It's time to light them candles

[Guest guest]

KRSNA BECOMING DAMODARA

 

Srimati Kuntidevi said: “My dear Krsna, Yasoda took up a rope to bind You when You committed an offense, and Your perturbed eyes overflooded with tears, which washed the mascara from Your eyes. And You were afraid, though fear personified is afraid of You. This sight is bewildering to me.”

 

So this is the description of Krsna's becoming Damodara. Another name for Krsna is Damodara. The Radha-Damodara Temple is there in Vrndavana, and I was staying there. Still I have my two rooms. The Damodara month will begin. So from that day, we’ll observe Damodara-vrata for one month. The duty will be that in the evening you’ll offer a small candle, all of you, before the Deity, and chant the Damodarastaka. So this will be Damodara-vrata.

 

Here is a specific example of the Lord’s being the Supreme and at the same time a plaything in the presence of His pure devotee. The Lord’s pure devotee renders service unto the Lord out of unalloyed love only, and while discharging such devotional service the pure devotee forgets the position of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord also accepts the loving service of His devotees more relishably when the service is rendered spontaneously out of pure affection, without anything of reverential admiration. Generally the Lord is worshiped by the devotees in a reverential attitude, but the Lord is meticulously pleased when the devotee, out of pure affection and love, considers the Lord to be less important than himself. The Lord’s pastimes in the original abode, Goloka Vrndavana, are exchanged in that spirit. The friends of Krsna consider Him one of them. They do not consider Him to be of reverential importance. The parents of the Lord, who are all pure devotees, consider Him a child only. The Lord accepts the chastisements of the parents more cheerfully than the prayers of the Vedic hymns.

 

When Lord Krsna was present in this material world to manifest His eternal pastimes of the transcendental realm Goloka Vrndavana as an attraction for the people in general, He displayed a unique picture of subordination before His foster mother, Yasoda. During this month, in Vrndavana it is the regulative principle to pray daily to Lord Krsna in His Damodara form. The Damodara form refers to Krsna in His childhood when He was tied up with rope by His mother, Yasoda. Dama means ropes, and udara means the abdomen. So Mother Yasoda, being very disturbed by naughty Krsna, bound Him round the abdomen with a rope, and thus Krsna is named Damodara. It is said that just as Lord Damodara is very dear to His devotees so the month known as Damodara or Karttika is also very dear to them. (Lecture by Srila Prabhupada Oct. 11,1974, TQK, NOD)

 

0 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? (Satyavrata Muni- Damodarastaka)

 

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

[Haridham]

I love Damodarastika.

 

I love the song too, though dont know the words fully and dont understand them.

 

Namo Iswaram Sac Cit Ananda Rupam......

 

Hare Krsna

Haridham

[livingentity]

(found in the Padma Purana of Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa, spoken by Satyavrata Muni in a conversation with Narada Muni and Saunaka Rsi)

"In the month of Kartika one should worship Lord Damodara and daily recite the prayer known as Damodara-ashtakam, which has been spoken by the sage Satyavrata and which attracts Lord Damodara. (Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa 2:16:198)

 

In Iskcon temples, centres, and devotees homes world wide devotees gather for the entire month of Damodar (Kartika) to offer lamps (candles - dipas, etc) and in ecstacy sing the glories of Sri Damodar. Check locally for the timings of that ceremony - usually it is done in the evening, but some temples and communities perform the ceremony morning and evening.

 

1

namamisvaram sac-cid-ananda-rupam

lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam

yasoda--bhiyolukhalad dhavamanam

paramrstam atyantato drutya gopya

 

(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 offence 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

rudantam muhur netra-yugmam mrjantam

karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram

muhuh svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-kantha-

sthita-graivam damodararm bhakti-baddham

 

(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

itidrk sva-lilabhir ananda-kunde

sva-ghosam nimajjantam akkyapayantam

tadiyesita-jnesu bhaktair jitatvam

punah prematas tam satavrtti vande

 

(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

varam deva moksam na moksavadhim va

na canyam vrne 'ham varesad apiha

idam te vapur natha gopala-balam

sada me manasy avirastam kim anyaih

 

(4) 0 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

idam te mukhambhojam atyanta-nilair

vrtam kuntalaih snigdha-raktais' ca gopya

muhus cumbitam bimba-raktadharam me

manasy avirastam alam laksa-labhaih

 

(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

namo deva damodarananta visno

prasida prabho duhkha jalabdhi-magnam

krpa-drsti-vrsyati-dinam batanu-

grhanesa mam ajnam edhy aksi-drsyah

 

(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

kuveratmajau baddha-murtyaiva yadvat

tvaya mocitau bhakti-bhajau krtau ca

tatha prema-bhaktim svakam me prayaccha

na mokse graho me 'sti damodareha

 

(7) 0 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

namas te 'stu damne sphurad-dipti-dhamne

tvadiyodarayatha visvasya dhamne

namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai

namo 'nanta-lilaya devaya tubhyam

 

(8) 0 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.

 

Sri Damodar astakam ki jaya