WHO IS EKADASI ?
In the Satya-yuga there once lived an amazing fearsome demon called
Mura. Always very angry, he terrified all the demigods, defeating
even Indra, the king of heaven; Vivasvan, the sun-god; the eight
Vasus; Lord Brahma; Vayu, the wind-god; and Agni, the fire-god.
With his terrible power he brought them all under his control. Then
the demigods approached Lord Visnu, and prayed to Him for help.
Hearing the prayers and request from Indra, Lord Visnu became very
angry and said: "O powerful demigods, all together you may now
advance on Mura's capital city of Candravati." Encouraged thus, the
assembled demigods proceeded to Candravati with Lord Hari leading
the way. Then there was a big fight between the soldiers of Mura
and the demigods. Many hundreds of demons were killed by the Lord's
hand. At last the chief demon, Mura, began fighting with the Lord,
first with weapons, then with bare hands. The Lord wrested with
Mura for one thousand celestial years and then, apparently
fatigued, left for Badarika-asrama. There He entered a very
beautiful cave, named Himavati, to rest. The demon followed Him
into the cave, and, seeing Him asleep, started thinking within his
heart: "Today I will kill this slayer of all demons, Hari." While
the wicked demon Mura was making plans in this way, from Lord
Visnu's body there manifested a young girl who had a very bright
complexion. Mura saw that she was equipped with various brilliant
weapons and was ready to fight. Challenged by that female to do
battle, Mura prepared himself and then fought with her, but he
became very astonished when he saw that she fought with him without
cessation. The king of demons then said: "Who has created this
angry, fearsome girl who is fighting me so powerfully, just like a
thunderbolt falling upon me?" After saying this, the demon
continued to fight with the girl. Suddenly that effulgent goddess
shattered all of Mura's weapons and in a moment deprived him of his
chariot. He ran toward her to attack her with his bare hands, but
when she saw him coming she angrily cut off his head. Thus the
demon at once fell to the ground and went to the abode of Yamaraja.
Then the Supreme Lord woke up and saw the dead demon before Him, as
well as the maiden bowing down to Him with joined palms. The Lord,
being pleased with the girl, offered to give her a boon. The maiden
said: "O Lord, if You are pleased with me and wish to give me a
boon, then give me the power to deliver from the greatest sins that
person who fasts on this day. I wish that half the pious credit
obtained by one who fasts will acrue to one who eats only in the
evening [abstaining from grains and beans], and that half of *this*
pious credit will be earned by one who eats only at midday. Also,
one who strictly observes a complete fast on my appearance day,
with controlled senses, goes to the abode of Lord Visnu for one
billion kalpas after he has enjoyed all kinds of pleasures in this
world. This is the boon I desire to attain by Your mercy, my Lord.
O Lord, whether a person observes complete fasting, eats only in
the evening, or eats only at midday, please grant him a religious
attitude, wealth, and at last liberation." The Supreme Personality
of Godhead said: "O most pious lady, what you have requested is
granted. All My devotees in this world will surely fast on your
day, and thus they will become famous throughout the three worlds
and finally come and stay with Me in My abode. Because you, My
transcendental potency, have appeared on the eleventh day of the
waning moon, let your name be Ekadasi. If a person fasts on
Ekadasi, I will burn up all his sins and bestow upon him My
transcendental abode."
EKADASI
Prabhupada's Lectures, Srimad-Bhagavatam 1969.
So, paravare brahmani dharmato vrataih. So one should execute Krsna
consciousness, dharmato, in right path, and vrataih. Bhajante mam
drdha-vratah. Just like today,# ekadasi-vrata. Vrataih. This
ekadasi-vrata is required. Just see. Here it is that You have
performed all the vratas.' The purpose of ekadasi-vrata is that
today we should not eat much usual food, grains. The actual
prescription is fasting. Nirjala ekadasi. Nirjala means there are
many devotees who does not take even water. Water, drinking water,
according to sastra, it is taking food... It is drinking of food or
no food. We can take both ways. So sometimes drinking of water is
excused as upavasa also. But there are many devotees who even...,
drink even a drop of water. Whole day and night they fast and
observed ekadasi-vrata. And the night is called harivasa. Harivasa
means the whole night they would chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna,
Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama... This is called
vrata. Drdha-vrata. Drdha-vrata.Drdha means very firm, steady.
