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Kamika Ekadasi - from BrahmA Vaivarta PurANa:

The saintly king Yudhisthira maharaj said, “Oh Supreme Lord, I have heard
from You the glories of fasting on Deva-sayani EkAdasii, which occurs
during the light fortnight of the month of AshADha. Now I would like to
hear from You the glories of the EkAdasii that occurs during the dark
fortnight (krishna paksha) of the month of ShrAvaNa (July –August). Oh
Govindadeva, please be merciful to me and explain its glories. Oh Supreme
VAsudeva, I offer my most humble obeisances unto You.”

The Supreme Lord, Shri Krishna, replied, “Oh King, please listen
attentively as I describe the auspicious influence of this Holy fast
(vrata) day, which removes all sins. Narada Muni once asked Lord BrahmA
about this same topic. ‘Oh regent of all beings,’ said NAradji, ‘Oh you
who sit upon a water born lotus throne, please tell me the names of the
EkAdasii that occurs during the dark fortnight of the sacred month of
ShrAvaNa. Please also tell me which Deity is to be worshipped on that Holy
day, the process one must follow to observe it, and the merit it awards.’

“Lord BrahmA replied, ‘My dear son Narada, for the benefit of all humanity
I shall happily tell you everything you wish to know, for just hearing the
glories of the KAmikA EkAdasii bestows merit equal to that obtained by one
who performs a horse sacrifice. Certainly, great merit is attained by one
who worships, and who also meditates on the lotus feet of the four-armed
Lord GadAdhara, who holds conchshell, disc, club and lotus in His hands
and who is also known as Shridhara, Hari, Vishnu, Madhava, and
MadhusUdana. And the blessings achieved by such a person / devotee, who
worships Lord Vishnu exclusively are far greater than those achieved by
one who takes a sacred bath in the Ganges at KAshi (VarANasii), in the
forest of NaimishAraNya, or at Pushkara, which is the only place on the
planet where I am formally worshipped. But one who observes this KAmikA
EkAdasii and also worships Lord Shri Krishna achieves greater merit than
one who has darshana of Lord KedAranAtha in the HimAlayas, or one who
bathes at Kurukshetra during a solar eclipse, or one who donates the whole
Earth in charity, including its forests and oceans, or one who bathes in
the GaNDaki River (where the sacred Shaligrams are found) or the GodAvari
River on a full moon (purnima) day that falls on a Monday when Leo (Simha)
and Jupiter (Guru) are conjoined (conjunct).

“ ’Observing KAmikA EkAdasii bestows the same merit as donating a milk-cow
and her auspicious calf, along with their feed. On this all auspicious
day, whosoever worships Lord Sri Shridhara-deva, Vishnu, is glorified by
all the devas, Gandharvas, Pannagas, and NAgas.

“ ‘Those who are afraid of their past sins and completely immersed in
sinful materialistic life should at least observe this best of EkAdasiis
according to their ability and thus attain liberation. This EkAdasii is
the purest of all days and the most powerful for removing sins of the
native. Oh Narada ji, Lord Shri Hari Himself once said about this
EkAdasii, “One who fasts on KAmikA EkAdasii attains much more merit than
one who studies all the spiritual literatures.”

“ ‘Anyone who fasts on this particular day remains awake throughout the
night will never experience the anger of YamarAja, the king of death
personified. It has been seen that whoever observes KAmikA EkAdasii will
not have to suffer future births, and in the past too, many Yogis of
devotion who fasted on this day went to the spiritual world. One should
therefore follow in their auspicious footsteps and strictly observe a fast
on this most auspicious of EkAdasiis.


“ ‘Whosoever worships Lord Shri Hari with Tulasi leaves is freed from all
implication of sin. Indeed, he lives untouched by sin, as the lotus leaf,
although in the water, is untouched by it. Whosoever offers Lord Shri Hari
but a single leaf from the sacred Tulasi tree (occillium basilcum sanctum)
attains as much merit as one who gives away in charity two hundred grams
of gold and eight hundred grams of silver. The Supreme Personality of
Godhead is more pleased by one who offers Him a single Tulasi leaf than by
one who worships Him with pearls, rubies, topaz, diamonds, lapis lazuli,
sapphires, gomedA stones (gomaz), cat’s eye gems, and coral. One who
offers Lord Keshava newly grown maNjari buds from the Tulasi plant gets
rid of all the sins he has committed during this or any other lifetime.
Indeed, mere darshana of Tulasi on KAmikA EkAdasii removes all sins, and
merely touching her and praying to her removes all kinds of disease. One
who waters Tulasi devi need never fear the Lord of death, YamarAja. One
who plants or transplants Tulasi on this days will eventually reside with
Lord Shri Krishna in His own abode. To Srimati Tulasi devi, who awards
liberation in devotional service, one should therefore daily offer one’s
full obeisances.

“ ‘Even Chitragupta, YamarAja’s secretary, cannot calculate the merit
obtained by one who offers Shrimati Tulasi-devi a perpetually burning ghee
lamp. So dear is this sacred EkAdasii to the Supreme Personality of
Godhead that all the forefathers of one who offers a bright ghee lamp to
Lord Shri Krishna on this day ascend to the heavenly planets and drink the
celestial nectar there. Whoever offers a ghee or sesame oil lamp to Shri
Krishna on this day is freed from all his sins and enters the abode of
Surya, the Sun-god, with a body as bright as ten million lamps. This
EkAdasii is so powerful that if one who is unable to fast simply follows
the practices as mentioned herein, s/he is elevated to the heavenly
planets, along with all their forefathers.

“ ‘Oh Maharaj Yudhisthira,” Lord Shri Krishna concluded, “?these were the
words of prajapathi BrahmA to his son Narada Muni concerning the
incalculable glories of this KAmikA EkAdasii, which removes all sins. This
sacred day nullifies even the sin of killing a brAhmaNa or the sin of
killing an unborn child in the womb, and it promotes one to the spiritual
world by making one supremely meritorious.
One who kills the innocent, i.e., a brahmin (brAhmaNa), a child in the
womb, a pious and spotless woman, etc., and then later hears about the
glories of KAmikA EkAdasii will be relieved of the reaction to one’s sins.
However, one should NOT think beforehand that one can kill a Brahmin or
other innocent folk and then go unpunished simply by hearing of this
EkAdasii. Such knowing commission of sin is an abomination.

Whosoever hears these glories of the KAmikA EkAdasii with faith becomes
free of all sins and returns home, back to Godhead – Vishnu-loka,
Vaikuntha.

Thus ends the narration of the glories of the ShrAvaNa-kRshNa EkAdasii, or
KAmikA EkAdasii,
from the Brahma-Vaivarta PurANa.

Your humble servant,

Cintamani Sakhi devi dasi