Kartik (Damodar)...The Holiest Month...

Kartik (Damodar) is the best, the purest of purifiers, and most glorious of all months. Kartik month is particularly dear to Lord Sri Krishna. This month is ful l of bhakta vatsalya. Any vrata, even the smallest, will yield huge results. The effect of performing a Kartik Vrata lasts for one hundred lifetimes, Kartik or the festival of offering lamps to Lord Krishna, glorifies Lord Krishna s pastime o f being bound with ropes by Mother Yashoda. Everybody should follow following practices in Kartik (Damodar) month: 1. Daily offer a ghee lamp to Krishna and sing the Damodarastakam, meditating on meaning. 2. One should always remember Supreme Lord Hari. Devotees should try to do more Harinam Chanting. Do extra rounds and more kirtana. 3. Hear Srimad Bhagavatam, daily in association of exalted Vaisnavas, if possibl e. All other duties should be given up in favor of hearing the scriptures from s adhus during this month. It is most beneficial to recite and read Gajendra Moksh a Lila-stava from 8th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, which teaches complete surrend er/dependence of Supreme Lord. 4. Eat only prasadam. 5. Daily recite Siksastaka of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and meditate on its me aning. Read the commentary on Sikastaka by Bhaktivinod Thakur. 6. Daily Read the the Updeshamrata of Srila Rupa Goswami . 7. Daily offer lamp to Tulsi devi and pray for eternal residence in Vrndavana an d eternal service of the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna. Do 4 parikrama (circum bulation) of Tulasi. 8. Make nice offerings for Krishna. Devotees should observe the festival of Anna kuta, Giriraj Govardhan Puja. 9. Associate more with devotees. 10. Practice brahmacharya 11. Perform austerities. Following are excerpts from some scriptures (Puranas) describing the glory of th e pious Kartik month: If somebody performs even a little worship of Lord Shri Hari in this month, He of fers that devotee His own abode. If somebody burns a lamp in the temple of Lord Shri Hari even for a short time (i n the month of Kartik), then whatever sins, he has acquired for millions of kalp as (one kalpa equals 1000 yugas) are all destroyed. A person, who for the entire month of Kartik eats only once a day, becomes very f amous, powerful and heroic. A person who happily reads the Bhagavad Gita in the month of Kartik does not retu rn to the world of birth and death. Of all gifts, the gift of a lamp during the month of Kartik is the best. No gift is its equal. celibacy.

The pious result obtained by bathing in all holy places and giving all charities is not equal to one ten-millionth part of the result obtained by following the v ow of Kartik." Damodarastakam : Must sing during Kartik month (1) namamisvara? sac-cid-ananda-rupa? , lasat-ku??ala? gokule bhrajamanam yasoda-bhiyolukhalad dhavamana?, param???am atyantato drutya gopya (2) rudanta? muhur netra-yugma? m?jantam, karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram muhu? svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-ka??ha-, sthita-graiva? damodara? bhakti-baddham (3) itid?k sva-lilabhir ananda-ku??e, sva-gho?a? nimajjantam akhyapayantam tadiye?ita-je?u bhaktair jitatva? , puna? prematas ta? satav?tti vande (4) vara? deva mok?a? na mok?avadhi? va , na canya? v??e ha? vare?ad apiha ida? te vapur natha gopala-bala? , sada me manasy avirasta? kim anyai? (5) ida? te mukhambhojam atyanta-nilair , v?ta? kuntalai? snigdha-raktais ca gop ya muhus cumbita? bimba-raktadhara? me , manasy avirastam ala? lak?a-labhai? (6) namo deva damodarananta vi??o , prasida prabho du?kha-jalabdhi-magnam k?pa-d???i-v???yati-dina? batanu , g?ha?e?a mam ajam edhy ak?i-d?sya? (7) kuveratmajau baddha-murtyaiva yadvat , tvaya mocitau bhakti-bhajau k?tau ca tatha prema-bhakti? svaka? me prayaccha , na mok?e graho me sti damodareha (8) namas te stu damne sphurad-dipti-dhamne, tvadiyodarayatha visvasya dhamne namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai , namo nanta-lilaya devaya tubhyam TRANSLATION 1) To the Supreme Lord, whose form is the embodiment of eternal existence, knowl edge, and bliss, whose shark-shaped earrings are swinging to and fro, who is bea utifully shining in the divine realm of Gokula, who I (due to the offense of bre aking the pot of yogurt that His mother was churning into butter and then steali ng the butter that was kept hanging from a swing) is quickly running from the wo oden grinding mortar in fear of mother Yasoda, but who has been caught from behi nd by her who ran after Him with greater speed--to that Supreme Lord, Sri Damoda ra, I offer my humble obeisances. 2) (Seeing the whipping stick in His mother's hand) He is crying and rubbing His eyes again and again with His two lotus hands. His eyes are filled with fear, a nd the necklace of pearls around His neck, which is marked with three lines like a conch shell, is shaking because of His quick breathing due to crying. To this Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, whose belly is bound not with ropes but with His mo ther's pure love, I offer my humble obeisances. 3) By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula i n pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowl edge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees w hose pure love is imbues with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe a nd reverence. With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundr eds and hundreds of times. 4) O Lord, although You are able to give all kinds of benedictions, I do not pra y to You for the boon of impersonal liberation, nor the highest liberation of et ernal life in Vaikuntha, nor any other boon (which may be obtained by executing

the nine processes of bhakti). O Lord, I simply wish that this form of Yours as Bala Gopala in Vrndavana may ever be manifest in my heart, for what is the use t o me of any other boon besides this? 5) O Lord, Your lotus face, which is encircled by locks of soft black hair tinge d with red, is kissed again and again by mother Yasoda, and Your lips are reddis h like the bimba fruit. May this beautiful vision of Your lotus face be ever man ifest in my heart. Thousands and thousands of other benedictions are of no use t o me. 6) O Supreme Godhead, I offer my obeisances unto You. O Damodara! O Ananta! O Vi shnu! O master! O my Lord, be pleased upon me. By showering Your glance of mercy upon me, deliver this poor ignorant fool who is immersed in an ocean of worldly sorrows, and become visible to my eyes. 7) O Lord Damodara, just as the two sons of Kuvera--Manigriva and Nalakuvara--we re delivered from the curse of Narada and made into great devotees by You in You r form as a baby tied with rope to a wooden grinding mortar, in the same way, pl ease give to me Your own prema-bhakti. I only long for this and have no desire f or any kind of liberation. 8) O Lord Damodara, I first of all offer my obeisances to the brilliantly effulg ent rope which binds Your belly. I then offer my obeisances to Your belly, which is the abode of the entire universe. I humbly bow down to Your most beloved Sri mati Radharani, and I offer all obeisances to You, the Supreme Lord, who display s unlimited pastimes In this Kartik we may get the same mercy as Nalkuber and Manigrive get at that t ime... Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare I Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare II Kartik (Damodar)...The Holiest Month Kartik (Damodar)...The Holiest Month