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Janmashtami arrives today with the scent of wet earth and Mumbai’s monsoon soundtrack—raindrops, honks, and the occasional tree branch crashing down. The dark skies feel like nature’s own design for a festival that honours this divine birth on another stormy night, over 5,000 years ago, in a world not much calmer than ours.

Back then, the Vrishni kingdom was suffering under King Kamsa, a cruel tyrant. After overthrowing his own father, he imprisoned his sister Devaki and her husband Vasudeva when told her eighth child would bring his end. He killed her newborns one by one, but destiny has its own plans. On the eighth day of the lunar month, amidst lightning and rain, Sri Krishna was born. With divine help and Vasudeva’s midnight flood-crossing, the infant reached Vrindavan, a village that would witness a life of miracles and mischief.

From slaying Bakasura and subduing Kalia to lifting Mount Govardhan as easily as we lift an umbrella, Krishna enacted his pastimes, his feats of wonder. Yet, he was equally the butter thief, the flute player, and the charmer of hearts, proof that joy and divinity are conjoined. Later, as king and strategist on Kurukshetra’s battlefield, he delivered the Bhagavad Gita, a spiritual compass still pointing the true north in our moral fog.

Today’s world feels like Kurukshetra, with war, greed and division hogging the headlines. Here in India, Independence Day reminds us of the courage it took to win freedom. Janmashtami, arriving so close, inspires us to win freedom from our inner Kamsas—fear, anger, and attachment.

The Gita, recognising that we are all unique, doesn’t hand out a single magic formula. For some, karma yoga, or selfless action, is the way. Others take more naturally to gyana, or knowledge. Some are moved by bhakti, or devotion, and others by raja yoga—discipline and meditation. They are all slightly different routes to the same destination, transcending the human condition in the journey to self-realisation.

As we celebrate Janmashtami, may we take a leaf from Krishna’s art of living, being in the world yet not of it, honouring nature, cherishing all beings, and keeping our inner peace unshaken. In the Gita, he reminds us: “Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty without attachment, remaining even-minded in success and failure.” May his divine song serve as spiritual guidance in our life’s journey of navigating the stormy seas. Hare Krishna!