August – Bhakti Yoga on Lord Krishna

Chaitanya Maha Prabhu

August is the month for Lord Krishna. The Gokulashtami this year is on 31st August. Last year we celebrated with a series of Blogs on the Dance of the Yuga, the “Kalinga Narthanam”. This year it is time for a month of Bhakti Yoga.

The Shikshashtakam is a prayer of eight verses. They were written by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486 – 1534). The name of the prayer comes from the Sanskrit words Śikṣā, meaning ‘instruction’, and aṣṭaka, meaning ‘consisting of eight parts’, i.e., stanzas. The teachings contained within the eight verses are believed to contain the essence of all teachings on Bhakti yoga within the Gaudiya tradition. With two verses in each week, we will cover the Shikshashtakam in this month of Aug 2021 starting from August 3rd.

Every week, the blog will be accompanied by the divine rendering of Shikshashtakam by the legendary MS Subbulakshmi.