Sri Krsna Saradiya Rasayatra

What is Sri Krsna Saradiya Rasayatra?

Sri Krsna Saradiya Rasayatra, also called Sharad Purnima, falls on the full moon of autumn, when Lord Sri Krishna danced the rasa dance with the gopis of Vrindavana. In 2026 devotees observe it on Monday, 26 October, which is also Laksmi Puja and the disappearance day of Sri Murari Gupta.

Significance

The loving pastimes of Lord Krishna are arranged by His spiritual power, yoga-maya. Srila Prabhupada explains that they are completely spiritual: Krishna is full and free of all material desire, and the romance we know in this world is only a shadow of them.

The gopis love Krishna with no thought of their own pleasure, and for this reason Gaudiya Vaishnavas hold their love to be the highest of all. The Srimad-Bhagavatam begins its account of the rasa dance with the autumn night itself:

Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in all opulences, yet upon seeing those autumn nights scented with blossoming jasmine flowers, He turned His mind toward loving affairs.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.29.1

How to observe it

Devotees hear the chapters of the rasa dance, Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.29 to 10.33, and sing the glories of the gopis. They offer Krishna sweet rice and milk sweets, as the Vrajavasis do on the night of the rasa-lila, and then honour them as prasada. Under the full moon they chant the holy names.

This holy day falls in Kartik, the month of Lord Damodara, when devotees offer Him a lamp each evening and sing Damodarashtakam. Read about Kartik (Damodara) Month, and offer your own lamp from wherever you are through our Kartik Deep Daan Seva.