Krsna is so kind that He has given us so many concession. But we
should be... Because there are some concession, better we should
not take advantage of the concession, but we should be very steady
and strong in our conviction and perform devotional service
strictly. That is nice. Vrataih. Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 9: Chapter
Four, Text 29 PURPORT To observe Ekadasi-vrata and Dvadasi-vrata
means to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those
interested in advancing in Krsna consciousness must observe
Ekadasi-vrata regularly. The Story of Ekadasi (This article was
originally written in 1956 by Sri Navincandra Cakravarti, a
disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura and in 1979
translated into English by Vyenkata dasa brahmacari.) Many devotees
are very inquisitive about the appearance of Sri Ekadasi and about
her special characteristics. Therefore I am presenting this
description from the fourteenth chapter of the Padma Purana, from
the section entitled "Kriya-sagara-sara." Once the great sage
Jaimini Rsi said to his spiritual master Srila Vyasadeva, "Oh
Gurudeva! Previously, by your mercy, you described to me the
history of the glories of the Ganga river, the benefits of
worshipping Vishnu, the giving of grains in charity, the giving of
water in charity, and the magnanimity of drinking the water that
has washed the feet of the brahmanas. O best of the sages, Sri
Gurudeva, now, with great enthusiasm, I desire to hear the benefits
of fasting on Ekadasi and the appearance of Ekadasi. kasmad ekadasi
jata tasyah ko va vidhir dvija kada va kriyate kim va phalam kim va
vadasva me ka va pujyatama tatra devata sad-gunarnava akurvatah
syat ko dosa etan me vaktum arhasi "Oh Gurudeva! When did Ekadasi
take birth and from whom did she appear? What are the rules of
fasting on the Ekadasi? Please describe the benefits of following
this vow and when it should be followed. Who is the utmost
worshippable presiding deity of Sri Ekadasi? What are the faults in
not following Ekadasi properly? Please bestow your mercy upon me
and tell about these subjects, as you are the only personality able
to do so." Srila Vyasadeva, upon hearing this enquiry of Jaimini
Rsi, became situated in transcendental bliss. "Oh brahmana sage
Jaimini! The results of following Ekadasi can only be perfectly
described by the Supreme Lord, Narayana, because Sri Narayana is
the only personality capable of describing them in full. But I will
give a very brief description in answer to your question." "At the
beginning of the material creation, the Supreme Lord created the
moving and nonmoving living entities within this world made of five
gross material elements. Simultaneously, for the purpose of
punishing the humans beings, He created a personality whose form
was the embodiment of sin (Papapurusha). The different limbs of
this personality were constructed of the various sinful activities.
His head was made of the sin of murdering a brahmana, his two eyes
were the form of the sin of drinking intoxicants, his mouth was
made of the sin of stealing gold, his ears were the form of the sin
of having illicit connection with the spiritual master's wife, his
nose of the sin of killing one's wife, his arms the form of the sin
of killing a cow, his neck made of the sin of stealing accumulated
wealth, his chest of the sin of abortion, his lower chest of the
sin of having sex with another's wife, his stomach of the sin of
killing one's relatives, his navel of the sin of killing those who
are dependent on him, his waist of the sin of self appraisal, his
thighs of the sin of offending the guru, his genital of the sin of
selling one's daughter, his buttocks of the sin of telling
confidential matters, his feet of the sin of killing one's father,
and his hair the form of lesser, less severe sinful activities. In
this way, a horrible personality embodying all the sinful
activities and vices was created. His bodily colour is black, and
his eyes are yellow. He inflicts extreme misery upon sinful
persons." "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu, upon
seeing this personality of sin, began to think to Himself as
follows: 'I am the creator of the miseries and happiness for the
living entities. I am their master because I have created this
personality of sin, who gives distress to all dishonest, deceitful,
and sinful persons. Now I must create someone who will control this
personality.' At this time Sri Bhagavan created the personality
known as Yamaraj and the different hellish planetary systems. Those
living entities who are very sinful will be sent after death to
Yamaraj, who will in turn, according to their sins, send them to a
hellish region to suffer. "After these adjustments had been made,
the Supreme Lord, who is the giver of distress and happiness to the
living entities, went to the house of Yamaraj, with the help of
Garuda, the king of birds. When Yamaraj saw that Lord Vishnu had
arrived, he immediately washed His feet and made an offering unto
Him. He then had Him sit upon a golden throne. The Supreme Lord,
Vishnu, became seated on the throne, Where upon He heard very loud
crying sounds coming from the southern direction. He became
surprised by this and thus enquired from Yamaraj, 'From where is
this loud crying coming?' "Yamaraj in reply said, 'Oh Deva! The
different living entities of the earthly planetary systems have
fallen into the hellish regions. They are suffering extremely for
their misdeeds. The horrible crying is because of suffering from
the inflictions of their past bad karma (actions).' "After hearing
this the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, went to the hellish region to the
south. When the inhabitants saw who had come they began to cry even
louder. The heart of the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, became filled with
compassion. Lord Vishnu thought to Himself, 'I have created all
this progeny, and it is because of Me that they are suffering.'"
