Most people's activities are impelled by the force of karma. We are forced to take birth, and what is the other end of that? If we're forced to take birth, then what comes after that? (Sorry to bring it up, I know it's a family show). We also are forced to die, and we don't know when. But Krishna appears by his own sweet will. This is one of the main truths of Janmashtami to understand. Why is it important? 'Janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ.' Now here comes the most important part. Are you ready for the most important part of the verse?

'Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ’rjuna.' Krishna says, "If you're able to understand this science of God, that God's not an ordinary person. He enters the world, not like us by force. He leaves the world, not by force like us, but that his activities are divyam, transcendental." He says, "tyaktvā deham." Deham means this body. We all have a body, right? And tyaktvā means "at some point we have to give it up." 'Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti.' That means when you leave this body, if you become fully cognizant of God and your relationship with God in this lifetime, you have come to the perfection of human life, and therefore you don't have to take birth again.

Because this universe is a classroom. It's for all of us to refine ourselves. And what is the ultimate refinement? It is to reawaken our relationship with Bhagavan. Every single living entity has an eternal relationship with God, and when we are estranged from that relationship, then we feel fear because we think that we are independent or separated. We struggle here in this world to understand our nature, and we have existential angst about our own existence, and we are threatened by non-existence.

But when we understand that we are co-eternal with the supreme, Krishna exists eternally. And just like the sun has its sun rays, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. He says in the Bhagavad Gita, "Mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati"—that every living being is a spark of God, of God's energy. God is like the sun, and we're like the sun rays. Simultaneously one, but different from the Supreme. He is supremely independent and all-powerful, and we're minutely independent and we are not all-powerful. I'm glad somebody regularly reminds me of that.

So Krishna says (BG 4.9),

janma karma ca me divyam

evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti so ’rjuna

Okay, who's Kṛṣṇa speaking to in the Bhagavad Gita? (Audience: Arjuna) He says, "Dear Arjuna, if anyone can understand the truth of my appearance in the world and my activities, it's not ordinary, it's divyam. Then they don't have to take birth again here in this material world."

So Janmashtami is a celebration of this event, but it's not an yearly event. It's an event that is happening at every moment, if that even makes logical sense. The fact is that Krishna is within the heart of all of us, and he is guiding our movements, giving us intelligence. In the Bhagavad Gita, 15th Chapter (BG 15.15), Kṛṣṇa says,

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo

mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo

vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

I'm in the heart of every living being, giving knowledge, remembrance and even forgetfulness and so on. So on Janamashtmi we can remember that Krishna is in our heart. He's in the heart of every living being.

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To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/

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Add to your wisdom literature collection:

https://iskconsv.com/book-store/

https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/

https://thefourquestionsbook.com/

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