This year 2012 has been a glorious year of sadhana and festivity, starting with Chatur Maas and nestled in-between the glorious and merciful Purushottama Maas appeared and now starting on the 28 of November the glorious Kartika Maas begins. Usually this holiest of months is a chain of 4 months, Sravana, Bhadra, Asvina and ending with Kartika.
Those who have heard about it will endeavour with great zeal to somehow or the other come to Vrindavana, to experience an amazing month of festivals,sadhana, parikramas, katha, association with Prabhupada disciples and of course, delicious prasadam. Torrants of devotees will be streaming into Vrindavana especially due to the Kartika month being late this year, due to the celebration of Purushottama Maas and thus Kartika mercifully gives everyone a chance to come and visit and experience this wonderful month long event! Every day thousands of pilgrims will go around visiting the various temples, and of course, our Krishna Balarama Mandir is a must! Pilgrims will come from far and wide to offer there homages to Their Lordships and enjoy the festivity of the programs and discourses. This spiritual atmosphere, swelling with sounds, scents and sentiments, saturates any sincere soul with ecstatic love for Sri Krishna. It is said that Kartika month is also called “Damodara month”, which refers to that naughty boy, Krishna, who Mother Yasoda bound around the waist with a rope. During this Damodara month, if one manages to capture Krishna with the ropes of pure devotion, he will be released from the bondage of repeated birth and death, thus everyone is eager for the mercy and will go through any effort to achieve a drop!
A beautiful bhajan is sung during this month that justs melts the hearts of all the devotees with affection for little Damodara. Every night at the evening sandyaa, the beautiful eight verses written by the great sage Satyavrata Muni called the Damodarastakam is sung. Accompanying this rendition are all the devotees offering each a ghee lamp directly to Their Lordships in front of the altar and also to the effigy of little Damodara and Mother Yasoda which will be placed in the temple room for the duration of the entire month. This shimmering dazzle of glowing lamps is an offering of pure love between the devotees and their beloved Lord. Everyone can feel that sweet energy that permeates the atmosphere of the room, as they gently sway to the rhythm of the damodarastikam.
This “poem” is a beautiful description of little Damodara who is beautifully decorated and is running in fear from Mother Yasoda who is chasing after him with a stick because he has broken the yogurt pots. Here we see first hand why Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is the All powerful God, but he is running in fear from His mother’s stick!!! Is this not the epitome of sweetness?
Many of our great Acharyas starting with our own Srila Prabhupada and Jiva Goswami and even the deity of the month of Kartika, Lord Damodara himself, all got the greatest fulfillment in life during the month of Kartika! “Srila Prabhupada made his first visit to holy Vrindavana, fulfilling his childhood aspiration. After a quick visit to the major Goswami temples, he did not return until 1932, when he journeyed to Kosi to hear a lecture from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, his future spiritual master. Three years later, during Kartika at Radha Kund, Srila Prabhupada again associated with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who told him, “If you ever get money, print books.” Prabhupada at RadhaDamodar – Mahanidhi Swami
In 1542, Kartik (Damodara month), Sri Rupa Goswami, knowing Jiva Goswami’s desire for a Deity, personally carved, installed and offered a small Deity of Damodaraji (Krishna) to his foremost disciple. Standing about eight inches high, Lord Damodara came from a piece of black marble brought from Vindhya Parvat (mountain) in Madhya Pradesh, central India.(Prabhupada at RadhaDamodar – Mahanidhi Swami
Amongst all this festivity, is another beautiful but serious side to Kartika. Many devotees will take this chance to intensify there sadhana and bhajana, and thus may do some kind of vrata or vow for the entirety of the month. Kartika is the time to tighten up the loose screws of all the loose ends and to bring it back to the real standard.! This is our chance- one month! Only one month- of course after that month it becomes a habit! Habits are like that: if you do something for one month then it’s easy to keep on doing it. In his Nectar of Devotion Srila Prabhupada writes about Kartik: “(34) One should surrender to Krishna in all respects. (35) One should observe particular vows like kartika-vrata. These are some of the sixty-four important items of devotional service.”
