Newsletter October 2022

Dear Friends of Sri-Sri-Radha-Madana-Mohan,

Please accept our respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Once again the special month of Kartik is ahead of us. Sunday, 09th October is Kartik-Purnima, the beginning of the Kartik or Damodar month. Sanatana Goswami, in a quote from the Padma Purana, says how special this month is. Of all the twelve months in the year, the month of Kartik is especially dear to Sri Krishna. If anyone worships Sri Hari even a little during this month, the Lord offers that devotee a life in His transcendental home, Goloka Vrindavan.

In this month, even by making a small effort, we can deepen our bhakti, our devotion to the divine couple, Sri-Sri-Radha-Krishna, immensely. Bhaktivinoda Thakur gives three interesting tips that can help us deepen our spiritual attachment and thus increase our taste. The first is through kirtan - we can accomplish this by singing the Damodar song every day. The second tip is associating with bhagavatas, great souls who have completely dedicated their lives to the service of Radha and Krishna - we do this by either physically seeking out their association in the holy dham or by participating in the vast nectarean offering of lectures via the internet. The third tip Bhaktivinoda Thakura gives is bhagavat katha, which means regular listening to and reading about the Lord's pastimes in the Srimad Bhagavatam or the Krishna book and talking about them with like-minded devotees. These three things help us to deepen our devotion. During the Kartik month, these three things have a great effect even with just the slightest engagement. It is said that all activities in devotional service during this special month have a 1000-fold benefit! So if we chant 1 round of the maha-mantra on our prayer-beads (japa-mala), it is equal in benefit to chanting 1000 rounds! - Giriraj Maharaja once said about this month, it is the "Bhakti sale month", in a sale you get everything cheaper, so also during Kartik, you get Bhakti already with a small effort, like offering a little lamp to Lord Damodar every day and chanting the song for His glorification (Damodarastakam).

This is so because Kartik is Srimati Radharani's month. She pours out all Her mercy onto devotees during this month. With the following prayer, you can address Srimati Radharani and ask Her blessings during this month:

tapta-kanchana-gaurangi

radhe vrndavanesvari

vrsabhanu-sute devi

pranamami hari-priye

"O Sri Radha! O Gaurangi, whose bodly hue is like molten gold. You are the Queen of Vrindavan, the daughter of Vrishabhanu, and You are the one most dear to Sri Hari. I pay my respectful obeisances to You."

At the following link, you will find recordings and lyrics to the Damodarastakam:
https://www.krishna.com/damodarastakam

Kartik is a month filled with many festivities, it includes Govardhan-puja and the passing away of Srila Prabhupada. Below you will find an overview of the most important events during this month:

• Sunday, 09.10.:
  Kartik-Purnima (full moon), beginning of Kartik month
• Monday, 17.10.:
  Bahulastami, on this day Sri Radhakunda is worshipped
• Tuesday, 25.10.:
  Amavasya (new moon), Dipavali, the festival of lights in honor of Lord Ram's returning to Ayodhya, on this day the Damodar-lila at Nanda Baba's house in Gokul, Mahavan, also took place.
• Wednesday, 26.10.:
  Govardhan-puja, on this day the Braj-vasis, the inhabitants of Vrindavan, offer a big feast to Giri-Govardhan and, led by Krishna, made the first Govardhan-parikrama.
• Friday, 28.10.:
  Srila Prabhupada's disappearence day (Nov. 14, 1977).
• Tuesday, 01.11.:
  Gopastami, on this day cows are specially honored and worshipped
• Friday, 04.11.:
  Ekadasi, beginning of Bhisma-Pancaka, the last five days of the Kartik month, devotional activities performed during these 5 days are considered as if they had been performed during the whole month.
• Tuesday, 08.11:
  Purnima, last day of Bhishma-Pancaka and last day of Kartik

May you all have a very wonderful month of Kartik filled with Radha-Krishna-Bhakti, and may you be able to dive deeply into the wondrous, lovely childhood pastimes of Lord Damodar!

Hare Krishna!

Your servants of Goloka Dhama