Establishment of dharma
The focus of Krishna's life was the establishment of dharma. Dharma is identified as a purushartha. Dharma is not a belief, a concept or a religion; dharma is action, effort. This action and effort should lead one to experiencing the divine nature that is dormant in every being. Krishna wanted to establish this concept of dharma right from the time he became self-aware.
In the festival of Ganga Dashahara, the women float candles or deepaks on the river as a form of worship. There is a story that when Krishna was very young he accompanied his mother, Yashoda, to the banks of the river to observe this ritual. When he saw people floating little candles on the river, he entered the water himself and every time a deepak or candle floated by he would pick it up and put it on the riverbank.
When his mother asked him what he was doing, he replied, “Mother, all the candles that come near me I pick up and put on the shore. My little hands can't reach the candles that are in midstream or near the other shore, but any deepak that floats towards me I pick up and put on the shore.”
Deepaks or lights represent the individual souls who are floating in this stream of samsara. Those who are too far away go unattended, but those souls which float towards the godly nature are immediately picked up and saved. Coming close to the proximity of the Divine is the purpose of dharma, nothing more.

Sankalpa
Krishna's teachings were to develop transcendental love and to be involved with karma. If we can understand these two concepts, we will find that many of our doubts about life, spirituality and dharma can be clarified. Today, on Krishna Janmasthami, we celebrate the birthday of this extraordinary child who was later recognized as an avatar. We also acknowledge the teachings we have received from this extraordinary person and we take a sankalpa to understand, if not to work upon, at least to understand the teachings, the guidelines and the path which has been shown to us through inspirational and uplifting examples from his life.
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, Ganga Darshan, Janmasthami, September 3, 1999






