Subject: Apara Ekadasi from Brahmanda Puran

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Apara Ekadasi from Brahmanda Puran

 

..

 

Sri Yudhishthira MahArAj said, "Oh JanArdana, what is

the name of the

EkAdasii that occurs during the dark fortnight

(krishna paksha) of the

month of Jyeshtha (May-June)? I wish to hear from You

the glories of

this

sacred day of Hari. Please narrate everything to me"

 

Lord Sri Krishna said, "Oh king, your inquiry is

wonderful because the

answer will benefit the whole human society. This

EkAdasii is so

sublime

and meritorious that even the greatest sins can be

erased by its

purity.

 

"Oh great saintly king, the name of this unlimitedly

meritorious

EkAdasii

is AparA EkAdasii. Whoever fasts on this holy day

becomes famous all

over

the universe. Even such sins as killing a brAhmana, a

cow, or an

embryo;

blasphemy; or having sex with another man's wife are

completely

eradicated

by observing AparA EkAdasii.

 

"Oh king people who bear false witness are most

sinful. A person who

falsely or sarcastically glorifies another; one who

cheats while

weighing

something on a scale; one who fails to execute the

duties of his varna

or

Ashrama (an unqualified man's posing as a brahmin, for

example, or a

person's reciting the Vedas wrongly); one who invents

his own

scriptures;

one who cheats others; one who is a charlatan

astrologer, a cheating

accountant, or a false Ayurvedic doctor. All these are

surely as bad as

persons who bears false witness, and they are all

destined for hellish

punishments. But simply by observing AparA EkAdasii,

all such sinners

become completely free of their sinful reactions.

 

"Warriors who fall from their kshatriya-dharma and

flee the battlefield

go

to a ferocious hell. But, Oh Yudhishthira, even such a

fallen

kshatriya, if

he observes fasting on the AparA EkAdasii, is freed of

that great

sinful

reaction and goes to heaven.

 

"That disciple is the greatest sinner who, after

receiving a proper

spiritual education from his spiritual master, turns

around and

blasphemes

him. Such a so-called disciple suffers unlimitedly.

But even he, rascal

though he be, if he simply observes AparA EkAdasii,

can attain to the

spiritual world. Listen, Oh king, as I describe to you

further glories

of

this amazing EkAdasii.

 

"The merit attained by one who performs all of the

following acts of

piety

is equal to the merit achieved by one who observes

AparA EkAdasii:

bathing

three times daily in Pushkara-kshetra during Kartika

(October-November);

bathing at Prayag in the month of Magh

(January-February) when the sun

is

in the zodiac of Capricorn; rendering service to Lord

Shiva at VarANasi

(Benares) during Shiva-ratri; offering oblations to

one's forefathers

at

GayA; bathing in the sacred Gautami River when Jupiter

transits Leo

(Simha); having darshan of Lord Shiva at KedArnAtha;

seeing Lord

BadrinAth

when the Sun transits the sign of Aquarius (Kumbha);

and bathing at the

time of a solar eclipse at Kurukshetra and giving

cows, elephants, and

gold

there in charity. All the merit one gets from

performing these pious

acts

is gained by a person who observes the AparA EkAdasii

fast. Also, the

merit

attained by one who donates a pregnant cow, along with

gold and fertile

land, is attained by one who fasts on this day.

 

"In other words, AparA EkAdasii is an axe that cuts

down the fully

matured

forest full of trees of sinful deeds, it is a forest

fire that burns

sins

as if they were kindling firewood, it is the sun

blazing before one's

dark

misdeeds, and it is a lion stalking the meek deer of

impiety.

 

"Therefore, Oh Yudhishthira, whoever truly fears his

past and present

sins

must observe AparA EkAdasii very strictly. One who

does not observe

this

fast must be born again in the material world, like

one bubble among

millions in a huge body of water, or like a small ant

among all other

species.

 

"Therefore one must faithfully observe the sacred

AparA EkAdasii and

worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri

Trivikrama. One who

does so

is freed of all his sins and promoted to the abode of

Lord Vishnu.

 

"Oh BhArata, for the benefit of all humanity I have

thus described to

you

this the importance of the holy AparA EkAdasii.

 

"Anyone who hears or reads this description is

certainly freed from all

kinds of sins, oh best of saintly kings, Yudhishthira.

 

 

----------

----

 

Thus ends the narration of the glories of

Jyeshtha-krishna EkAdasii, or

AparA EkAdasii, from the BrahmANDa PurANa.

 

NOTES:

 

1. Pushkara-kshetra, in western India, is the only

place on Earth where

a

bonafide temple of Lord BrahmA is to be found.

 

2. The Vedas declare, narAh budbudA samAh: "The human

form of life is

like

a bubble in water". In water, many bubbles form and

then suddenly burst

a

few seconds later. Thus if a person does not utilize

his rare human

body to

serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna,

his life has no

more

value or permanence than a bubble in water. Therefore,

as the Lord

herein

recommends, we should serve Him by fasting on

Hari-vAsara, or EkAdasii.

 

In this regard, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada writes in the

Srimad Bhagavatam (SB 2:1:4 purport) "The great ocean

of material

nature is

tossing with the waves of time, and the so-called

living conditioned

are

something like foaming bubbles, which appear before us

as bodily self,

wife, children, society, countrymen, etc. Due to a

lack of knowledge of

self, we become victimized by the force of ignorance

and thus spoil the

valuable energy of human life in a vain search after

permanent living

conditions, which are impossible in this material

world."

 

 

 

 

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