Srila Vyasadeva continued: "Oh Jaimini, just listen to what the
Supreme Lord did next. etac canyac ca viprarse vicintya karunamayah
babhuva sahasa tatra svayam ekadasi tithih 'After the merciful
Supreme Lord thought over what He had previously considered, He
suddenly manifested from His own form the deity of the lunar day
Ekadasi.' Afterwards the different sinful living entities began to
follow the vow of Ekadasi and were then elevated quickly to the
abode of Vaikuntha. Oh my child Jaimini, therefore the lunar day of
Ekadasi is the selfsame form of the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, and the
Supersoul within the heart of the living entities. Sri Ekadasi is
the utmost pios activity and is situated as the haed among all
vows. "Following the ascension of Sri Ekadasi, that personality who
is the form of the sinful activity gradually saw the influence she
had. He approached Lord Vishnu with doubts in his heart and began
offering many prayers, whereupon Lord Vishnu became very pleased
and said, ' I have become very pleased by your nice offerings. What
boon is it that you want?' "The Papapurusha replied, 'I am your
created progeny, and it is through me that you wanted distress
given to the living entities who are very sinful. But now, by the
influence of Sri Ekadasi, I have become all but destroyed. Oh
Prabhu! After I die all of Your parts and parcels who have accepted
material bodies will become liberated and therefore return to the
abode of Vaikuntha. If this liberation of all living entities takes
place, then who will carry on Your activities? There will be no one
to enact the pastimes in the earthly planetary systems! Oh Keshava!
If You want these eternal pastimes to carry on, then You please
save me from the fear of Ekadasi. No type of pious activity can
bind me. But Ekadasi only, being Your own manifested form, can
impede me. Out of fear of Sri Ekadasi I have fled and taken shelter
of men; animals; insects; hills; trees; moving and nonmoving living
entities; rivers; oceans; forests; heavenly, earthly, and hellish
planetary systems; demigods; and the Gandarvas. I cannot find a
place where I can be free from fear of Sri Ekadasi. Oh my Master! I
am a product of Your creation, so therefore very mercifully direct
me to a place where I can reside fearlessly.' Srila Vyasadeva then
said to Jaimini, "After saying this, the embodiment of all sinful
activities (Papapurusha) fell down at the feet of the Supreme Lord,
Vishnu, who is the destroyer of all miseries and began to cry.
"After this, Lord Vishnu, observing the condition of the
Papapurusha with laughter, began to speak thus: 'Oh Papapurusha!
Rise up! Don't lament any longer. Just listen, and I'll tell you
where you can stay on the auspicious lunar day of Ekadasi. On the
day of Ekadasi, which is the benefactor of the three worlds, you
can take shelter of foodstuff in the form of grains. There is no
reason to worry about this any more, because My form as Sri Ekadasi
Devi will no longer impede you.' After giving direction to the
Papapurusha, the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, disappeared and the
Papapurusha returned to the performance of his own activities.
"Therefore those persons who are serious about the ultimate benefit
for the soul will never eat grains on the Ekadasi tithi. According
to the instructions of Lord Vishnu, every kind of sinful activity
that can be found in the material world takes its residence in this
place of foodstuff (grain). Whoever follows Ekadasi is freed from
all sins and never enters into hellish regions. If one doesn't
follow Ekadasi because of illusion, he is still considered the
utmost sinner. For every mouthful of grain that is eaten by a
resident of the earthly region, one receives the effect of kiling
millions of brahmanas. It is definately necessary that one give up
eating grains on Ekadasi. I very strongly say again and again, 'On
Ekadasi, don't eat grains, don't eat grains, don't eat grains!'
Whether one be a ksatriya, vaisya, shudra, or of any family, he
should follow the lunar day of Ekadasi. From this the perfection of
varna and ashram will be attained. Especially since even if one by
trickery follows Ekadasi, all of his sin become destroyed and he
very easily attains the supreme goal, the abode of Vaikuntha."
