Special message for Krishna Janmashtami 2014
A special pre- Krishna Janmashtami 2014 message by Swami Nikhilanand Ji of Radha Madhav Dham for devotees of Shree Krishna worldwide. Swami Nikhilanand Ji will be in attendance during the first ever Krishna Janmashtami Block Party and Best-Dressed Krishna Contest here at the mandir in Glen Oaks next Sunday. Swami Nikhilanand Ji will give a Krishna Janmashtami 2014 address during the celebration which will also include live bhajans, food, dandiya, dances and much more. Check out the Janmashtami event page, and join us on facebook for more info, updates and to invite family and friends. Parents are encouraged to bring their kids in costume!

Special Krishna Janmashtami 2014 Message by Swami Nikhilanand at Radha Govind Dham New York
Shree Krishna Blessed the Earth on This Day 5,000 Years Ago
This is one of the most important days of the year because it reminds us of God’s boundless kindness on us all. Imagine! Supreme God, Who is self-content and the very form of Divine Bliss, chose to appear in our material world to inspire us to do devotion to Him and thereby attain eternal happiness.
Keep these important points in mind regarding Shree Krishna’s avatar:
• God is not bound to do anything – He comes of His own volition in our world.
• God is already omnipresent in His Divine form, but He is invisible to our material eyes. When He takes avatar, He simply makes His Divine body visible to us.
• When He appears here, His body is Divine – it is not a material body like our ours. His body is not born and does not die. He merely appears and disappears from our material plane.
• Shree Krishna was not born from His mother’s womb after her going into labor. His body was not formed in His mother’s womb like a material baby. He appeared before Devki and Vasudev in His full grown form, because His form is Divine and eternal. Then He became a little baby and began His childhood leelas.
Knowing that Shree Krishna is Bhagwan and is eternally Blissful, what reason could He have for coming in this material world? His only reason for coming is to Grace us. When He comes, He makes it known that He exists in His personified form which we can easily love and meditate on. He performs His charming leelas and reveals that souls can have a personal relationship with Him. All of His leelas, virtues, names, and forms are recorded in the Puranas and other Divine scriptures and are available for the souls to use for devotional remembrance (smaran). Thus, by coming on the earth, He revitalizes the path of devotion by encouraging us to have faith in Him and by giving us His names and leelas for meditating on.
To make the most of Krishna Janmashtami 2014 we should remember His amazing kindness on all of us that He showed by coming into this world. Let’s celebrate Shree Krishna’s birthday the way He would want us to, by chanting His name wholeheartedly and meditating on His form and leelas.
Happy Janmashtami!
Swami Nikhilanand, Sanyasi preacher, Radha Madhav Dham