Another year. Another Kartik month. Another chance to change the world! The Congregational Development Ministry (CDM) has been tirelessly promoting the Damodara Outreach program for more than 10 years now. This unique and very simple concept was first envisioned and implemented in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2004. Since then, Malaysian devotees have been expanding it more and more, clearly understanding the enormous potential that lies here. Last year during the Covid pandemic and lockdowns when home and school visits were not allowed, they managed to get over 600,000 lamps offered. How did they do it? By being creative and distributing ready-made kits with a picture of Yashoda and Damodara and enough lamps for whole families to offer daily. Ever since the beginning of our tracking, the number of lamps reported by devotees from around the world has been growing steadily. For example, in 2017 1.2 million lamps have been reported, in 2018 2.6 million, in 2019 3.4 million and last year, with lockdowns everywhere, devotees still managed to conduct virtual programs and the total number was impressive 1.7 million. Each one of you can do the same in your respective yatras by finding ways that are best suited to your specific circumstances. You can also share with us your ideas and photo to inspire others. Damodara Outreach program is an ideal preaching program for congregations everywhere. Whole family can be engaged in this delightful and easy activity. It can be done as a home program, taken to schools, colleges, offices, supermarkets, fairs, street corners, practically everywhere. By setting up a small table with a picture of Lord Damodara and handing out lamps or candles to passersby to offer, we are giving them a chance to directly serve the Supreme Lord, maybe for the first time ever. Some devotees carry a small basket with the Damodara picture and candles to offer during street harinamas or go from house to house and knock on doors to wake up sleeping souls. It takes only a few minutes and the benefits are immeasurable. So, we would like to invite you to join the growing number of devotees who celebrate Damodara month every year by sharing it with others. Let’s not keep this unlimited mercy only for ourselves, but let the whole world change by offering one lamp at a time. For more information you can visit https://iskconcongregation.com/programs/damodar-outreach-program/ and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. You can also register on our online app at https://lampadaycdm.web.app/ to keep track of the number of lamps offered as well as your preaching teams, new contacts, distributed books, prasadam, etc. |
