Today is Kamika Ekadasi

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KAmikA EkAdasii

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KAmikA EkAdasii - 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.