Ekadasi Alert: Fri 21st July, 2006

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Kamika Ekadasi - Fri 21st July, 2006

Break fast - 06:03 - 08:22 AM Next day

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Maharaja Yudhisthira said, " O Supreme Lord, I have heard from You the

glories of fasting on Deva-sayani Ekadasi, which occurs during the light

part of the month of Asadha. Now I would like to hear about the Ekadasi

that occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of Sravana

[JulyAugust]. O Govinda, please be merciful to me and explain its

glories. O Vasudeva, I offer my humble obeisances unto You. "

 

The Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna, replied, " O king, please listen attentively

as I describe the auspicious influence of this holy fast day, which

removes all sins. Narada Muni once asked Lord Brahma about this same

topic. 'O regent of all,' said Naradaji, 'O you who sit upon a lotus

throne, please tell me the name of the Ekadasi that occurs during the

dark fortnight of the month of Sravana. Please also tell me which Deity

is worshiped 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 Kamika Ekadasi 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, four-armed Lord Gadadhara, who holds conch shell, disc, club

and lotus in His hands and who is also known as Sridhara, Hari, Visnu,

Madhava, and Madhusudana. And the blessings achieved by a person who

worships Lord Visnu exclusively are far greater than those achieved by

one who takes a sacred bath in the Ganges at Kasi [Varanasi], in the

forest of Naimisaranya, or at Puskara, where I am worshiped.' But one

who observes Kamika Ekadasi and also worships Lord Sri Krsna achieves

greater merit than one who has darsana of Lord Kedaranatha in the

Himalayas, or one who bathes at Kuruksetra 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 or Godavari River on a

full moon day that falls on a Monday when Leo and Jupiter are conjoined.

 

Observing Kamika Ekadasi bestows the same merit as donating a milkcow

and her calf, along with their feed. On this day, whoever worships Lord

Sridhara-deva, Visnu, is glorified by the demigods, Gandharvas,

Pannagas, and Nagas.

 

Those who are afraid of their past sins and completely immersed in

sinful material life should observe this best of Ekadasis according to

their ability and thus attain liberation. This Ekadasi is the purest of

all days and the most powerful for removing sins. O Narada, Lord Sri

Hari Himself once said about this Ekadasi, " One who fasts on Kamika

Ekadasi attains much more merit than one who studies all the spiritual

literatures. "

 

Anyone who fasts on this particular day and remains awake through the

night will never experience the anger of Yamaraja, death personified.

Whoever observes Kamika Ekadasi will not have to suffer future births,

and in the past many yogis 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 Ekadasi.

 

Whoever worships Lord 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. Whoever offers Sri Hari

but a single leaf from a tulasi tree 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,

cat's eye gems, and coral. One who offers Lord Kesava newly grown

manjaris from the sacred tulasi plant gets rid of all the sins he has

committed during this or any other lifetime. Indeed, mere darsana of

tulasi on Kamika Ekadasi removes all sins, and merely touching her and

praying to her removes all kinds of disease. One who waters tulasi need

never fear the lord of death, Yamaraja. One who plants or transplants

tulasi will eventually reside with Lord Krsna in His own abode. To

Srimati Tulasidevi, who awards liberation in devotional service, one

should therefore daily offer one's full obeisances.

 

Even Citragupta, Yamaraja's secretary, cannot calculate the merit

obtained by one who offers Srimati Tulasi-devi a perpetually burning

ghee lamp. So dear is this sacred Ekadasi to the Supreme Personality of

Godhead that all the forefathers of one who offers a bright ghee lamp to

Lord Krsna on this day ascend to the heavenly planets and drink nectar

there. Whoever offers either a ghee or sesame-oil lamp to Sri Krsna on

this day is freed from all his sins and enters the abode of Surya, the

sungod, with a body as bright as ten million lamps.

 

O Yudhisthira, Lord Sri Krsna concluded, " These were the words Lord

Brahma spoken to Narada Muni concerning the incalculable glories of

Kamika Ekadasi, which removes all sins. This sacred day nullifies even

the sin of killing a brahmana or of killing an unborn child in the womb,

and it promotes one to the spiritual world by making one supremely

meritorious Whoever hears these glories of Kamika Ekadasi with faith

becomes free of all sins and returns home, back to Visnu-loka. "