The holy festival of Janmashtami is celebrated with great enthusiasm by Hindus all over the world. Janmashtami is also known as Krishna Janmashtami and Gokulashtami among others. This festival is celebrated by followers of Hinduism to mark the birth anniversary of lord Krishna. On this occasion, special events are organised in the temples of Lord Krishna and devotees pray till midnight to celebrate the birth of God. Some devotees even follow a day-long fast.
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How Krishna and Balram were named
Acharya Garg was considered to be a learned scholar and an ascetic sage. He visited Gokul and Nanda pleaded with the sage to stay in Gokul for a few days. Nanda told the sage about his newborn boys and asked him to perform his boy's Namkaran (naming ceremony)without telling anyone about it. Acharya Garg felt helpless as he was the royal teacher of the Yadav dynasty and felt that holding a naming ceremony and not informing Kansa would be considered treason. But then Acharya Garg agreed as he knew that Lord Krishna was the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. However, Nanda and Yashoda were unaware of the fact that their son is none other than Lord Vishnu himself. The sage asked Nanda and Yashoda to bring the boys so that he can perform the naming ceremony.
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While performing the naming ceremony, when Acharya Garg looked at Nanda's nephew, said, "The son of Rohini is blessed by the Almighty to provide justice, knowledge and wisdom to his people. He will work for the welfare of the society and will make sure no one suffers due to injustice and therefore, he must be named Rama', after Lord Rama." He further said, "Since Rohini's son is strong and seems to grow up to be a strong and valiant person, people will also know him as 'Bala'. So, he will be called Balram."
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Now it was the turn of Lord Krishna. Taking little Krishna in his arms, the sage said, "He has taken incarnation in every age and has freed mankind with evils. This time he has taken birth as a boy with a dark complexion just like Krishna Paksha night (waning fortnight). Let him be called Krishna. The world will know him by various other names depending upon his work and incidents in his life." Hence, our beloved God was named 'Krishna'. The world knows Him with thousands of names and worships all his forms.
(Disclaimer: The information given here is based on general assumptions and information. DNA India does not confirm this.)
