker answers — but ordinarily it would not be proper to do it.
On which day should Janmashtami be observed?
Whichever night the Ashtami is obtained at twelve o'clock — observe the Janmashtami fast on that day. The speaker gives this as his own position and the Vindhya kshetra's: Bhagavan Krishna's birth took place in the Ashtami-vyapini night, at midnight.
What should be done on Janmashtami for a child?
From the Ashtami tithi you may have the Santan Gopal Samput Saptashati performed — the speaker's own preference, because with so many powers worshipped at once a path opens for all your Prarabdha to be cut. If that cannot be done, recite the Gopal Sahasranama from a quarter to twelve onward.
What should be done where conception itself is the difficulty?
Worship, that night in particular, Bhagavan Shri Krishna seated in Bhagavati Yashoda's lap. Yashoda too should have her Shodashopachara worship and her Shringar. Then place that photograph where your wife can see it at every moment, and worship it specially each year on the Ashtami tithi.
What should be done on Janmashtami night where wealth has departed?
Recite the Gopal Sahasranama that night. Its Phalashruti says that even a Lakshmi who has gone abroad returns — that a Lakshmi who has already left comes back. So recite it duly at the night hour, as far as capacity allows.
What is Krishna's Shashthi puja, and how is it done?
On the sixth day after the festival, perform Krishna's Shashthi worship — as a child born in a house has its Shashthi Samskar on the sixth day. Make five, six or twelve kinds of dishes as your means allow and offer them to Krishna with Bhagavati Yashoda; bathe him again, and give him new garments, a crown and earrings.
What maintains Brahmacharya?
The practice of yogic action, Kapalbhati in particular; the giving up of heavy food; and the Upasana of Surya in the morning.
Should sadhana in Navratri be done at night?
The first subject was of time; and in Navratri, he says, one should do as many night-time sadhanas as possible. This does not at all mean that you should not sleep in the day — sleep in the day entirely according to the body's convenience, two, four or five hours, whatever you need.
The child made Bal Mukund at Janmashtami is made a joker on 25 December
There is no discussion of Krishna and Balaram at all, he says. When Janmashtami comes, all the boys are made Bal Mukund and the girls are made Radha ji, and that is that. Then 25 December comes, and on that day the same child who had been made Krishna becomes the Santa uncle, a joker. Can Krishna ever become a joker, he asks — the very child you make Bhagavan Shri Krishna you then make a joker again.
What should be done with last year's Bal Gopal murti?
Asked what to do with the old murti when a new one is taken the next year for the Janmashtami puja of Bal Gopal, he answers that a murti should never be changed again and again, whosesoever murti it may be. He says he does not understand why a new murti is taken at all — if you celebrate your own child's birthday, do you bring a new child the next year and replace him?
Krishna kavach as the first siddhi for a Krishna bhakta
The speaker says that whoever does ananya bhakti of Bhagavan Shri Krishna, wants the madhurya swaroop and kripa of Bhagavati Radha and Bhagavan Krishna, or wants to take up Krishna-related mantras on the sadhana marga and tantra marga, should first of all perfect the kavach of Bhagavan Shri Krishna. If the kavach is made siddh at the time of Shri Krishna Janmashtami, he says, then whenever it is used afterwards — even if it is merely remembered — protection is certainly obtained through Bhagavan Shri Krishna. Those who do seva and puja of Krishna and Radha should certainly perfect it.
Seven-day Janmashtami anushthan for siddhi of the Krishna kavach
The speaker gives a roughly seven-day anushthan run from the Dwitiya of the Krishna Paksha of Bhadrapada up to the Navami after Janmashtami. Only the kavach mula — shlokas one to eight, without purva pithika and phalashruti — is written on a white bhojpatra in gopi chandan, or in ashtagandha ink mixed with kesar and gorochan using a silver, white-chandan or red-chandan pen, or at the least a tulsi pen, in very small letters. It is placed at Krishna's feet and 108 paths are done daily for seven days, with as many as possible on the Janmashtami night so that 1100 paths are completed. The bhojpatra then goes into a silver khol bearing Krishna's form, his names or Radha's name; on the day after Janmashtami a havan is done with Krishna's 108 names or the sahasranama (men with plain ghee, women with mixed paushtik havan samagri), makhan mishri and the like is fed to at least five small boys and to small girls, and the kavach is worn on the neck — best placed on the neck or arm by the hand of an innocent child of up to five or seven years. Worn thus, he says, it is said the Sudarshan Chakra and the gopis protect the wearer wherever he goes.
Which tantric forms of Krishna can people not digest?
People cannot digest those charitras in which Shri Krishna assumed divine tantric forms, he says — forms nearly extinct today, or which people do not wish to know, or ignore even when they know. On Ashtami, especially, we perform pujan of Bhagavan's Kaal Bhairav form; the Ashtami of Krishna Paksha is called Kalashtami, and most of the forms that arose on a Krishna Paksha Ashtami are tantric ugra forms.
Failing that, a Chandi path from Ashtami to Chaturdashi, or a seven-day anushthan under Krishna
Failing that, the speaker says, at the least have the Chandi path and the like done, or do it, in Bhadrapada from the Ashtami to the Chaturdashi — or from the Krishna Janmashtami that falls, up to the Chaturdashi. Or, taking the shelter of Krishna ji himself and taking the shelter of those whose shraddh it is, take a sankalp and do or have done a seven-day anushthan.
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