All over India, we celebrate Krishna’s birthday/ Janmashtami in different ways. The ardent devotees of Krishna, have a procession of Krishna on a chariot and walk on the roads, sing and dance along with the bhajans, music played on dholak, flutes, claps, dandiya dance. Women wake up before sunrise and decorate their homes with flowers, cook festive foods like sweets and savouries etc. The festive feel is beautiful and fun to watch and participate in.

On this occasion, I would like to share my first direct encounter with my Divine. This is not something I share on my socials, but spiritual awakening has always been a part of my life. Today, even in my art, I can notice this spiritual energy flowing through me.

My sharings are just my personal experience, and I don’t wish to propaganda or trying to make any of my readers accept my beliefs and faiths.

My Early Childhood memories of Janmashtami:

My mother was an ardent Krishna Bhakta. From my childhood through my teens, I have seen her preparing varieties of sweets and savouries. She would impress shapes of the palm-size feet, dipped in rice flour batter, all over our house; from the entrance of our home until the temple inside. She would sing Krishna Bhajan, with other devotional chants all evening till late at night, welcoming Krishna in her home. I was enticed by her devotion and belief in God's Existence in her life. These foundational memories played a great impact on all the decisions I have taken from my pre-teens and till now.

My First Experience:

I was only 12 years old when I had my first direct experience with my God/Higher Power/Higher Self or whatever you can call it. I just call - My Divine. From then on, my spiritual path began to carve; and I began to ask questions that mattered to heart, people to My Divine (from whatever I understood till then; and believe me, we actually know so much more than we assume of ourselves). We would speak to each other through lengths of hours on a normal day as I brush my teeth, bathe, eat breakfast, school, sleep, dance, through any and all my daily activities. Sometimes, I would be able to hear His voice within me. Luckily, for me, my parents understood this phenomenon. They did not shut my doors to this wisdom; that came as a gift to me and to all of us. They rejoiced in my sharings.

I was thrilled to walk this new path - because the feeling of this communion brought deep states of peace, love, joy, self-care, security and understanding to everything in the world. Yet, I was fully aware, that we have a society that does not appreciate such experiences. I knew that people pray to God or visit holy places or read scriptures and books; it is only due to fear of God or the belief that was never been questioned and discovered for oneself. They had no direct experience to this Light Being or any sort of spiritual awakening, and thus heavily relied on scriptures, books and their daily rituals. Whereas I, on the other hand, had begun to live in full trust and thriving through my daily life. The routine of school, or talking to family and friends became even more interesting and a learning experience. I began to enjoy these little things in life. These are only part of my experiences, there is much more to this, but I will go into it some other time.

Today on Janmashtami or Birth of Lord Krishna; I am once again reminded of those days; like it just happened yesterday. Its been 25 years since my first experience, but the memories are so fresh. I was once again flowing in gratitude and depths of His Love not just for me, but for every living being on this planet earth. For more than 2 hours, I could feel His Presence embracing me. I prayed for myself, my family and all the people I have come across to date.

With this love and joy, I drew this simple string and tile. Since Krishna played the flute and danced the celestial joy with his Gopis and Gopikas; and all his devotees; I added the flute string and his peacock feather.

Here’s the artwork with the picture of the string: