कार्तिक
Kārtik is the month of Dāmodara. Each evening a small lamp is offered to Kṛṣṇa while the Dāmodarāṣṭakam is sung. You can keep it simply, at home or with others.
आज शाम अपना दीपक अर्पित करें
शांत दो मिनट। आप अपने दीपक के साथ जो प्रेम, भाव और प्रार्थनाएँ अर्पित करते हैं, कृष्ण उन्हें स्वीकार करते हैं। दीपक जलाने के लिए बटन दबाकर रखें, फिर अपनी उंगली को दामोदर के चारों ओर धीरे-धीरे घुमाएँ।
घर पर दीपक अर्पित करना
महीने की हर शाम, जिस भी समय आपको सुविधा हो।
- एक छोटा दीपक जलाएँ घी का दीपक पारंपरिक है। मोमबत्ती या टी-लाइट भी ठीक है।
- कृष्ण के सामने खड़े हों कृष्ण का एक चित्र, या माता यशोदा के साथ बाल कृष्ण का चित्र, पर्याप्त है।
- दामोदराष्टकम् गाएँ या पढ़ें आठ छोटे श्लोक। उन्हें धीरे-धीरे पढ़ना भी गाने जितना ही अच्छा है।
- दीपक को धीरे से घुमाएँ उन्हें प्रसन्न करने की भावना से, कृष्ण के सामने दीपक को छोटे घेरों में घुमाएँ। परिवार और मित्र भी एक दीपक अर्पित कर सकते हैं।
मंदिर की आरती में यही क्रम अपनाया जाता है: चरणों पर चार बार, नाभि पर दो बार, मुख पर तीन बार, फिर पूरे स्वरूप के चारों ओर सात बार। घर पर, प्रेम से धीरे-धीरे घुमाना पर्याप्त है।
दामोदराष्टकम्
वह प्रार्थना जो कार्तिक की हर शाम मंदिरों में गाई जाती है। इसके आठ श्लोक:
namāmīśvaraṃ sac-cid-ānanda-rūpaṃ
lasat-kuṇḍalaṃ gokule bhrājamānam
yaśodā-bhiyolūkhalād dhāvamānaṃ
parāmṛṣṭam atyantato drutya gopyā
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 [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.
rudantaṃ muhur netra-yugmaṃ mṛjantaṃ
karāmbhoja-yugmena sātaṅka-netram
muhuḥ śvāsa-kampa-trirekhāṅka-kaṇṭha-
sthita-graivaṃ dāmodaraṃ bhakti-baddham
[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 conchshell, 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.
itīdṛk sva-līlābhir ānanda-kuṇḍe
sva-ghoṣaṃ nimajjantam ākhyāpayantam
tadīyeṣita-jñeṣu bhaktair jitatvaṃ
punaḥ prematas taṃ śatāvṛtti vande
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 imbued 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.
varaṃ deva mokṣaṃ na mokṣāvadhiṃ vā
na cānyaṃ vṛṇe 'haṃ vareśād apīha
idaṃ te vapur nātha gopāla-bālaṃ
sadā me manasy āvirāstāṃ kim anyaiḥ
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 Vrindavana may ever be manifest in my heart, for what is the use to me of any other boon besides this?
idaṃ te mukhāmbhojam atyanta-nīlair
vṛtaṃ kuntalaiḥ snigdha-raktaiś ca gopyā
muhuś cumbitaṃ bimba-raktādharaṃ me
manasy āvirāstām alaṃ lakṣa-lābhaiḥ
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.
namo deva dāmodarānanta viṣṇo
prasīda prabho duḥkha-jālābdhi-magnam
kṛpā-dṛṣṭi-vṛṣṭyāti-dīnaṃ batānu
gṛhāṇeśa mām ajñam edhy akṣi-dṛśyaḥ
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.
kuverātmajau baddha-mūrtyaiva yadvat
tvayā mocitau bhakti-bhājau kṛtau ca
tathā prema-bhaktiṃ svakāṃ me prayaccha
na mokṣe graho me 'sti dāmodareha
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.
namas te 'stu dāmne sphurad-dīpti-dhāmne
tvadīyodarāyātha viśvasya dhāmne
namo rādhikāyai tvadīya-priyāyai
namo 'nanta-līlāya devāya tubhyam
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.