Follow these steps to offer a lamp to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara with devotion.

Arrange a small diya with ghee and a cotton wick. Light the wick safely before beginning the offering.

Stand or sit respectfully before Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or a picture of Lord Dāmodara. Remember the Lord with a humble and devotional mood.

Start singing Śrī Dāmodarāṣṭaka, the eight verses glorifying Lord Dāmodara. You may sing along with a recording if needed.

While singing, gently move the lit lamp in clockwise circles in front of the Lord, keeping it at a safe distance.

For the standard full ārati-lamp procedure, the movements are:

Note: This is the standard full ārati-lamp sequence. A simple household Dāmodara lamp offering may follow the instructions of your local ISKCON temple or program leader.

As you offer the lamp, remember the pastime of Mother Yaśodā binding little Kṛṣṇa with ropes of love. Pray for the opportunity to develop sincere devotion and serve the Lord.

Finish singing Śrī Dāmodarāṣṭaka, offer your obeisances, and place the lamp securely in a safe location.

During the sacred month of Kārtika, devotees are encouraged to offer a lamp daily and remember the glories of Lord Dāmodara.

• Offer a ghee lamp to Lord Dāmodara daily.
• Sing Śrī Dāmodarāṣṭaka every day.
• Increase chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.
• Read or hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Kṛṣṇa-kathā.
• Engage more in devotional service and Vaiṣṇava-sevā.
• Visit the temple and participate in kīrtana.

• Avoid Vaiṣṇava-aparādha and offending devotees.
• Avoid unnecessary gossip and criticism.
• Avoid wasting time in material distractions.
• Avoid neglecting your daily sādhana.
• Avoid breaking your prescribed Kārtika vrata.
• Avoid pride in your austerities; remain humble.

While mother Yaśodā was allowing Kṛṣṇa to drink her breast milk, she was forced to stop because she saw the milk pan boiling over on the oven. The maidservants being engaged in other business, she stopped allowing Kṛṣṇa to drink from her breast and immediately attended to the overflowing milk pan. Kṛṣṇa became very angry because of His mother’s behavior and devised a means of breaking the pots of yogurt. Because He created this disturbance, mother Yaśodā decided to bind Him. These incidents are described in this chapter.

One day, the maidservants being engaged in other work, mother Yaśodā was churning the yogurt into butter herself, and in the meantime Kṛṣṇa came and requested her to allow Him to suck her breast milk. Of course, mother Yaśodā immediately allowed Him to do so, but then she saw that the hot milk on the oven was boiling over, and therefore she immediately stopped allowing Kṛṣṇa to drink the milk of her breast and went to stop the milk on the oven from overflowing.

Kṛṣṇa, however, having been interrupted in His business of sucking the breast, was very angry. He took a piece of stone, broke the churning pot and entered a room, where He began to eat the freshly churned butter. When mother Yaśodā, after attending to the overflowing milk, returned and saw the pot broken, she could understand that this was the work of Kṛṣṇa, and therefore she went to search for Him. When she entered the room, she saw Kṛṣṇa standing on the ulūkhala, a large mortar for grinding spices. Having turned the mortar upside down, He was stealing butter hanging from a swing and was distributing the butter to the monkeys.

As soon as Kṛṣṇa saw that His mother had come, He immediately began to run away, and mother Yaśodā began to follow Him. After going some distance, mother Yaśodā was able to catch Kṛṣṇa, who because of His offense was crying. Mother Yaśodā, of course, threatened to punish Kṛṣṇa if He acted that way again, and she decided to bind Him with rope. Unfortunately, when the time came to knot the rope, the rope with which she wanted to bind Him was short by a distance equal to the width of two fingers. When she made the rope longer by adding another rope, she again saw that it was short by two fingers. Again and again she tried, and again and again she found the rope too short by two fingers. Thus she became very tired, and Kṛṣṇa, seeing His affectionate mother so tired, allowed Himself to be bound. Now, being compassionate, He did not show her His unlimited potency.

After mother Yaśodā bound Kṛṣṇa and became engaged in other household affairs, Kṛṣṇa observed two yamala-arjuna trees, which were actually Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva, two sons of Kuvera who had been condemned by Nārada Muni to become trees. Kṛṣṇa, by His mercy, now began to proceed toward the trees to fulfill the desire of Nārada Muni.