Começou - Mês de Damodara

Mês de Damodara. Durante este período (alguns começam na noite anterior, dia 11), cantamos todos os dias a canção Damodarastaka, onde meditamos na forma infantil de Krishna e a relação amorosa materna com Deus, exemplificada por Yasoda, que faz o papel de mãe de Krishna.

DAMODARASTAKA
(from Padma Purana)

namamisvaram sac-cid-ananda-rupam
lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam
yasoda-bhiyolukhalad dhavamanam
paramrstam atyantato drutya gopya

rudantam muhur netra-yugmam mrjantam
karambhoja-yugmena satanka-netram
muhuh svasa-kampa-trirekhanka-kantha-
sthita-graivam damodaram bhakti-baddham

itidrk sva-lilabhir ananda-kunde
sva-ghosam nimajjantam akhyapayantam
tadiyesita-jñesu bhaktair jitatvam
punah prematas tam satavrtti vande

varam deva moksam na moksavadhim va
na canyam vrne ham varesad apiha
idam te vapur natha gopala-balam
sada me manasy avirastam kim anyaih

idam te mukhambhojam atyanta-nilair
vrtam kuntalaih snigdha-raktais ca gopya
muhus cumbitam bimba-raktadharam me
manasy avirastam alam laksa-labhaih

namo deva damodarananta visno
prasida prabho duhkha-jalabhi-magnam
krpa-drsti-vrstyati-dinam batanu-
grhanesa mam ajñam edhy aksi-drsyah

kuveratmajau baddha-murtyaiva yadvat
tvaya mocitau bhakti-bhajau krtau ca
tata prema-bhaktim svakam me prayaccha
na mokse graho me sti damodareha

namas te stu damne sphurad dipti-dhamne
tvadiyadarayatha visvasya dhamne
namo radhikayai tvadiya-priyayai
namo nanta-lilaya devaya tubyam

namamisvaram sac-cid-ananda-rupam
lasat-kundalam gokule bhrajamanam
yasoda-bhiyolukhalad dhavamanam
paramrstam atyantato drutya gopya

To the Supreme Lord, whose form is the embodiement of eternal existence, knowldege, 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 obesiances.

(Seeing the shipping 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.

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 knowldege 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 time.

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 nice processes of bhakti). O Lord, I simply wish that 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?

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 tha bimba fruit. May this beautiful vision of Your lotus face be ever manifest in my heart. Thousand and thousands of other benedictions are of no use to me.

O Supreme Godhead, I offer my obeisances unto You. O Damodara! O Ananta! O Visnu! 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.

O Lord Damodara, just as the 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.

O Lord Damodara, I first of all offer my obeisances to the brilliantly effulgent rope wihich 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.