Janmashtami

On the eighth day of the dark fortnight in the month of Bhadrapada, in the prison of King Kansa in Mathura, a divine light filled the cell where Devaki and Vasudeva were imprisoned. Kansa had imprisoned his own sister Devaki and her husband because a divine prophecy said their eighth child would destroy him. He had killed seven of their children. But on this night the eighth child was born — Lord Krishna — glowing with divine light, holding a conch and a lotus, wearing a crown of peacock feathers. The moment he was born the prison guards fell asleep, the chains fell off Vasudeva's hands, and the prison doors opened on their own. Vasudeva wrapped the newborn Krishna and carried him through the night, crossing the flooding Yamuna river. The river parted as Krishna's feet touched the water. Vasudeva placed the baby with Nanda and Yashoda in Gokul and returned with their newborn daughter. When Kansa came to kill the eighth child, the baby girl slipped from his hands, rose into the sky and declared — "The one who will destroy you is already born and safe, O Kansa." Krishna grew up in Gokul, performed divine miracles, and fulfilled the prophecy. Devotees fast on Janmashtami until midnight — the hour of Krishna's birth — and break their fast with panchamrit after the midnight puja. Fasting on this day with devotion brings Krishna's blessings of joy, wisdom, and liberation. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. Jai Shri Krishna.