View source for During the month of Karttika, Damodara is prayed to as follows, "My dear Lord, You are the Lord of all, the giver of all benedictions"

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[[Category:During]]
[[Category:Month of Karttika (Oct-Nov) Damodara]]
[[Category:Damodara]]
[[Category:Praying]]
[[Category:As Follows]]
[[Category:My Dear Lord]]
[[Category:You Are]]
[[Category:Giver]]
[[Category:Benediction]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 04 - Devotional Service Surpasses All Liberation]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
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During the month of Kārttika, Dāmodara is prayed to as follows: "My dear Lord, You are the Lord of all, the giver of all benedictions." There are many demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva who sometimes offer benedictions to their respective devotees. For example, Rāvaṇa was blest with many benedictions by Lord Śiva, and Hiraṇyakaśipu was blest by Lord Brahmā.
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[[Vanisource:NOD 4 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 4]]
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In the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, [[Vanisource:SB 11.20.34|20th Chapter, 34th verse]], Lord Kṛṣṇa says to Uddhava as follows: "My dear Uddhava, the devotees who have completely taken shelter of My service are so steadfast in devotional service that they have no other desire. Even if they are offered the four kinds of spiritual opulences,* they will refuse to accept them. So what to speak of their desiring anything within the material world!" Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa says in another passage of the Bhāgavatam, Eleventh Canto, 14th Chapter, 13th verse, "My dear Uddhava, a person whose consciousness is completely absorbed in My thought and activities does not aspire even to occupy the post of Brahmā, or the post of Indra, or the post of lordship over the planets, or the eight kinds of mystic perfections, or even liberation itself." In the Twelfth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, [[Vanisource:SB 12.10.6|10th Chapter, verse 6]], Lord Śiva says to Devī: "My dear Devī, this great brāhmaṇa sage Mārkaṇḍeya has attained unflinching faith and devotion unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such he does not aspire after any benedictions, including liberation from the material world."

*The fifth kind of liberation, merging with the Supreme, is not considered an opulence in spiritual variegated existence.

Similarly, there is a statement in Padma Purāṇa describing the ritualistic function during the month of Kārttika (October-November). During this month, in Vṛndāvana it is the regulative principle to pray daily to Lord Kṛṣṇa in His Dāmodara form. The Dāmodara form refers to Kṛṣṇa in His childhood when He was tied up with rope by His mother, Yaśodā. Dāma means ropes, and udara means the abdomen. So Mother Yaśodā, being very disturbed by naughty Kṛṣṇa, bound Him round the abdomen with a rope, and thus Kṛṣṇa is named Dāmodara. During the month of Kārttika, Dāmodara is prayed to as follows: "My dear Lord, You are the Lord of all, the giver of all benedictions." There are many demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva who sometimes offer benedictions to their respective devotees. For example, Rāvaṇa was blest with many benedictions by Lord Śiva, and Hiraṇyakaśipu was blest by Lord Brahmā. But even Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā depend upon the benedictions of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and therefore Kṛṣṇa is addressed as the Lord of all benefactors. As such, Lord Kṛṣṇa can offer His devotees anything they want, but still, the devotee's prayer continues, "I do not ask You for liberation or any material facility up to the point of liberation. What I want as Your favor is that I may always think of Your form as I see You now as Dāmodara. You are so beautiful and attractive that my mind does not want anything else besides this wonderful form." In this same prayer, there is another passage in which it is said, "My dear Lord Dāmodara, once when You were playing as a naughty boy in the house of Nanda Mahārāj, You broke the box containing yogurt, and because of that Mother Yaśodā considered You an offender and tied You with rope to the household grinding mortar. At that time You delivered two sons of Kuvera, Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, who were staying there as two arjuna trees in the yard of Nanda Mahārāj. My only request is that by Your merciful pastimes You may similarly deliver me."

The story behind this verse is that the two sons of Kuvera (the treasurer of the demigods) were puffed up on account of the opulence of their father, and so once on a heavenly planet they were enjoying themselves in a lake with some naked damsels of heaven. At that time the great saint Nārada Muni was passing on the road and was sorry to see the behavior of the sons of Kuvera. Seeing Nārada passing by, the damsels of heaven covered their bodies with cloth, but the two sons, being drunkards, did not have this decency. Nārada became angry with their behavior and cursed them thusly: "You have no sense, so it is better if you become trees instead of the sons of Kuvera." Upon hearing this, the boys came to their senses and begged Nārada to be pardoned for their offenses. Nārada then said, "Yes, you shall become trees, arjuna trees, and you will stand at the courtyard of Nanda Mahārāj. But Kṛṣṇa Himself will appear in time as the foster son of Nanda, and He will deliver you." In other words, the curse of Nārada was a benediction to the sons of Kuvera because indirectly it was foretold that they would be able to receive the favor of Lord Kṛṣṇa. After that, Kuvera's two sons stood as two big arjuna trees in the courtyard of Nanda Mahārāj until Lord Dāmodara, in order to fulfill the desire of Nārada, dragged the milling pestle to which He was tied and struck the two trees, violently causing them to fall down. From out of these fallen trees came Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, who had by then become great devotees of the Lord.
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