July/August

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.

 

Pavitropana or putrada ekadasi: from the Bhavishya Purana.

 

Shri Yudhisthira Maharaja said, “Oh Madhusudana, Oh killer of the Madhu demon, please be merciful to me and describe to me the ekadasii that occurs during the light fortnight of the month of Shravana (July-August).”  The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, replied, “Yes, Oh king, I shall happily narrate its glories to you, for just by hearing about this sacred ekadasii one attains the merit of performing a horse sacrifice.

“At the dawn of dvarpara-yuga there lived a king by the name of Mahijita, who ruled the kingdom of Mahismati-puri.  Because he had no son, his entire kingdom seemed utterly cheerless to him.  A married man who has no son gains no happiness in this life or the next.

The Sanskrit word for ‘son’ is putra.  Pu is the name of a particular hell, and tra means ‘to deliver.’  Thus the word putra means ‘a person who delivers one from the hell named Pu.’  Therefore every married man should produce at least one son and train him properly; then the father will be delivered from a hellish condition of life.  But this injunction does not apply to the serious devotees of Lord Vishnu or Krishna, for the Lord becomes their son, father, and mother.

Furthermore, chanakya Pandita says,

Satyam mata pita jnanam
          dharmo bhrata daya sakha
santih patni ksama putrah
        sadete mama vandhavah

“The truth is my mother, knowledge is my father, my occupational duty is my brother, kindness is my friend, tranquillity is my wife, and forgiveness is my son.  These six are my family members.”  Among the twenty-six leading qualities of a devotee of the Lord, forgiveness is the topmost.  Therefore devotees should make an extra endeavour to develop this quality.  Here chanakya says “forgiveness is my son,” and thus a devotee of the Lord, even though he may be on the path of renunciation, may observe putrada ekadasii and pray to attain this kind of “son.”

For a long time this king tried very hard to obtain an heir, but to no avail.  Seeing his years advancing ever onwards, King Mahijita became increasingly anxious.  One day he told an assembly of his advisers:  ‘I have committed no sin in this life, and there is no ill-gotten wealth in my treasury.  I have never usurped the offerings to the demigods or brahmanas.  When I waged war and conquered kingdoms, I followed the rules and regulations of the military art, and I have protected my subjects as if they were my own children.  I punished even my own relatives if they broke the law, and if my enemy was gentle and religious I welcomed him.  Oh twice-born souls, although I am a religious and faithful follower of the Vedik standards, still my home is without a son.  Kindly tell me the reason for this.’

“Hearing this, the king’s brahmana advisers discussed the subject among themselves, and with the aim of benefiting the king they visited the various ashrams of the great sages.  At last they came upon a sage who was austere, pure, and self-satisfied, and who was strictly observing a vow of fasting.  His senses were completely under control, he had conquered his anger, and he was expert at performing his occupational duty.  Indeed, this great sage was expert in all the conclusions of the Vedas, and he had extended his life span to that of Lord Brahma himself.  His name was Lomasa Rishi, and he knew part, present, and future.  After each kalpa passed, one hair would fall out of his body ( One kalpa, or twelve hours of Lord Brahma, equals 4,320,000,000 years.) All the king’s brahmana advisers very happily approached him one by one to offer their humble respects.

“Captivated by this great soul, King Mahijita’s advisers offered obeisances to him and said very respectfully, ‘Only because of our great good fortune, Oh sage, have we been allowed to see you.’
“Lomasa Rishi saw them bowing down to him and replied, ‘Kindly let me know why you have come here.  Why are you praising me?  I must do all I can to solve your problems, for sages like me have only one interest: to help others.  Do not doubt this.’

Lomasa Rishi had all good qualities because he was a devotee of the Lord.  As stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (5:18:12),

Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akinchana
    sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah
harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna
    manorathenasati dhavato bahih

“In one who has unflinching devotional service to Krishna, all the good qualities of Krishna and the demigods are consistently manifest.  However, he who has no devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no good qualifications because he is engaged by mental concoction in material existence, which is the external feature of the Lord.”

“The king’s representatives said, ‘We have come to you, Oh exalted sage, to ask for your help in solving a very serious problem.  Oh sage, you are like Lord Brahma.  Indeed, there is no better sage in the entire world.  Our king, Mahijita, is without a son, though he has sustained and protected us as if we were his sons. Seeing him so unhappy on account of being sonless, we have become very sad, Oh sage, and therefore we have entered the forest to perform severe austerities.  By our good fortune we happened upon you.  Everyone’s desires and activities become successful just by your darshana.  Thus we humble ask that you tell us how our kind king can obtain a son.’

“Hearing their sincere plea, Lomasa Rishi absorbed himself in deep meditation for a moment and at once understood the king’s previous life.  Then he said, ‘Your ruler was a merchant in his past life, and feeling his wealth insufficient, he committed sinful deeds.  He traveled to many villages to trade his goods.  Once, at noon on the day after the ekadasii that comes during the light fortnight of the month of Jyeshtha (Trivikrama – May-June), he became thirsty while traveling from place to place.  He came upon a beautiful pond on the outskirts of a village, but just as he was about to drink at the pond a cow arrived there with her new-born calf.  These two creatures were also very thirsty because of the heat, but when the cow and calf started to drink, the merchant rudely shoved them aside and selfishly slaked his own thirst.  This offense against a cow and her calf has resulted in your king’s being without a son now.  But the good deeds he performed in his previous life have given him rulership over an undisturbed kingdom.’

“Hearing this, the king’s advisers replied, ‘Oh renowned rishi, we have heard that the Vedas say one can nullify the effects of one’s past sins by acquiring merit.  Be so kind as to give us some instruction by which our king’s sins can be destroyed; please give him your mercy so that a prince will take birth in his family.’

“Lomasa Rishi said, ‘There is an ekadasii called putrada, which comes during the light fortnight of the month of Shravana.  On this day all of you, including your king, should fast and stay awake all night, strictly following the rules and regulations.  Then you should give the king whatever merit you gain by this fast.  If you follow these instructions of mine, he will surely be blessed with a fine son.’

“All the king’s advisers became very pleased to hear these words from Lomasa Rishi, and they all offered him their grateful obeisances.  Then, their eyes bright with happiness, they returned home.

“When the month of Shravana arrived, the king’s advisers remembered the advice of Lomasa Rishi, and under their direction all the citizens of Mahismati-puri, as well as the king, fasted on ekadasii.  And on the next day, dvadasi, the citizens dutifully offered their accrued merit to him.  By the strength of all this merit, the queen became pregnant and eventually gave birth to a most beautiful son.

“O Yudhisthira,” Lord Krishna concluded, “the ekadasii that comes during the light fortnight of the month of Shravana has thus rightfully become famous as putrada [“bestower of a son”].  Whoever desires happiness in this world and the next should certainly fast from all grains and legumes on this holy day.  Indeed, whoever simply hears the glories of putrada ekadasii becomes completely free of all sins, is blessed with a good son, and surely ascends to heaven after death.”

Thus ends the narration of the glories of Shravana-sukla ekadasii, or putrada ekadasii, from the Bhavishya Purana.