Message on Krishna Ashtami

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

Today, the main item of the celebrations is to break the pot containing butter, which is kept very high. What is the inner meaning of this? Butter represents the money that is stored. This is the extra money, which is earned. The Eshavasyam Upanishad (Veda) says, “All this world is the money of the Lord. Take whatever is required for your maintenance and the Lord permits that much only. If you have taken extra, return it to the Lord. Otherwise, you are a thief and so you will be punished”. The shepherd families used to live on selling buttermilk, curd and milk. These three items were their livelihood. God has no objection to this. But by selling butter, they earn extra money that was stored. This butter pot at such height indicates the extra ordinary care you have taken to store that extra money.

Some maidens kept the butter pot at a reachable height so that the Lord can take the butter easily. Such maidens were blessed. But some greedy maidens kept the pot very high with selfishness. Lord Krishna stole that extra money which they have hidden with such care. Similarly, the extra money that you have hidden will be certainly taken by God. Krishna used to break the pot kept at such a height with a stick and all the butter fell on the floor, which was wasted. This means that all your hidden money will go waste through spending to cure diseases etc., by the will of the Lord. Storing extra money is a sin and because of it, you will be attacked by several problems like diseases etc. Some shepherd maidens used to give this butter to the Lord secretly and they were blessed. Similarly, if you return the unnecessary extra wealth to the Lord, you will be blessed. They gave butter to the Lord even avoiding their children. They crossed the bonds of even their children for the sake of the Lord and gave the butter (extra stored money) to the Lord. Similarly, you should also cross the bonds of your children and surrender atleast a part of the extra money you have stored for your children.

Sacrifice of the butter (money) is the most important test for devotion. This is the meaning of the butter and Krishna. The shepherd maidens surrendered their mind, words and bodies to Krishna in ‘Rasa Keli’ (dancing with shepherd maidens at midnight) by crossing bonds with their husbands. But this is not the highest sacrifice. The bond with children is far greater than the bond between husband and wife. In offering the butter to the Lord, the bond with children is broken and this sacrifice is the highest. The highest sacrifice is only regarding the wealth. The Lord is called as ‘Lakshmi Narayana’. Lakshmi means money or wealth. Narayana means the Lord. You can reach Narayana only when you prove your devotion with Lakshmi. If you are devoted to Lakshmi, Narayana cannot be obtained. The Lord tests you whether your bond is on Lakshmi or Narayana.

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