Yogini EkAdasii

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Yogini EkAdasii

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Yogini Ekadasi: from the Brahma-vaivarta PurANa.

 

Yudhisthira Maharaj said, “Oh Supreme Lord, I have heard the glories of the

NirjalA EkAdasii, which occurs during the light fortnight of the month of

Jyeshtha (May – June). Now I wish to hear from You about the suddha EkAdasii

that occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of AshADha (June – July).

Kindly describe to me all bout it in detail, Oh killer of the Madhu demon

(Madhusudana).”

 

The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, then replied, “Oh king, I shall indeed tell you

about the best of all fasting days, the EkAdasii that comes during the dark

part of the month of AshADha. Famous as Yogini EkAdasii, it removes all kinds

of sinful reactions and awards supreme liberation.

 

“Oh best of kings, this EkAdasii delivers people who are drowning in the vast

ocean of material existence and transports them to the shore of the spiritual

world. In all the three worlds, it is the chief of all sacred fasting days. I

shall now reveal this truth to you by narrating a history recounted in the

PurANas.

 

“The king of AlakApuri – Kuvera, the treasurer of the devas (demigods) – was a

steadfast devotee of lord Shiva. He employed a servant named HemamAli as his

personal gardener. HemamAli, a Yaksha like Kuvera, was very lustfully attracted

to his gorgeous wife, SwarUpavatii, who had large, enchanting eyes.

 

“HemamAli’s daily duty was to visit MAnasarovara Lake and bring back flowers

for his master, Kuvera, with which he would use them in the puja offerings to

lord Shiva. One day, after picking the flowers, HemamAli went to his wife

instead of returning directly to his master and fulfilling his duty by bringing

the flowers for the puja. Absorbed in loving affairs of a bodily nature with

his wife, he forgot to return to the abode of Kuvera.

 

“Oh king, while HemamAli was enjoying with his wife, Kuvera had begun the

worship of lord Shiva as normal in his palace and soon discovered that there

were no flowers ready to be offered in the midday pUjA. The lack of such an

important item (upachara) angered the great Koshad-yaksha (treasurer of the

devas) even more, and he asked a Yaksha messenger, ‘Why has dirty-hearted

HemamAli not come with the daily offering of flowers? Go find out the exact

reason and report back to me in person with your findings.’ The Yaksha returned

and told Kuvera, ‘Oh dear lord, HemamAli has become lost in freely enjoying

coitus with his wife.’

 

“Kuvera became extremely angry when he heard this and at once summoned lowly

HemamAli before him. Knowing that he had been remiss and dawdling in his duty

and exposed as meditating on his wife’s body, HemamAli approached his master in

great fear. The gardener first paid his obeisances and then stood before his

lord, whose eyes had become red with anger and whose lips trembled in rage. So

enraged, Kuvera cried out to HemamAli, ‘Oh you sinful rascal! Oh destroyer of

religious principles! You are a walking offense to the devas! I therefore curse

you to suffer from white leprosy and to become separated from your beloved

wife! Only great suffering is deservedly yours! Oh lowborn fool, leave this

place immediately and betake yourself to the lower planets to suffer!’

 

“And so HemamAli fell at once from grace in AlakApuri and became ill with the

terrible affliction of white leprosy. He awoke in a dense and fearful forest,

where there was nothing to eat or drink. Thus he passed his days in misery,

unable to sleep at night due to pain. He suffered in both winter and summer

season, but because he continued to worship lord Shiva himself with faith, his

consciousness remained purely fixed and steady. Although implicated by great

sin and its attendant reactions, he remembered his past life because of his

piety.

 

“After wandering for some time here and there, over mountains and across

plains, HemamAli eventually came upon the vast expanse of the HimAlayan

mountain ranges. There he had the wonderful good fortune to come in contact

with the great saintly soul MarkanNDeya Rishi, the best of ascetics, whose

duration of life it is said, extends to seven of the days of BrahmA.

