He who gave the world the gift of yoga
It’s midnight in India.
Across villages and cities, hills and riverbanks, over a billion people are awake, not out of duty, but devotion. Outside temples, inside homes, on the streets, people are singing, dancing, crying, and praying. In places like Vrindavan, the very air trembles with chants of “Radhe Radhe” and “Govinda Govinda.” Flower petals are flying through the sky. Even the homeless are walking barefoot under the moonlight, singing in praise of Krishna.
It’s Janmashtami, the birth night of Lord Krishna.
But who really was Krishna? And why is his birth celebrated with such uncontainable joy, not only in India, but in New York apartments, London basements, Bali retreats, and remote ashrams across Europe and Latin America?
Krishna wasn’t just a god in Hindu mythology. He was, and still is, a pulse, a presence. He came to the world at a time when darkness was rising.
For context, His biological mother, Devaki, had been cursed to lose her children. Six sons murdered at birth by her own brother, the tyrant Kamsa. But Krishna, the eight, would be the one to kill him and end his rule. Born in a prison cell, under stormy skies and cosmic alignment, Krishna was immediately whisked away across the Yamuna River to the village of Gokul, where He was raised by his foster parents, Yashoda and Nanda.
Krishna’s birth was not just a physical event. It was a divine intervention, a cosmic response to restore dharma (righteousness) in a world spinning out of balance.
As He grew, Krishna’s life unfolded like poetry. He was the mischievous cowherd of Vrindavan, the flute player who stole hearts, the friend of the poor, the dancer with the Gopis, and the lover of Radha. But he was also the brilliant mind behind the Mahabharata, Arjuna’s charioteer, who, in the middle of war, paused time to deliver the Bhagavad Gita, one of the greatest spiritual teachings ever given.
This is where Krishna becomes more than a myth. He becomes the Yogeshwara, the Master of Yoga.
Through his words, he gave the world the three great paths of yoga:
🕉️ Karma Yoga – the yoga of selfless action
🕉️ Jnana Yoga – the yoga of wisdom and knowledge
🕉️ Bhakti Yoga – the yoga of love and devotion
He taught us how to live in the world without being of it. How to act without attachment. How to love the divine through every form, every face.
On Janmashtami, as people sway in temples, fast until midnight, rock baby Krishnas in cradles, and lose themselves in kirtan, it’s not just about ritual. It’s about remembrance. About merging. Dancing in the memory of a love so powerful, it breaks the cycle of birth and death.
To celebrate Krishna is to forget yourself, to dissolve into something bigger. Into joy. Into presence. Into the universe itself.
On this night, the world doesn’t just remember Krishna. It becomes him.
