Krsna’s ‘Annapraashan’ and His First Year

Illustrated by Ritu and Khushboo.

Queen of Gokul, Srimati Yasoda Devi, hadn’t slept a wink that night. She waited impatiently for the dawn, which would bring forth the day of her son’s ‘Annaprashan.’ The entire night was spent in delightful imaginations of how she would celebrate her child’s special day. The early morning breeze, laden with fragrance from the flowers that bloom during the night, crept into Yashoda’s chambers and touched the feet of the Lord. It showered upon the child sleeping on his mother’s bosom, pollen from fresh blooms as a gift for the special day.

Yashoda woke up with a start, realizing that her son was shivering in the cold of the autumn morn. She comforted him with blankets and noticed again the golden-colored ‘SriVatsa’ on his chest. She had seen it before too, but today, it was more prominent. She had tried to wipe it off but realized it was indelible and assumed it was a permanent birth-mark feature.

Upananda had given orders to defer the usual chore of taking the cows to the pastures until the ceremony got over. Everyone was invited, and most womenfolk reached Nanda’s palace before sunrise. Men soon followed after performing their ablutions and taking care of unavoidable chores. Nanda had been awake, decorating the courtyard for the ceremony all night. He set up a canopy held up by strong stems from the banana trees embellished with garlands of fresh aromatic flowers and newly sprouted leaves of mango trees. The four corners were set up with large golden pots filled with waters from the seven rivers, and a cornucopia of grains, milk, curd, and butter surrounded the ceremonial altar.

The onset of the auspicious Revati Nakshatra marked the beginning of the ceremony. After their ritualistic bath, Nanda and Yashoda reached the altar erected for the purpose. Krsna sitting in Yashoda’s lap made everyone, including the priests, forget their natural disposition, and perform the ceremony as if moved by an unseen hand. With the invocation of appropriate vedic mantras, Nanda touched porridge to Krsna’s lips. Krsna, who doesn’t flinch while devouring the entire creation during times of dissolution, made unpleasant faces and tightened his lips as he was fed with preparations of acrid, sweet, bitter, and salty flavors.

A gopa came running and informed Nanda that while everyone was busy with the ‘annapraasan’ ceremony, it had rained Gold in Gokul. Offering something to the Lord pleases him, though everything already belongs to him. Thinking thus, Kubera, who had come to witness the ceremony, brought forth showers of Gold in Gokul. An extraordinary event that it was, it nonetheless failed to endear the simple folks of Gokul, for whom Krsna was their only wealth, and why not? What attraction can Gold have for one submerged in that ocean of bliss that is Krsna?

One by one, all six seasons arrived and bore witness to the Lord, performing his leelas. The Lord did the leela of stuttering “Maa Maa, Ba ba”, and learning to crawl on his four limbs. One day he decided to delight Yashoda and got himself stuck on a threshold, crying to his mother to get him across. Narada Muni, who had come to pay his obeisance, tried to help, but the Lord warned him not to interfere in his leela that he was doing for the sole benefit of his mother.

How alluring it was for Yasoda to help her child crossover the threshold, not knowing that he had taken birth to take mankind across the ocean of ‘Samsara.’

“Verily, this divine illusion of Mine, made up of GUNAS (caused by the qualities) is difficult to cross over; those who take refuge in Me, they alone cross over this illusion.”

Geeta – Ch 8, Verse 14

Soon the Lord decided to start walking. At first, he walked shakily, holding his mother’s finger, but within a few days, started walking without any support. He would go around the palace but would stop in front of a threshold. He would tug at his mother’s saree and stammer in broken phrases for help. Yashoda would exhort him to try to cross over, and he would raise up his arms, wanting to be picked up. What a fantastic leela was unfolding in Gokul!!!

One year passed in the twinkling of an eye. It was, again, the eighth lunar day of the dark fortnight of ‘Bhadrapada’ and the birth anniversary of Krsna.