All glories to this most auspicious time of Sri Damodara! All glories unto Sri Radhika, the giver of eternal mercy and beloved of Sri Gopal! All glories to the Holy Name! Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us this beautiful transcendental sound vibration to capture our hearts and make our minds fixed on Him. I pray to always be attracted to such chanting as the Gopis of Vrindavan Dham are even now captured by the sound of Sri Krsna’s flute.
As this Kartik begins I humbly pray for the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, our eternal spiritual master and grandfather who has given us the priceless gift of Bhakti Yoga. Each of us owes so much to this gentle spirit soul, without which I fear we would have been lost in this material world. Upon his lotus feet I humbly pray for inspiration in the coming months and pray for even a small taste for devotional service in my heart.
I pray to my Gurumaharaja His Holiness Indradyumna Swami, that he may accept this Kartik Vrata as an offering to him and through him to Srila Prabhupada and the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Gurumaharaja you have saved me! Without your guidance I would be adrift in this world having forgotten the teachings of your spiritual master and uncaring for the beautiful gift which Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us. What more can I say? I am forever more your aspiring servant.
This year for Kartik Vrata I have chosen to focus on developing my spiritual consciousness and developing love of God. I pledge my heart and soul to reading the instructions of our Gurumaharaja Srila Prabhupada. Through his kind instructions we may develop love of God and return to him at the time of our material death. Srila Prabhupada asked his disciples to please read from his books every day, specifically he mentions readings of the Srimad Bhagavatam and so I pledge to read from this great scripture every day during this most auspicious month. I also will continue to read the Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrta by Sanatana Goswami in accordance with the instructions of my gurudeva, Indradyunma Swami.
The Holy Name is the most powerful thing in this age of Kali. As an aspiring disciple I have taken the vow to chant 16 rounds of the mahamantra every day, and so for this Kartik I promise to pursue developing love of God through improving my communication with him. A dear friend of mine once told me that chanting is like having a conversation with Krishna. If you do not pay attention in a conversation but instead are concentrating elsewhere or holding another conversation at the same time it is considered very rude, so why do we do this with Sri Krishna whom we owe more respect than anyone else? I have chosen this Kartik to rise early before sunrise and practice my chanting in full concentration and aspiring devotion.
I pray for the blessings of all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord that I may fulfill my vows during the month of Damodara and that I may one day develop even a small seed of desire for the service of Sri Sri Radha and Govinda.
Your aspiring servant in devotion,
Abhaya Devi
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