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Kartik Month 2024
Kartik month the most auspicious month and is a most dear month to sri sri Radha Madan Mohan . It is described in Hari Bhakti Vilasa 16/39,40,
“na kartika samo maso na krtena samam yugam
na veda sadrsam na tirtha gangaya samam
kartikah pravaro maso vaisnavanam priyah sada
kartikam skalam yastu bhaktya sevate vaisnavah”
There is no other month equal to Kartika and there is no yuga equal to Satya-yuga. There is no scripture equal to the Vedas. There is no place of pilgrimage equal to the Ganges. Kartika is the chief of all months and is very dear to the Vaishnavas (devotees of Krishna). Therefore, the Vaisnavas serve the Supreme Lord with great devotion in this month.
Kartik Month Start Date:
This year, Kartik Month falls from 17 October 2024 to 15 November 2024.
Why Kartik is Known as Damodar Maas?
“Dama” means -“rope” and “udara ” means – “belly”
This month is also known as Damodar maas as little Krishna performed his sweetest pastime ‘Damodar lila’ in Kartik month on the day of Diwali. One beautiful morning, Mother Yashoda was churning milk, singing and remembering Krishna’s pastimes and little Krishna appeared before her. He was hungry and to increase her mother’s love, he wanted his mother Yashoda to stop churning and feed him her milk first. Mother Yashoda lovingly took Krishna on her lap and started feeding him her breast milk, she was relishing the moment and was looking at little Krishna’s beautiful face. Suddenly the milk that was kept on stove started boiling.
To stop milk from boiling and spilling all over Mother Yashoda at once put Krishna aside and went to the stove at that moment Krishna became very angry and his face became red in rage. To show his anger to Mother Yashoda, he broke butter pot, took butter out of it and began to eat. In meantime, Mother Yashoda returned and she saw a broken pot. Since she couldn’t find Krishna around, she concluded that Krishna might have done this, she started looking for Krishna around.
She found Krishna on the ceiling and feeding butter to monkeys. She took a stick in her hand to punish Krishna. She silently tried to catch hold of him but Krishna sensed her presence and he started running. Mother Yashoda chased him all around but little Krishna was running fast. Somehow she caught him. After being caught by her, little Krishna started crying. He smeared his lotus hand over his eyes filled with tears. He was in fear and was trying to cool down Mother Yashoda’s anger by showing his cute face but Mother Yashoda wanted to punish him, so she threw her stick and thought of binding him with ropes. It was impossible to bind his hands so she tried tying him up to grinding mortar.
It’s impossible to bind the supreme personality of the godhead and this is the reason she was facing difficulty in tying Krishna, on the other hand seeing her mother struggling, Krishna agreed to be bound by her. After binding him, Mother Yashoda engaged herself in household affairs. After that Krishna saw two big trees around him known as Arjuna tree. Krishna thinks that Mother Yashoda did wrong to him by binding him to such big grinding mortar even after he didn’t commit any mistake, he blamed Mother Yashoda for leaving him without feeding him sufficient milk and as a result of this, he broke the pot and distributed all butter in charity to the monkeys. According to him, he didn’t do anything wrong so to do something more mischievous than before he planned to uproot two big arjuna trees. With all of his strength, he pulled grinding mortar in the direction of the arjuna tree and passed it between the two trees.
As a result of his persistent pulling of grinding mortar, the arjuna tree was uprooted, and two of Kuvera’s sons—named Nalapuvera and Manigriva—appeared from those trees. They were cursed by Naradmuni, therefore they turned into arjuna trees. By Krishna’s causeless mercy, they were again promoted to their life of demigods and they became great devotees of lord. After hearing the thunderbolt sound of a tree’s falling, Mother Yashoda, inhabitants of Gokul including Nand Maharaj came to the spot, they saw trees had fallen and they discovered no reason why they fell so they thought it must have been done by some demon.
Thus, Krishna through Damodar Lila, showed us how one can bind him with the ropes of love, affection and devotion.
Bring a smile to someone’s face by donating to Anna-Daan under the Food for Life program, and experience Krishna’s Divine shower of blessing in your life.
Glories of Kartik Month:
Lord Krishna says”Of all plants, the sacred Tulasi is most dear to me, of all months, Kartik is most dear, of all places of pilgrimage, My beloved Dvaraka is most dear, and of all days, Ekadashi is most dear.” (Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda 112.3). Kartik month is the most rewarding month of the year. Every little devotional service, austerity or charity performed to please lord Krishna gets magnified a thousand times during this month.
Kartik Purnima 2024:
This year Kartik Purnima ( full moon night of kartik maas ) will be celebrated on 15th November.