Madhya 22.127 “The execution of devotional service during the month of Kartik (Oct-Nov) is especially recommended to be performed in Mathura. This system is still followed by many devotees. They go to Vrindavan or Mathura and stay there during the month of Kartik, specifically to perform devotional service.” Srila Rupa Goswami extols the Damodara (Kartik) month in his Mathura Mahatyam: “To they who worship Krishna in Vrindavan, the Lord gives them their original spiritual forms. The perfect atonement to purify the sins of a lifetime is to worship Lord Damodara in Vrindavan during Kartik. The month of Kartik spent in Vrindavan brings the supreme destination.”Many devotees adopt a serious but humble approach towards feelingly trying to also capture Krishna in their hearts. we must somehow or other capture Krsna by making a special sacrifice. Then when we have captured Krsna, we will see that one cannot keep Krsna. We see that Mother Yasoda captured Krsna and Krsna was not only bound by Mother Yasoda’s ropes but Krsna was bound by Mother Yasoda’s love. But when Krsna was 11 years old, then Akrura came and Akrura took Krsna away from Vrndavana. And from that day on they lived in separation and from that day on all the residents from Vrndavana, no matter what they did, they could not capture Krsna because capturing Krishna is not an automatic process!. And Krsna was driving them mad in their attachment to Him! So one has to earn Krsna’s favor again and again. This is an important point and therefore, again and again we are trying. But still, Krsna’s mercy is such that whatever service is rendered to Him, He will never forget. Thus, if we render some service in the month of Kartik, Krsna will not forget…
Another sweet side to the Damodara month is that it is actually dedicated to Srimati Radharani. In Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says that out of all the months I am the month of Marg (November-December). Coincidentally this year Kartik does fall during this time, but usually it will appear before Marg because before Krishna comes, all his devotees appear in order to arrange things for his arrival and service. (BG 10-35).
This month is also called Urja vrata. Urja means sakti, and it specifically refers to Krsna’s internal potency, antaranga sakti – Srimati Radharani. Urja vrata actually means Radha vrata, a vow taken for the happiness of Srimati Radharani. If one hears Her glorification in this month, the fruit will come in the form of attaining pure devotional service to Radha and Krishna.
There is a beautiful pastime explaining why it is also called Radha-Damodara … “Once in the auspicious month of Kartik, Krishna came late for a rendezvous with Radharani in Her kunja. In loving anger, Sri Radha looked at Krishna with frowning eyebrows. Using some golden vines, Radha then tied a rope around Sri Krishna’s belly to punish Him for not showing up as promised. Krishna said He was late because Mother Yasoda kept Him home for a festival. Seeing Her mistake, Radha quickly untied Her beloved Damodara.” (Radha Kunda Mahima Madhuri, by Mahanidhi Swami, page 50)
This was just an appetiser to create an eagerness in you to come to Vrindavan this year, and if you cannot, then please remember Vrindavana , and meditate on all the wonderful activities that will be happening during this time,and this way you will also be here with us! Prabhupada quotes Srila Rupa Goswami in Nector of Instruction #8:
Translation
The essence of all advice is that one should utilize one’s full time—twenty-four hours a day—in nicely chanting and remembering the Lord’s divine name, transcendental form, qualities and eternal pastimes, thereby gradually engaging one’s tongue and mind. In this way one should reside in Vraja [Goloka Vrindavana dhama] and serve Krishna under the guidance of devotees. One should follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s beloved devotees, who are deeply attached to His devotional service.
In the purport Prabhupada says “Srila Rupa Gosvami further advises, tishthan vraje: one should live in Vrindavana or any part of VrajabhUmi. VrajabhUmi, or the land of Vrindavana, is supposed to be eighty-four krosas in area. One krosa equals two square miles. When one makes Vrindavana his residence, he should take shelter of an advanced devotee there. In this way one should always think of Krishna and His pastimes. This is further elucidated by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu (1.2.294):
krishnam smaran janam casya
preshtham nija-samihitam
tat-tat-katha-ratas casau
kuryad vasam vraje sada
“A devotee should always reside in the transcendental realm of Vraja and always engage in krishnam smaran janam casya preshtham, the remembrance of Sri Krishna and His beloved associates.
Your Servants at the Krishna Balaram Mandir
Vrindavana
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