Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

Dear Maharaj’s and Prabhu’s,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

On 15th May, ISKCON Lucknow celebrated a colorful Rathayatra. The city of Lucknow is the capital of the Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in the country. This city is also known as ‘Laxmanpuri’. H. G. Devkinandan Prabhu, (ZS of UP and Rajasthan), H. G. Surapati Prabhu and H. G. Radha Ranjan Prabhu (Co-TP’s of ISKCON Lucknow) and the local committee members and congregation organized this wonderful festival.

The Lordships Sri Sri Jagannath Baladeva and Subadra came up on their Ratha at
4 PM and then an Arati ceremony was performed by Sri Sushil Ansal and his wife Smt. Kusum Ansal (the land donors for the Lucknow temple). Sri Dinesh Sharma, Mayor of Lucknow inaugurated the Rathyatra, after the traditional broom cleaning of the road.

H. H. Mahavishnu Swami Maharaj, spoke on the significance of Rathayatra and H. G. Devkinandan Prabhu delivered the welcome speech.

The Chariot began moving at 5:30 PM, with thousands of devotees pulling the cart of the Lordship, accompanied with a tremendous kirtan performed with various Kirtineers from several cities. All along the Rathayatra procession, the Lordship’s were showered with the multitudes of flower petals. Several residents came out of their homes and offices to perform an Arati to the Lordships. Prasadam was distributed through out the yatra.

H. H. Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, H. H. Maha Vishnu Swami Maharaj, H. H. Bhakti Madhurya Govinda Swami Maharaj (previously Makan Lal Prabhu), H. G. Mohan Rupa Prabhu (TP of New Delhi), H. G Nityananda Prabhu (Vice- President, Baroda), H. G. Vraja Bhumi Prabhu (TP, Jhansi) H. G. Murli Mohan Prabhu, (Co-TP, Vijaywada)

And several devotees from different cities attended the Rathyatra.

All along the Rathayatra, the famous Sankirtan team from ISKCON New Delhi distributed Srila Prabhupada’s books. The Rathyatra finished at 8:30 PM.

The next day (16th May), Bhumi Puja for the 5 acre land that ISKCON has received from the Ansal Builders was performed. Located in Sushant Golf City, Sultanpur Road, Amarsahid Path, Lucknow, the land is at a very prime location.

H. G. Sitalanga Prabhu (from Bangalore) led the Yajna as the Head Priest. The Yajna Mandap comprised of 11 Kundas each with a Brahmin performing the sacrifices. 108 founder donor of the city, sat along with their families.

H. H. Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj, H. G. Devikinandan Prabhu and his wife H. G. Surangi Mataji, Sri Sushil Ansal and his wife Kusum Anasal and family members were seated at the main Yajna Kunda.

Several Life Members, well wishers and devotees were present at this function. After the Yajna, H. H. Gopal Krishna Maharaj, delivered a blessing speech and thanked the donors for donating the Land for the temple. H. G. Devkinandan Prabhu thanked the donors and requested the founder members to come together inorder to build a beautiful temple for the Lordships Sri Sri Radha Raman Bihari.

Sri Sushil Ansal expressed his pleasure in the project and promised to help further in any way that he could and he praised ISKCON for its activities of spreading the Sanatana Dharma.

The 2 day program as was well covered by the print and electronic media.

Both the festivals was well organized and very systematic. The arrangements for the visiting devotes was very good.

Link to the Gallery:

[1] http://picasaweb.google.com/118048521807589208737/LucknowRathyatra#

Thank you.

Your Servant, Vrajendranandan Das National Communications Director New Delhi, India.

Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

Dear Devotees Pamho AgtSP

This year another abhisek of Lord Nrsimha took place over a two day period, oils on one day and milk products and sweet fruit juice liquids on the next. Buckets of offerings were poured onto the Lord, marking another year of protection for the work in Mayapur, what to speak of the Iskcon collective. One can not help but appreciate the satisfaction that Lord has had as the best ofDear milk, yogurt, ghee, honey, and fruit juice happened to fall into His mouth and splash or ooze out the other side on such a hot humid day. A melodious kirtan filled the temple room honoring a Best Friend and Protector of the devotees. Sri Narasimhadeva Bhagavan Ki Jaya!

