Happy Nag Panchami Day

By:Madya Lila.

Warm greetings on the festival of Nag Panchami! Hindu culture has always placed great importance on living in harmony with nature. Planet Earth is revered as our mother, Bhumidevi, and Hindus recognise a sacred connection between all living creatures. According to Vedic teachings, the soul in each body is an equal spark of life and should be respected.

Nag Panchami festival honours snakes and it is celebrated around India in a huge variety of interesting ways according to the local culture and family traditions. At the peak of the monsoon season, when snakes are at their most active, Hindus offer respect to snakes in the Nag Panchami festival.

Nag Panchami is also the auspicious day that Lord Krishna subdued the black serpent Kaliya.

Once, the serpent, Kaliya, who possessed many hoods and was extremely venomous, polluted the water of the Yamuna River. The trees and plants on the river banks dried up. Even the birds flying over the river were overcome by the poisonous vapours and fell into the water and died. The whole river that ran before Vrindavan village was deadly. Krishna decided the serpent needed to be tamed and the environment needed to be purified so that it was fit to drink and bathe in. He dove into the water creating great waves that enraged the serpent. Kaliya emerged and enveloped Krishna in his powerful coils but Krishna broke free and leapt onto Kaliya’s vast, spreading hoods. Then Krishna, who is celebrated as the original artist of all fine arts, began to dance on the hoods of the serpent. As each hood rose to strike Krishna, Krishna would press it down firmly with His lotus feet. Eventually the serpent became exhausted and humbly submitted himself to Krishna, realizing Krishna’s position as the Supreme Lord. Krishna then ordered Kaliya to leave the Yamuna river and move to the ocean so that the river water would once again become clear and clean. It is declared in the Bhagavat Purana that anyone who hears the narration of Krishna and Kaliya need not fear the activities of snakes. Happy Nag Panchami!

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