Kartik Purnima also known as rasa Purnima is the second full moon of the autumn season.
Kartik Purnima also marks the end of the auspicious month of Kartik. On this very auspicious and last day of Kartik tulsi shaligram vivah is also celebrated (the marriage ceremony of Srimati Tulsi Maharani and lord sri Krishna) on date of 13 November 2023.
Why Tulsi-Shaligram Vivah is Celebrated:
Tulsi Devi descended as the daughter of King Kushadvaja. Tulsi Devi was a great devotee of lord hari. Later she was married to the king of demons Jalandara. Being born in water Jalandara claimed his rights over the ocean and demanded the 14 treasures churned out of the ocean. He declared war and became a cause of danger to the demigods. More so because of the purity of Tulsi Devi, no one was able to defeat him. Her purity was so firm that even Lord Shiva could not defeat Jalandara in battle and all the demigods went to Lord Vishnu for help.
As a last resort to kill Jalandara, lord Vishnu came in Vrinda’s husband’s form to attract Vrinda. When Tulsidevi greeted lord Vishnu who had taken form of her husband, her chastity was momentarily broken, demigods took advantage of this situation and killed demon Jalandara. Vrinda Devi after knowing this, cursed lord Vishnu to become a black stone, honouring his pure devotee’s words lord hari promised to appear as Shaligram Shila in river Gandaki.
He also said that for everyone’s benefit, Tulsi Devi will assume the form of a plant that will be most auspicious to his devotees. He said,” he would never accept any offer without a tulsi leaf”. He also gave Tulsi Devi the benediction that she will eternally reside with him as his consort in Vaikuntha.
What One Should Do in Kartik Month?
Kartik month is a month of austerity. Devotees perform different austerities to please Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan.
One can please Krishna by –
:-Chanting holy name of lord
:- Worshipping lord by offering Ghee lamps ( diyas) – it is stated in padma purana that devotional activities performed during this holy month are rewarded with greater spiritual results than usual.
:- Worshipping Tulsi Devi.
:- Giving charity
:- Performing nama-sankirtan
Devotees even keep fast during these 4 months of Kartik, those who can’t keep 4 months of fast during Kartik month 2023, can do “Bhishma Panchak fasting”.
What is Bhishma Panchak and How Does it Observe?
The last 5 days of Kartik month are known as “Bhishma Panchak “. Those who are unable to perform Kartik Maas fasting can keep fast during the last 5 days of Kartik and this will give them the benefit of the whole month of Kartik fast..
This fast begins on Ekadashi day and ends on Purnima ( the full moon ).
It is described in Padma Purana that “in the month of Kartik one should worship lord Damodara and daily recite the prayer known as Damodarastakam which has been spoken by sage satyagraha and it attracts lord Damodar”
Every little austerity, charity or worship to lord Sri Hari performed to please lord Krishna during this month gets magnified many times.
ISKCON GHAZIABAD is organising yagya on the occasion of Kartik mas Purnima.
Invitation to Yagya Celebration:
We are very glad to invite you all to participate in this grand Yagya and get the special mercy of lord Krishna. The Iskcon Ghaziabad family is coming together to perform this special Yagya with devotion, prayer, and blessings of the lord.
Kindly attend this special yagya and make this yagya successful.
Iskcon Temple Ghaziabad request you to participate not only with your presence but also by giving a kind donation. Iskcon Ghaziabad will be grateful to you for your support. You can donate for Yagya to perform a sacrifice in your name or in your family’s name.
Even a small contribution matters a lot. Your donation will help Iskcon feed needy people, and distribute Bhagavad Gita books to more and more people or build a temple as well.
Highlights of the Yagya Celebration:
- Kartik Yagya
- Melodious Kirtan
- Prasadam
- Spiritual association
- Special Darshan of Deities
In Bhagavad-gītā (18.5) Lord Krishna says:
“yajna-dāna-tapah-karma
na tyājyam kāryam eva tat
yajno dānam tapaś caiva
pāvanāni manīsinām”
“Acts of sacrifice, charity and austerity, are not to be given up but should be performed. Indeed, sacrifice, charity and penance purify even the great souls.”
Bring a smile to someone’s face by donating to Anna-Daan under the Food for Life program, and experience Krishna’s Divine shower of blessing in your life.
Srila Prabhupada said-
“Charity should only be given to propagate Krishna Consciousness all over the world.
No matter small or big, Krishna sees your Heart, whether you want to serve him or not.”
Chant more and more rounds of hare krishna maha mantra in the month of Kartik. It is said that one who chants lord hair’s name in Kartik maas it gives a thousand percent more benefit.
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