Krishna Janmashtami

A prophecy foretold that Devaki's eighth child would slay her tyrant brother King Kansa of Mathura. Kansa imprisoned Devaki and her husband Vasudeva on their wedding day, methodically killing each child as it was born. When the eighth child—Krishna—arrived at midnight during a raging storm, the prison doors flew open by divine will and the guards fell into a deep sleep.

Vasudeva placed the newborn in a basket and waded across the flooded Yamuna. The river, recognizing the divine child, parted to let him pass, touching the baby's feet as though in worship. Vasudeva exchanged the infant with a baby girl born to Yashoda in Gokul and returned to prison before dawn. When Kansa tried to kill this girl-child, she transformed into Goddess Yogamaya and warned him that his destroyer had already been born elsewhere.

Krishna's childhood in Gokul and Vrindavan is one of the most beloved of all sacred narratives—the butter thief, the Rasa Lila dances, the lifting of Govardhan hill on one finger to shelter villagers from Indra's rain, and his eventual slaying of Kansa. The Bhagavad Gita—spoken to the warrior Arjuna before the Kurukshetra war—is Krishna's eternal gift of wisdom to humanity, addressing the fundamental human struggle between duty and attachment.