What are Your Plans for Kanha this Kaartik?

Yes yes yeeeeessssss!!!!! It is Kartik maas once again! Yaaaayyyyy! Truly the best month of the year, filled with love, fun, festivity, and cute little baby Kanha!

I should have written this post earlier actually. My apologies. Kartik maas started on the 12th of October. What is so special about this month is that the Lord performed many many miracles during this month in His infancy. Also, this is the last and final month of Chaturmasya. Another important reason is that Rama returned to Ayodhya during this month (Diwali).

The most famous leela of the Lord during this month is the liberation of Kuvera's sons.

Mother Yashoda was cooking but Kanha was getting hungry. So she left the milk to boil on the stove and went to feed Kanha. However, the milk started to spill and Yashoda Maiya left Kanha to tend to the boiling milk, thus angering Him. Terribly annoyed with his mother for having left him like that, Kanha started to break pots of yoghurt and began eating churned butter. After Yashoda had tended to the milk, she came back to look for Kanha. To her surprise, she found broken pots and saw that Krsna had turned the grinding mortar upside down and was distributing butter to the monkeys!

Yashoda Maiya chased after Kanha, who was trying to run as fast as his little legs could carry Him. Yashoda caught him and he was backing away in fear, with tears in his little eyes. As punishment, she decided to bind him to a grinding mortar with rope. But the rope was 2 inches too small. She got another piece of rope and attached it yet it was still too small. Again and again this happened until finally after expressing her exasperation, Kanha agreed to let himself be bound and the rope miraculously fit. The 2 inches signify that in order to reach Krishna, 2 factors must be considered: (1) our individual efforts and (2) His divine will.

Yashoda Maiya then left to tend to other household affairs but little Kanha was up to something. He tugged and the grinding mortar fell from its vertical position, lying flat on the floor. With barely any effort, this little baby boy crawled pulling the grinding mortar along with him by the rope he was bound with. Krsna crawled between two yamala-arjuna trees and the grinding mortar got stuck between them. With a gentle tug, Krsna was able to use the mortar to break the trees down. From these two trees emerged Nalakuvera and Manigreva, the two sons of Kuvera. In a previous birth, the two were found by Narada Muni engaging in indecent behavior with girls in the river, fully intoxicated and unclothed. Narada Muni cursed them to live the life of trees and upon being merciful as a devotee of God always is, his curse was actually a blessing. He said that they would be freed only when the Supreme Personality of Godhead would free them with His grace and presence. Now finally that time had come. They had achieved liberation, having seen the face of God and being freed by him. They offered obeisances to Krishna and set off to their heavenly abodes.

So that's the story of Damodar Leela. But how do we celebrate this month of Kartik?

We must offer a diya or lamp to Krishna everyday while reciting the Damodarastakam. If you have not experienced the Damodarastakam yet, oh you are definitely missing out! It is the most beautiful, soul stirring experience! Every single devotee I know absolutely loves Damodar aarti! I remember last year Ekalavya Dasa Prabhu was here shortly after the month of Kartik ended. And he conducted a damodar aarti saying, "For those of you who thought it was over, it's not! It's extended now!" He then told us how he cried once when he found out the month of Kartik was over because he just loves Damodar aarti so much!

The scriptures say any religious activity done during this holy month reaps 1000 times more merit and absolves thousands of karmas and sins. It is an auspicious month for increased spiritual activity, and a month of charity. The other day, a preacher explained the hierarchy of charity: it is good to give a horse in charity, but it is better to gift an elephant. On a higher level is donating a cow. Donating food or giving one's daughter in marriage is on the same level. But the highest of all is vidya-daan. Giving knowledge. So we were advised to donate scriptures like Bhagavad Gitas and share our knowledge, especially during this month.

So what are you going to do for Kanha this month? Maybe you could study the Gita again. Or read some other scripture. Perhaps you could chant extra rounds. Maybe do some preaching or conduct damodar aarti in your friends' houses. I personally have decided to light a diya everyday and perform damodar aarti in my house. I would like to invite all of you to light a lamp and perform damodar aarti everyday as well. To make it extra special, you can make a lamp of ghee, and tulsi sticks covered in cotton. This is said to be very auspicious and reaps much more merit. The aarti can be done at absolutely any time, morning or evening!

Here is the video including lyrics of the Damodarastakam: