Glories of offering a lamp during the month of Kartika by Karangoboori Deepotsava means the festival of lights.

The month of Kartik (11th Oct, 2011 9th Nov, 2011) is celebrated as the Deepotsava month, commemorating the Damodara Li la of Lord Krishna. As per the Skanda Purana, this month is especially dear to Lord Krishna and is considered to be the holiest of all months. During this mont h, devotees offer lamp to Lord Damodara and recite the beautiful prayer called D amodarashtaka, which was spoken by Satyavrata muni which attracts the Supreme Lo rd Himself. In Hari Bhakti Vilasa, Srila Sanatana Goswami quotes from various pu ranas, the glories of observing Deepotsava festival in Kartik month. The followi ng are some of the glories of offering a lamp to Lord Krishna, during the month of Kartik. Offering a lamp during the month of Karttika is very pleasing to Lord Kesava. A person who offers a lamp in this way will not take birth again in this world. By offering a lamp during the month of Karttika one attains a pious result ten m illion times greater than the result obtained by bathing at Kuruksetra during a solar eclipse or by bathing in the river Narmada during a lunar eclipse. For a person who thus offers a lamp burning with ghee or sesame oil, what is the use of performing an asvasmedha-yajna? Even if there are no mantras, no pious deeds, and no purity, everything becomes perfect when a person offers a lamp during the month of Karttika. A person who during the month of Karttika offers a lamp to Lord Kesava has alrea dy performed all yajnas and bathing in all holy rivers. When in the month of Karttika there is no lamp burning before Lord Kesava, then the pious deeds in Svargaloka, Martyaloka, and Rasatalaloka scream with dissatis faction. The ancestors say: When someone in our family pleases Lord Kesava by offering to Him a lamp during the month of Karttika, then, by the mercy of the Lord who hol ds the Sudarsana-cakra in His hand, we will all attain liberation. By offering a lamp during the month of Karttika one burns away a collection of s ins as big as Mount Meru or Mount Mandara. Of this there is no doubt. To one who either at home or in a temple offers Him a lamp during the month of K arttika, Lord Vasudeva gives a great result. A person who, after taking birth in the world of human beings, offers a lamp to Lord Krishna during the month of Karttika becomes very glorious and fortunate. A person who offers a lamp during the month of Karttika attains a result that ca nnot be obtained with even a hundred yajnas or a hundred pilgrimages. Even a person addicted to all sins and averse to all pious deeds who somehow off ers a lamp during Karttika becomes purified. Of this there is no doubt. No sin exists anywhere in the three worlds that will not be purified by offering a lamp to Lord Kesava during Karttika. A person who offers a lamp to Lord Krishna during Karttika attains the eternal s piritual world where there is no suffering. A person who offers a lamp in a temple of Lord Vishnu during the month of Kartti ka attains eternal wealth, good children, fame, and glory. As fire is present in all wood and may be extracted by friction, so piety is alw ays present in the offering of a lamp during the month of Karttika. Of this ther e is no doubt. When someone offers Him a lamp on the full-moon day of the month of Karttika, Lo rd Krishna, finding that He does not have sufficient money to repay that gift, g ives Himself in exchange for that lamp. In the Narada Purana it is said: Of all gifts the gift of a lamp during the mont h of Karttika is the best. No gift is its equal. In the Padma Purana it is said: One who offers a steady lamp to Lord Hari during the month of Karttika enjoys pastimes in Lord Hari's splendid spiritual world. Somehow or other a mouse once lit a lamp that someone offered on ekadasi during the month of Karttika. That mouse attained a rare human birth and then went to t he supreme spiritual world. When they see a human being offering a lamp to Lord Vishnu, the demigods in Deva loka think: When, by performing that single pious deed, will this person join us

here? A person who lights many lamps inside and outside Lord Vishnu's temple becomes a liberated soul. Holding a disc and conch, he attains a spiritual form like Lord Vishnu's. When a person lights many lamps in Lord Kesava's temple, not a single of his hun dred thousand closest relatives lives in hell. In the Bhavisya Purana it is said: A person who makes the Lord's temple splendid with many lamps during the month of Karttika, and especially during the ekadasi or the dvadasi of that month, becomes glorious like ten thousand suns. Travelin g in a splendid airplane that fills the universe with light, he leaves this worl d of birth and death. For each lamp that he lit on the earth he is glorified on Vishnuloka for a thousand years. They who bathe and then worship Lord Damodara in Mathura during the month of Kar ttika attain spiritual forms like Lord Krishna's. Of this there is no doubt. What is the use of yajnas, austerities, and pilgrimages to a person who has the opportunity to worship Lord Krishna, the beloved of Radha, in Mathura during the month of Karttika?