 

“MarkaNDeya Rishi was seated peacefully at his Ashrama, looking as effulgent as

a second BrahmA. HemamAli, feeling very sinful, stood at a distance from the

magnificent sage and offered his humble obeisances and choice prayers. Always

interested in the welfare of others, MarkaNDeya Rishi saw the leper and called

him near, “Oh you, what sort of sinful deeds have you done to earn this

dreadful affliction?’

 

“Hearing this, HemamAli painfully and ashamed replied, ‘Dear sir, I am a Yaksha

servant of lord Kuvera, and my name is HemamAli. It was my daily service to

pick the flowers from the MAnasarovara lake for my master’s worship of lord

Shiva, but one day I was negligent and was late in returning with the offering

because I had become overwhelmed with lusty passion for enjoying bodily

pleasures with my wife. When my master discovered why I was last, he cursed me

in great anger to be as I am before you. Thus I am now bereft of my home, my

wife, and my service. But fortunately I have come upon you, and now I hope to

receive from you an auspicious benediction, for I know that devotees such as

you are as merciful as the Supreme Lord (Bhakta Vatsala) and always carry the

interest of others uppermost in their hearts. That is their – your nature. Oh

best of sages, please help me!’

 

“Softhearted MarkaNDeya Rishi replied, ‘Because you have told me the truth, I

shall tell you about a fast day that will benefit you greatly. If you fast on

the EkAdasii that comes during the dark fortnight of the month of AshADha, you

will surely be freed of this terrible curse.’

 

HemamAli fell to the ground in complete gratitude and offered him his humble

obeisances again and again. But MarkaNDeya Rishi stood there and lifted poor

HemamAli u to his feet, filling him with inexpressible happiness.

 

“Thus, as the sage had instructed him, HemamAli dutifully observed the EkAdasii

fast, and by its influence he again became a handsome Yaksha. Then he returned

home, where he lived very happily with his wife.”

 

Lord Sri Krishna concluded, “So, you can readily see, Oh Yudhishthira that

fasting on Yogini EkAdasii is very powerful and auspicious. Whatever merit one

obtains by feeding eighty-eight thousand brahmins is also obtained simply by

observing a strict fast on Yogini EkAdasii. For one who fasts on this sacred

EkAdasii, she (EkAdasii Devi), destroys heaps of past sinful reactions and

makes him most pious. Oh King, thus I have explained to you the purity of

Yogini EkAdasii.”

 

Thus ends the narration of the glories of AshADha-krishna EkAdasii, or Yogini

EkAdasii,

from the Brahma-vaivarta PurANa.

 

These stories have been summarised and slightly changed or abbreviated from how

they are found in the celebrated book, "Ekadasi: The Day of Lord Hari" 1986. HH

Krishna Balaram Swami. Bhaktivedanta Institute Press. Pages 93-97.

 

Notes:

1/. One daytime of BrahmA (twelve hours) is said to last for one thousand

cycles of the four yugas – Satya, TretA, DvArpara, and Kali. Since these four

ages last 4,320,000 years, a full twenty-four hour day of BrahmA is

8,340,000,000 of our solar years, and seven of these days is 60,480,000,000

such of our years. This is MarkaNDeya Rishi’s astounding life span, the longest

on this earth.

 

27. The Vedik literature state:

 

pibanti nadyA swayam eva nA jalagM

swayagM na khAdanti phalAni vrikshA

nAdanti sashyagM khalu pArivAhA

paropakArAya satAgM vibhUtayaH

 

“Just as the rivers do not drink their own water but flow for other’s benefit,

just as fruit-bearing trees do not eat their own fruit but bear it for others,

and just as clouds do not drink their own rain but shower it down for others,

so saintly devotees live simply for others.”

ChANakya PaNDita says:

 

SAdhUnAgM darshangM puNyagm

Tiirtha-bhutAr hi sAdhavaH

KAlena phalate tiirtha

SadyaH sAdhu-samAgamaH

 

“Merely seeing a pure devotee of Lord Sri Krishna is more purifying than

visiting a sacred place of pilgrimage, for while a sacred place can purify

after a long time, the sight of a pure devotee purifies at once.”