Best wishes Your servant, Bhaktisiddhanta Swami

Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

At the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a devotee named Jagadisha Ganguli lived in a small village near the present-day Mayapur. Jagadisha was a highly elevated Vaishnava and even though he was very old, still every year he would make the 900km journey on foot to Jagannatha Puri on the Bay of Bengal. He would travel with other devotees from Bengal to meet their most dear Lord Caitanya, have darshana of Their Lordships Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra Devi, and participate in the ecstatic Rathayatra. After four months they would return to their homes in Bengal.

One day Jagadisha’s happiness was ruined. He was stricken with a serious disease that left him totally blind. When he realized that he could no longer see the divine forms of Lord Caitanya and the Jagannatha Deities, he became very depressed. Worse yet, his friends considered the annual pilgrimage to Puri too long and too dangerous for a blind man and they refused to take him along with them. Jagadisha remained in Navadvipa in constant lamentation and despondency. Out of hopelessness he even considered committing suicide.

Then one night Lord Jagannatha appeared to Jagadisha in a dream. The next morning, the Lord told him, when Jagadisha went for his daily bath in the Gaìga a log would touch his head and restore his vision. The Lord told Jagadisha that he should take that log and go to a nearby village where a devotee-carpenter lives. The Lord explained also that the carpenter would refuse the work because he was a leper and had deformed hands. Jagadisha would have to insist, and convince the carpenter to do this work. On completion of this job, the Lord assured, the carpenter’s leprosy would immediately vanish.

Upon awakening, Jagadisha was amazed at his dream. He immediately left for his morning bath in the Gaìga and became ecstatic when a log touched his head and restored his vision. He took the wood and went to a nearby village, where he searched and searched until he found a leper-carpenter. Jagadisha implored the leper to carve a deity of Lord Jagannatha from the wood, but the carpenter flatly refused. He showed Jagadisha his deformed fingers and asked him, “How is it possible for me to carve the divine form of the Lord with these hands?” But Jagadisha insisted. He explained to the leper that his leprosy would be cured once he finished the carving. Finally the leper agreed.

Jagadisha stayed with the leper as he was working and saw him suffering terribly. Blood and pus oozed from the stumps that were once his fingers and he wanted to quit the work. But Jagadisha encouraged him and enabled him to forget his agony long enough to finish the deity of Lord Jagannatha. The very moment he finished, his leprosy disappeared.

Jagadisha took the deity to a site near the present Jagannatha temple and established His worship there.

A few nights later, Jagadisha had another dream. This time Lord Jagannatha instructed him to take some nearby neem wood to the same carpenter and have him make deities of Subhadra and Balarama. Jagadisha did so and installed Them in the temple next to Lord Jagannatha.

Legend has it that after the demise of Jagadisha Ganguli, the Lord, being dissatisfied with the neglectful state of His worship, decided to end His manifest pastimes. Suddenly there was an outbreak of cholera. The inhabitants of the surrounding area assembled at the temple and prayed to Prabhu Jagannatha to have pity on them and save their lives. That night, Jagannatha came to the head priest in a dream and said, “One of the housewives of the Ganguli family, who is characterless, dared to dishonour me. For this offense everyone in the Ganguli family and the village will die if they do not leave the place.” The next morning the villagers found the members of the Ganguli family dead and immediately deserted the entire area.

Since there was no more worship at the temple, Lord Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Balarama were forgotten, and save for the flat roof over Their heads, the temple fell down around Them and was soon covered by the surrounding jungle.

read Chapter two, Reappearance of Lord Jagannatha, at www. narasimhalila. com

Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

In 1975 Srila Prabhupada installed the Deities of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama in the ISKCON temple in Raman Reti in Vrindaban. Looking at the film footage and slides of this momentous event some 35 years later, we can now begin to put this event into historical perspective. These images show Srila Prabhupada in the center, meeting with the Governor, hearing the speeches of various dignitaries, in procession with an elephant and throngs of devotees chanting through the roads of the Holy Dhama, presiding over elaborate pujas by local brahmins, and culminating in the first arati offered to the Deities. He had broken the mold by installing these Deities in a form that had not existed in the entire world. He was showing also that Sri Sri Gaura Nitai are non-different than Sri Sri Krishna Balarama.

