Muhurta, Date, Puja Vidhi, Vrat Katha and Significance
Happy Janmashtami 2022 to All!
Shri Krishna Janmashtami is a festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, who is eighth incarnation (avatar) of Lord Vishnu. In every Yuga, Lord Vishnu takes incarnation to wipe out adharmis from the face of earth. People of different areas have different rituals to celebrate Janmashtami.
Janmashtami 2022: Muhurta and Date
Janmashtami is celebrated on eighth day (Ashtami) of Krishna Paksha of Bhadrapada month of Hindu calendar.
Devotees often find the actual period of Janmashtami disputed between Gokul and the rest of Brij Bhoomi. Astrologers of both the regions prescribe different dates every year. It is not as simple as googling on the same day ‘today is Janmashtami or not?’.
Both the dates for 2022 are as follows: 18th August 2022, 19th August 2022
Why Is Janmashtami Celebrated For 2 Days?
Why Janmashtami is celebrated two days has a big reason behind it. Based on Akashvani’s prophecies, Devaki Mata’s eighth offspring was supposed to kill Kansa. Hence, Kansa put Devaki and Vasudeva behind bars. Subsequently, Kansa killed every offspring born to them. However, the seventh offspring (Balram) was transferred to Vasudeva’s another wife, Rohini. Balram ji is Sheshanag’s avatar.
After some time, when eighth offspring was born, their prison cell automatically unlocked. All guards were sleeping all of a sudden. Miraculously, Vasudeva found the path for to take the child open. Vasudeva took the baby in a basket and offered him to Nandbaba in Gokul. In the same basket, he replaced their boy with Nandbaba’s daughter.
When Kansa tried smashing the baby girl, she rose and declared that the baby he fears is alive. Following this, she vanished.
Hence, some celebrate the time at which Lord Krishna was born in the prison of Mathura as Janmashtami; while some people celebrate the time at which Nandbaba had Lord Krishna as the Gokulashtami.
It varies on the considerations of different sampradayas.
Janmashtami Puja 2022 Vidhi
On this day, people keep fasting until midnight. Then, they bathe Kanhaji with panchamrita. Devotees further dress Kanhaji in new clothes and make the idol to sit in the crib. Then, the devotees play with the deity by swinging the crib with the help of a rope. A pandit carries on the entire Janmashtami puja vidhi. Finally, after bhajans and aarti, the puja is over. Hosts distribute Prasad and disperse the procession. Talking about the Janmashtami Bhog, it depends on the capacity of the yajmana. Some people offer 36 vyanjans and 56 Bhog. However, coriander powder mixed with icing sugar, makhan-mishri, charanamrit and fruits are the most common Janmashtami recipes of prasad.
Traditions of Janmashtami
Many communities organize Dahi-Handi competitions. In these, organizers fill earthen pots with butter, milk, curd or buttermilk. They then hang the pots at great heights and many teams compete by forming human pyramids.
This makes people reminisce Bhagwan’s leelas where he climbed up on his friends to break gopis’ pots and stole dairy products.
People dress their children as deities on this day. There are various Jhankis by temples. Participants perform many street-plays drawing inspirations from sources such as Gopigeet, Madhurashtakam, Rasa-Lila among others based on Bhagvat Purana and various adaptations. One can even hear various Janmashtami Bhajans on loudspeakers in the neighborhood.
In many places, Janmashtami Mela is also very popular.
Even, a person with the simplest capacity does at least the Janmashtami decoration at home. You can also find some ideas for Janmashtami home decoration.
These days people communicate their Janmashtami wishes via social media which adds to the fun.
Janmashtami: How to Celebrate at Home?
Celebrating Janmashtami at home is very convenient. You can arrange everything easily and do the decoration for Janmashtami. In this Janmashtami celebration, You can even call your friends and relatives to attend. You can get in touch with a north Indian pandit in Bangalore who will carry out the Janmashtami rituals for you. Pandits at ShantiPuja can be at your service for this.