Festival Schedule

5:30am: Mangala Arati

6:00am: Tulasi Arati

6:30am: Nagara Sankirtan & Procession of Baby Krishna

8:00am: Abishekam of Baby Krishna with Valampuri Conchshells

12:30pm: Rajbhog Arathi

5:30pm: Dhoopa Arathi

6:15pm: Thulasi Arathi

6:30pm: Sandhya Arathi

8:00pm: Cultural programme by the Students of the Hare Krishna College of Music & Dance

9:00-11:00pm - Bhajan and Kirtan by the Children of Gokulam

12 midnight: Maha Abhishekam of Sri Sri Radha Krishna. Bathing Lord Krishna with Holy waters, Followed by Arathi and Prasadam.

Who is Krishna?

“Who is Krishna? The immediate answer is that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How is that? Because He conforms in exact detail to descriptions of the Supreme Being, the Godhead. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is an historical person who appeared on this earth 5,000 years ago on the 8^th night of the full moon day. He stayed on this earth for 125 years and played exactly like a human being, but His activities were unparalleled. From the very moment of His appearance to the moment of His disappearance, every one of His activities is unparalleled in the history of the world, and therefore anyone who knows what we mean by Godhead will accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one is equal to the Godhead, and no one is greater than Him. That is the import of the familiar saying, “God is great.”

In other words, Krishna is the Godhead because He is all-attractive. Outside the principle of all-attraction, there is no meaning to the word Godhead. How is it one can be all-attractive? First of all, if one is very wealthy, if he has great riches, he becomes attractive to the people in general. Similarly, if someone is very powerful, he also becomes attractive, and if someone is very famous, he also becomes attractive, and if someone is very beautiful or wise or unattached to all kinds of possessions, he also becomes attractive. So from practical experience we can observe that one is attractive due to 1) wealth, 2) power, 3) fame, 4) beauty, 5) wisdom, and 6) renunciation. One who is in possession of all six of these opulences at the same time, who possesses them to an unlimited degree, is understood to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These opulences of the Godhead are delineated by Parasara Muni, a great Vedic authority.

There are various classes of men in the world who speak of God in different ways, but according to Vedic literatures and according to the great acaryas, the authorized persons versed in the knowledge of God, in all ages, like acaryas Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Visnusvami, Lord Caitanya and all their followers by disciplic succession, all unanimously agree that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The followers of Vedic civilization accept the Vedic history of the whole universe, which consists of different planetary systems called Svargalokas, or the higher planetary system, Martyalokas, or the intermediary planetary system, and Patalalokas, or the lower planetary system. The modern historians of this earth cannot supply historical evidences of events that occurred before 5,000 years ago, and the anthropologists say that 40,000 years ago Homo sapiens had not appeared on this planet because evolution had not reached that point. But the Vedic histories, the Puranas and Mahabharata, relate human histories which extend millions and billions of years into the past.

Nowadays it is the fashion of the atheistic class of men to try to become God by following some mystic process. Generally the atheists claim to be God by dint of their imagination or their meditational prowess. Krishna is not that kind of God. He does not become God by manufacturing some mystic process of meditation, nor does He become God by undergoing the severe austerities of the mystic yogic exercises. Properly speaking, He never becomes God because He is the Godhead in all circumstances.

Within the prison of His maternal uncle Kamsa, where His father and mother were confined, Krishna appeared outside His mother’s body as the four-handed Visnu-Narayana. Then He turned Himself into a baby and told His father to carry Him to the house of Nanda Maharaja and his wife Yasoda. When Krishna was just a small baby the gigantic demoness Putana attempted to kill Him, but when He sucked her breast He pulled out her life. That is the difference between the real Godhead and a God manufactured in the mystic factory. Krishna had no chance to practice the mystic yoga process, yet He manifested Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead at every step, from infancy to childhood, from childhood to boyhood, and from boyhood to young manhood. Although Krishna plays like a human being, He always maintains His identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Since Krishna is all-attractive, one should know that all his desires should be focused on Krishna. Krishna can perfectly reciprocate one’s loving propensities in different relationships called mellows or rasas. One can love Krishna as the supreme unknown, as the supreme master, the supreme friend, the supreme child, the supreme lover. These are the five basic love rasas. One can also love Krishna indirectly in seven different relationships, which are apparently different from the five primary relationships. All in all, however, if one simply reposes his dormant loving propensity in Krishna, then his life becomes successful.. This is not a fiction but is a fact that can be realized by practical application. One can directly perceive the effects that love for Krishna has on his life

In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that the individual person is the proprietor or master of the body but Krishna, who is the Super soul present in everyone’s heart, is the supreme proprietor and supreme master of each and every individual body. As such, if we concentrate our loving propensities upon Krishna only, then immediately universal love, unity and tranquillity will be automatically realized. When one waters the root of a tree, he automatically waters the branches, twigs, leaves and flowers; when one supplies food to the stomach through the mouth, he satisfies all the various parts of the body.

The Appearance day of  Lord Krishna is being celebrated on the 14^th of August 2009 at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple, ISKCON Sri Lanka at 188, New Chetty St, Colombo 13. All are welcome to take part in the festival. Programs will be held from 5:30am till midnight.

This article is compiled from the speeches by His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, The founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.