To construct such a large temple in such a short time with practically no visible means of support is miraculous. Over and above this, construction in India in those days had peculiar difficulties. Cement and steel were rationed by the government. Devotees would have to sit in government off ices for hours cultivating bureaucrats to grant the necessary permits. And then there would be negotiation in the black market to make up the shortfalls in the government allotments.

So how inspiring it is to see Srila Prabhupada becoming the most prominent citizen of Vrindaban, and being heralded in such a grand fashion. A mere 10 years before, he was an anonymous sadhu, churchmouse poor, renting 2 rooms in the Radha-Damodara Temple for the “princely” sum of 5 rupees per month. It is my feeling that this event must have been for Srila Prabhupada himself, one of the highest points in this life. He was in Krishna’s land and bringing the entire world to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai. Srila Prabhupada was so proud of this temple that six months later in South Africa, when Srila Prabhupada approached the grandsons of Mahatma Gandhi to give a large donation, he promised them that ISKCON would build a temple in South Africa “just like our Krishna Balarama temple.”

Two years later Srila Prabhupada would wind up his earthly pastimes, and on November 14, 1977 Amarendra Dasa would hear the news of Srila Prabhupada’s departure, just before going into a lawyer’s office and signing the purchase papers for the New Raman Reti farm. At the time many devotees questioned this purchase. Why would Amarendra purchase such a piece of land in such an out-of-the-way place? Who would go there? What would they do there? Srila Prabhupada had called Gainesville a remote corner of the planet, how much more obscure was Alachua? Even Amarendra Dasa himself had his questions and doubts, but he was reconciled by the knowledge that Srila Prabhupada wanted ISKCON to establish rural communities.

Fast forward to 2009. New Raman Reti has become the most successful rural community of devotees in North America with around 350 families living in the area. But Sri Sri Krishna Balarama in Their Deity forms have been waiting for 4 years to appear on the altar in New Raman Reti. The pujaris are eager to worship Them but the facilities are too meager. The kitchen is too small, the pujari rooms are too small, the altar is too small for the bathing and other puja that will have to be done. A new temple management is trying to pay off past debts, untangle the temple’s tax situation, and enthuse the community. The Deity department has been sewing outfits for Krishna Balarama and some outfits have already been retired without the Deities ever wearing them.

Despite this negative atmosphere, in early 2009 a group of devotees get together with the management to make a plan to install the Deities. The first step is to plan for a new kitchen. A campaign is devised to build a 2000 sq ft kitchen and approach the community devotees to donate $100 per person for each square foot of the new kitchen to raise the necessary $200,000. This plan is begun on the auspicious day of Aksaya Tritiya. The installation is tentatively scheduled for Gaura Purnima 2010.

At the next Sunday feast the plan is announced and the assembled devotees pledge over $50,000 on the first day of the campaign. The devotees become ecstatic and it looks like this will be easy. The devotees begin a daily prayer every morning to Sri Sri Krishna Balarama to please appear on the altar.

Next the devotees hired an architect to prepare plans and arrange bids from contractors. They approached the county authorities to acquire the necessary permissions from the various departments – health, water authorities, building inspectors, fire safety, county planning, etc. And so extra costs began to mount up – a retention barrier, a new well, a new septic field, monthly inspections for the water supply, and many other requirements added cost and anxiety. Fortunately, our architect and contractor guided us through the maze of regulations and mitigated some of the expenses. If you think that India’s bureaucracy can be overwhelming, try Alachua County! Because of the recession, the bureaucrats in the county offices had almost no work, so our project was scrutinized every possible way, and every possible regulation was enforced!

By November of 2009, the initial euphoria had worn off and the management were starting to have some very real anxieties. Only $95,000 had been collected, less than half needed for the kitchen. Further construction expenses for the pujari facilities would mean that the installation would have to be delayed. The project now seemed to be slipping away, out of sight.

But Sri Sri Krishna Balarama have waited long enough. At a Sunday feast program, one of the devotees comes forward. He has contacted a donor who will give a donation of up to $50,000 if the community will match the donation within one week. This is announced to the assembled devotees and now the kitchen at least will be assured. And then, twenty minutes later, Krishna arranges a miracle. A supporter of the New Raman Reti community living in Wisconsin, who follows the morning programs online on his computer, happens to be visiting at that same Sunday feast program. Inspired by the temple and the devotees and this anonymous donor, he immediately tells Mukhya Dasi, the temple president, that he will also donate up to $50,000 matching whatever the devotees donate within the next week.

