Damodar month starts today 27th October

Damodara prayers sung here ---



Kartik (Damodar) is considered the most glorious of all months. Kartik month is particularly dear to Lord Sri Krishna. 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 of being bound with ropes by Mother Yashoda.

Everybody should follow following practices in Kartik (Damodar) month:

1. Daily offering a ghee lamp to Krishna and singing the Damodarastakam, meditating on its meaning.

2. One should always remember the Supreme Lord Hari. Devotees should try to do more Harinam and chanting.

3. Hearing Srimad Bhagavatam daily in association of Vaishnavas, if possible. All other duties should be given up in favor of hearing the scriptures during this month. It is most beneficial to recite and read Gajendra Moksha Lila-stava from 8th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, which teaches complete surrender / dependence of Supreme Lord.

4. Eat only prasadam.

5. Daily recite Siksastaka of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and meditate on its meaning. 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 and eternal service of the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna. Do 4 parikrama (circumbulation) of Tulasi.

8. Make nice offerings for Krishna. Devotees should observe the festival of Annakuta, Giriraj Govardhan Puja.

9. Associate more with devotees.

10. Practice brahmacharya – celibacy.

11. Perform austerities.

Following are excerpts from some scriptures (Puranas) describing the glory of the pious Kartik month:

“If somebody performs even a little worship of Lord Shri Hari in this month, He offers that devotee His own abode.”

“If somebody burns a lamp in the temple of Lord Shri Hari even for a short time (in the month of Kartik), then whatever sins, he has acquired for millions of kalpas (one kalpa equals 1000 yugas) are all destroyed.”

“A person, who for the entire month of Kartik eats only once a day, becomes very famous, powerful and heroic.”

“A person who happily reads the Bhagavad Gita in the month of Kartik does not return 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.”

“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 vow of Kartik."

Damodarastakam : Must sing during Kartik month

(1) namamisvavaram sac-cid-ananda-rupaḿ , lasat-kundaalam gokule bhrajamanam

yasoda-bhiyolūkhalad dhavamanam, paramrstam atyantato drutya gopya

(2) rudantam muhur netra-yugmam mrjantam, karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram muhuḥ svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-kantha-, sthita-graivam damodaram bhakti-baddham

(3) itidrk sva-lilabhir ananda-kuṇḍe, sva-ghosam nimajjantam akhyapayantam
tadiyesita-jnesu bhaktair jitatvaḿ , punaḥ prematas tam satavvtti vande

(4) varam deva moksam na moksavadhim va , na canyam vrne ‘ham varesad apiha

idam te vapur natha gopala-balam , sada me manasy avirastaḿ kim anyaih

(5) idam te mukhambhojam atyanta-nilair , vrtam kuntalaih snigdha-raktais ca gopya

muhus cumbitam bimba-raktadharam me , manasy avirastam alam laksa-labhaih

(6) namo deva damodarananta visno , prasida prabho duhkha-jalabdhi-magnam
krpa-drsti-vrstyati-dinaḿ batanu , grhanesa mqm ajnam edhy aksi-drsyah

(7) kuveratmajau baddha-murtyaiva yadvat , tvaya mocitau bhakti-bhajau krtau ca

tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayaccha , na mokse 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, knowledge, and bliss, whose shark-shaped earrings are swinging to and fro, who is beautifully shining in the divine realm of Gokula, who I (due to the offense of breaking the pot of yogurt that His mother was churning into butter and then stealing the butter that was kept hanging from a swing) is quickly running from the wooden grinding mortar in fear of mother Yasoda, but who has been caught from behind by her who ran after Him with greater speed--to that Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, 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, and 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 mother's pure love, I offer my humble obeisances.

3) By such childhood pastimes as this He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy, and is revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbues with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. With great love I again offer my obeisances to Lord Damodara hundreds and hundreds of times.

4) O Lord, although You are able to give all kinds of benedictions, I do not pray to You for the boon of impersonal liberation, nor the highest liberation of eternal 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 to me of any other boon besides this?

5) O Lord, Your lotus face, which is encircled by locks of soft black hair tinged with red, is kissed again and again by mother Yasoda, and Your lips are reddish like the bimba fruit. May this beautiful vision of Your lotus face be ever manifest in my heart. Thousands and thousands of other benedictions are of no use to me.

6) O Supreme Godhead, I offer my obeisances unto You. O Damodara! O Ananta! O Vishnu! 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--were delivered from the curse of Narada and made into great devotees by You in Your form as a baby tied with rope to a wooden grinding mortar, in the same way, please give to me Your own prema-bhakti. I only long for this and have no desire for any kind of liberation.

8) O Lord Damodara, I first of all offer my obeisances to the brilliantly effulgent 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 Srimati Radharani, and I offer all obeisances to You, the Supreme Lord, who displays unlimited pastimes