The call goes out and within 10 days the community has matched these donations and more. Well over $150,000 is pledged. Now the temple management can go ahead full steam. The contractors are brought in and they give a 4-month time estimate. The Deity and pujari facilities will take a little longer. After a couple of months when the kitchen is well under way, the date for the installation is set for the Memorial Day weekend.

And the marathon begins. 25 sets of clothes have to be sewn for the small Krishna Balarama Deities. A souvenir booklet has to be produced. Preparations for the installation yajna and abhiseka have to be made. The entertainment has to be organized. A fundraiser for the construction of prasadam pavilions is launched. Conch shells and chadars for the bathing of the Deities are imported from India. Arrangements are made for the preparation of prasadam for all the devotees and guests. ISKCON sannyasis Radhanatha, Indradyumna, Devamrta, Varsana, B.V. Madhava, and Lokanatha Maharajas attend and add their talents in kirtan, bhajan and nectar.

The installation of Their Lordships was conducted by Gaura Kesava Prabhu who eloquently explained the various elements of the rituals, in which he was assisted by many local and visiting pujaris. On the Facebook pages of His Holiness Indradyumna Swami and others, there are many wonderful images of the installation and the celebrations. Many of the classes by Dina Bandhu Prabhu and the other sannyasis on the pastimes of Krishna Balarama are archived on Krishna.com.

The devotees of New Raman Reti would like to thank all who have worked so hard for so long to make this happen. From now on there will be an annual Memorial Day weekend festival to celebrate the coming of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, and the dream of Srila Prabhupada to have rural communities, where the Deities are the center of the community, and the land transformed into Vrindaban, the transcendental world.

All glories to Sri Sri Krishna Balarama! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

The mercy of Lord Nrisimhadeva at Mayapur is famous and I have an interesting story in brief.

I know a couple Ashok Ghosh and his wife Shila Ghosh from Kolkata, who married twelve years ago. Four years before when I met them, they shared their worries with me. Like other childless couples, who undertake treatments or throw faith in magical amulets, this young couple too were attracted to artificial means to have a baby. Incidentally, I suggested them to take shelter of Jagrata Nrsiimhadeve at ISKCON Mayapur. In the year 2006, Nrisimha Caturdasi day, the couple came too Mayapur and observed the Vrata seriously, approached the Lord, and paid their sincere offerings to Him with full surrender.

A year later, when I visited Calcutta, incidentally I met the couple and found them extremely happy. To my amazement, I saw carrying a small baby in the lap. I enquired who the child was? The couple narrated to me the blessings of Lord Nrisimhadeva upon them. This is a clear example of the Lord’s mercy upon anyone who takes shelter of Him. This is an instance, even a non-devotee has been blessed with His mercy. The Lord can bless anything to anyone if surrenders to Him and incidentally utters His holy name even once.

The ancients performed putrakameshthi yajna to invoke the divinities and bless the childless couple to have progeny. In kaliyuga, we short-lived humans forgot those tedious Vedic yajnas. In this disastrous age, surrendering to the God and uttering His holy names is the greatest sacrifice one can offer as Lord Caitanya instructed us through His divine Grace A. C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. As the Vishnupurana says, “Ten years of tapasya in sattya yuga equates to one year of tapasya in tertayuga, and it equates to one month of tapas in dvapayuga and it equates to just one day of tapasya in kaliyuga. Anyone who surrenders to the Lord and utters His holy name even once, the merciful Lord will bless him all his needs and at the end will offer him a chance to reach the Supreme Destination even the king of heaven Indra is ineligible to obtain. Therefore, let us always recite the mahamantra -

HARE KRSNA HARE KRSHNA KRSHNA KRSHNA HARE HARE

HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

O’ Lord Nrisimhadeva, I beg you to bless upon us Your benediction to please remember You always. Please bless me be free from all obstacles and dwell in pure love of Radha Madhava at Mayapur, and let me be their servant forever.

Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

Every year the North American office of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes an “Art Calendar” with all the most important Vaisnava dates for North America. This year, as in past years, we noted under Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi (coming up on June 22) that one should observe a “total fast, even from water, if you have broken Ekadasi.” It has been pointed out to us that the only instruction Srila Prabhupada gave concerning breaking Ekadasi is that if one does so inadvertently one should observe Ekadasi fasting the next day. There is also this quote concerning Bhima Ekadasi (another name for Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi):

Ramesvara: So I’ve been told that if one fasts on Bhima Ekadasi, that it is like fasting on all the Ekadasis. Is that true?

Prabhupada: Yes.

This is an apparent reference to an account from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana. In a BTG article written back in 1994, Rohininanda Prabhu summarizes this pastime and relates how ISKCON devotees have responded to it in their own practice of Krsna consciousness:

“Once a year in the early summer there is a special Ekadasi known as the Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi or Bhima Ekadasi. Back in the days of the Mahabharata, five thousand years ago, Arjuna’s elder brother Bhima had great difficulty fasting. (In those days everyone would fast completely from all food and water.) So he was given permission by the sage Vyasadeva to observe the full Ekadasi fast only once a year. In the Krsna consciousness movement many devotees are accustomed to following this Bhima Ekadasi, refraining from all food and water, to compensate for any discrepancies in their observance of the previous twenty-three Ekadasi days.”

So we can conclude that although to compensate for having broken Ekadasi in the previous year some devotees observe a total fast on Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi, refraining even from drinking water, there is no injunction from Srila Prabhupada to that effect. However, Prabhupada did conform that fasting on Bhima Ekadasi is like fasting on all the Ekadasis. Also, concerning the nirjala aspect of Ekadasi, Srila Prabhupada did say this:

“Ekadasi day — there is no eating sumptuously. Simply you take little fruits and flowers. Try to avoid that also. You don’t take even water. That is really ekadasi. But because we cannot do it — in the Kali-yuga the time is different — therefore we are allowed to take little fruit and milk, which is called anukalpa.”

Ekadasi is a serious thing. As Srila Prabhupada says in his Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 15.9, quoting from the Skanda Purana), “A person who eats grains on Ekädaçé becomes a murderer of his mother, father, brother and spiritual master, and even if he is elevated to a Vaikuëöha planet, he falls down.” If we break Ekadasi inadvertently, we can make it up the next day. As for following Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi strictly, without water, that’s up to each devotee to determine according to his or her capacity. In future calendars this Ekadasi will be listed without any accompanying note.

Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

With some further research and help from His Holiness Bhanu Swami, we have concluded that there is really no basis in either 1) the scripture, specifically the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, the guidebook for devotional practices compiled by Sanatana Gosvami, or 2) Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, for the idea that if one performs a full nirjala fast on Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi, that will negate any ill effects from having broken Ekadasi over the previous year.

The following excerpt from Hari Sauri Prabhu’s “Transcendental Diary” definitively reveals how seriously Srila Prabhupada regarded Ekadasi, and his prescribed remedy for breaking it:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

January 13 1976 – Calcutta

Because it was Ekadasi we skipped breakfast and fasted until noon. But at lunchtime the devotees inadvertently broke the Ekadasi vow because the cook accidentally put peas into the vegetables. No one noticed until too late. Fortunately I arrived late for lunch because I had been massaging Srila Prabhupada. Just as I was about to eat, Jayapataka Maharaja shouted for me to stop. Although initially annoyed at being told not to eat, I was relieved when he pointed out the peas.

Shamefaced, Tamal Krishna Maharaja went to Prabhupada to report what had happened and to find out what should be done.

Srila Prabhupada told us we were all nonsense. He angrily rebuked us, “Now you have to fast for three days!” This shocked everyone. “Yes, that is the procedure,” he confirmed. Seeing the stunned look on our faces, he relented but said that we should observe Ekadasi for the rest of the day and then again tomorrow on Dvadasi.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Srila Prabhupada’s only mention of Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi (also known as Bhima Ekadasi) comes in the conversation with Ramesvara Prabhu quoted in our earlier post. But Srila Prabhupada’s full answer raises some doubt as to whether he really confirmed Ramesvara’s premise, namely, that fasting on Nirjala Ekadasi is equivalent to fasting on all the Ekadasis:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

June 7, 1976, Los Angeles

Ramesvara: So I’ve been told that if one fasts on Bhima-ekadasi, that it is like fasting on all the ekadasis. Is that true?

Prabhupada: Yes. Ekadasi is meant for fasting, either Bhima or Arjuna. But we cannot fast, therefore we have to take little fruits and…. Otherwise, ekadasi means fasting.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Was Prabhupada really confirming that full fasting on Nirjala Ekadasi was equivalent to strictly observing all the other Ekadasis, or was he simply affirming that Ekadasi is meant for fasting? And even if he did confirm Ramesvara’s premise, it is still a logical leap from this to the conclusion (unsupported in any scripture) that full fasting on Nirjala Ekadasi negates any ill effects from breaking Ekadasi. I think we can safely conclude that this idea is a concoction, despite its long observance by many ISKCON devotees.

But what about the benefits of full fasting on Nirjala Ekadasi or any other Ekadasi? Yes, Prabhupada stated in several places that such full fasting is good. But not if it impedes one’s service, especially preaching:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tamala Krsna: I remember you were instructing once that all of your initiated disciples should chant twenty-five rounds…

Prabhupada: Minimum.

Tamala Krsna: Minimum on this day. Is that a rule that we should all follow in our temples?

Prabhupada: We are sixteen rounds.

Tamala Krsna: No, I mean on ekadasi.

Prabhupada: Oh yes. Ekadasi, simply you should chant. No other business. Nirjala.

Tamala Krsna: No preaching work? Should they go out for preaching?

Prabhupada: No, those who are preaching, not for them. Those who are sitting idle, or they… (laughter) [break] … has no other regulation, simply preaching. A preacher is so exalted. He hasn’t got to follow any regulation. But don’t take it. (laughter) And actually if one is busy in preaching work, that is first-class. [break] … not my manufactured word, my Guru Maharaja, that the… That Madhava Maharaja, when he was a brahmacari, his name was Hayagriva. So he was to go somewhere. So but he was sick. Guru Maharaja was informed that he was sick and “Today is ekadasi. He cannot take his regular meals.” So Guru Maharaja said, “No. Let him take immediately meals and go.”

Revatinandana: For preaching.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So in conclusion, Srila Prabhupada, recognizing our many disqualifications, adjusted so many rules and regulations for us. Not 64 rounds minimum but 16, not full nirjala fasting on Ekadasi but fasting from grains and beans, etc. And it was all in the name of preaching: he never forbade us from chanting 64 rounds — he even started with that number in 1966 — but when he saw that the whole day would be taken up with chanting rounds and nothing else would get done, he reduced it to
32, and finally to 16 — minimum. Same thing with Ekadasi. If Srila Prabhupada had set up the strict rule as nirjala fasting on Ekadasi and staying up all night hearing and chanting — the orthodox Gaudiya Vaisnava practice — then first of all 99% of the devotees would have freaked out at the “impossible” austerity and blooped, and the few remaining devotees would have spent two days every fortnight just doing Ekadasi and recovering from it, without any other service.

So there is absolutely no justification or need for the practice of diminishing one’s preaching service, or any other service, in the name of practicing nirjala Ekadasi on Bhima Ekadasi to atone for previous broken Ekadasis. If you’ve broken Ekadasi and realize it on the Ekadasi day, follow Ekadasi for the rest of the day and fast from grains and beans the next day (or observe full fasting if it won’t impede your service), and if you’ve broken Ekadasi and failed to observe it the next day, well, then pray for forgiveness and vow to strictly follow Ekadasi in the future (no grains or beans), and go on with your service. There is no prayascitta (atonement) for devotees except the practice of devotional service itself, centering on hearing and chanting the holy name.

Originally posted at www.dandavats.com

Ekadashi means eleventh day of waxing or waning moon. Therefore, two Ekadashis fall in every month. Usually on Ekadashis, the devotees undertake fasting. Pandava Nirjala Ekadashi observed on the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of Moon (shukla-paksha) in the month of Jyeshtha (May-June) is called Nirjala Ekadashi because on that day the observer of the vrata should not drink even water. Since the vrata observed is in the month of Jyeshtha, it is known as Jyeshtha-shukla Ekadashi as well.

The Mahabharata tells that the Pandava brothers strictly observed all Ekadashis. However, the voracious eater Bhima couldn’t observe full fasting on the Ekadashis. Therefore, he approached his grandsire Vyasadeva for an alternate solution to abstain from the sins he committed thereby. Vedavyasa advised Bhima to observe only the Nirjala Ekadashi once annually and it will award the benefit of observing all Ekadashis in a year. From then, the Nirjala Ekadashi became famous as Pandava Nirjala Ekadashi. Because the alternate solution was sought by Bhima, the day became famous as Bhima Pandava Nirjala Ekadashi. The Hari bhakti Vilasa (15:25) refers a quote from the Padma Purana (Vedavyasa speaks to Bhima),

samvatsara ya madhye ekadashyo bhavanti hi tasam phalam apnoti putra me

na atra samshayah it imam keshavah praha shankha cakra gadadharah

“Hear it doubtlessly my son what Lord Keshava, who beholds a club, disk, conch shell and lotus flower in hand, once told me, “The merits achieved by fasting on all Ekadashis in a year can be verily obtained by fasting on this Nirjala Ekadashi.” Summarily, Srila Prabhupada said that nirjala means (not drinking even water) because consuming water according to shastra is consuming food. There are many devotees who don’t drink even a drop of water. The whole day and night they fast and observe the Ekadasi-vrata. The night is called Harivasara (chanting the holy name of Hari). Such a firm vrata is called drdha-vrata.

Srila Prabhupada advised to chant the Mahamantra as much as possible. The Mahamantra we follow in ISKCON is “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.” One should try any number of rounds possible on the Ekadashi days.

In the year 2010, the Pandava Nirjala Ekadshi falls on 22nd June. On an enquiry about fasting on the Nirjala Ekadashi day, Srila Prabhupada said, “Ekadashi day – there is no eating sumptuously. Simply you take little fruits and flowers. Try to avoid that also. You don’t take even water. That is really Ekadashi. But because we cannot do it – in kali-yuga the time is different – therefore we are allowed to take little fruit and milk, which is called anukalpa.”

If a devotee can’t fast on Ekadashi, he must fast on the following day. However, on any case, we should avoid food made of grains on all Ekadashis as Lord Caitanya insisted His mother Sacidevi in Caitanya Caritamrta – Ädi-lila (15.9), ekadashite anna na khaibe, which means “On Ekadashis, food stuffs made of grains such as rice should be avoided.” Srila Prabhupada comments quoting from the Skanda Purana, “A person who eats grains on Ekadashi becomes a murderer of his mother, father, brother and spiritual master, and even if he is elevated to a Vaikuntha planet, he falls down.”

The observers of vrata on Ekadashis sometimes prefer to fast, and/or fast without drinking water, and/or spend sleepless night. Sometimes devotees chant and praise the Lord always and keep awake the whole night. Such observers of vrata should break the fast methodically. It may be safe to drink one or more glasses of water with lemon juice and a little bit of salt and black pepper as appetizer and eat food after a couple of hours.

In Udupi, Madhvacarya installed a beautiful Deity of Gopala standing alone holding a cowherd’s stick. This Deity is said to have been manifested from within a chunk of gopi-candana (sacred clay). He established eight mathas
(temples) to lovingly serve “Udupi Krishna.” The sannyasi leaders of each matha worship the Krishna Deity with a rigorous regimen of ceremonial ritual, punctuality, and impeccable personal conduct. Every Ekadasi they observe as nirjala (total fast of food and water).

Observing a vrata (usually fasting) is meant to control our senses and mind because without which it may be hard to focus our attention on the Supreme. Therefore, Ekadashis are days meant for purification of mind curtailing the bodily demands. Abstaining from food will control our urge for taste and appetite and if we observe the vrata regularly, we can bridle our senses by controlling the mind. The vrata is intended to control the tongue as well. During the Ekadashi-vrata, we should never even think of using a foul language. Lord Krshna tells in Uddhava Gita (14.36),

shamo man-nishthata buddher dama indriya samyamah

titiksha duhkha-sammarsho jihvopastha-jayo drdhih

“Control of mind is engaging the intelligence in love of Me and self-control is controlling the senses. Tolerance is subsiding mental distress and firm determination is conquering the tongue, genitals and lusty desires.” Among all senses, tongue is the most important. Anyone who can control the taste of tongue and speech can control the mind and such a person alone can become a perfect devotee of God. Therefore, Ekadashi vratas are very important for a devotee to perfect his love of God and a true lover of Krshna should not miss those opportunities.

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