Krishna Seva

[Vasant Punjabi]

Jai Shri Krishna,

Just a reminder January 26th is Shastila Ekadashi is please add any related articles for the benefit of all vaishnavs.
_________________
Vasant Punjabi.

"Shri Vallabh Shri Vithal Sukh-kari naa-me nishpap thai nur-nari,
------Nitya Lila nitya nautam shruti na pame par."----

[Vasant Punjabi]

Jai Shri KRishna,

Let me add a story to this.

Dalbhya Risi said to Pulastya Muni, "When the spirit soul comes in
contact with the material energy, he immediately begins to perform
sinful activities, such as stealing, killing, and illicit sex. He may
even perform many other terrible deeds, such as killing a brahmana. 0
purest of personalities, please tell me how these unfortunate souls may
escape the punishment of being sent to hellish regions of creation.
Kindly inform me how, by giving even a little in charity, one may easily
become free of his sins."

Pulastya Muni replied, "0 fortunate one, you have asked me a food and
confidential question, which not even Brahma, Visnu, Siva, or Indra has
ever asked. Please listen very carefully to my answer.

With the arrival of the month of Magha [January-February], one should
bathe, carefully control his senses by giving up lust, anger, pride,
jealousy, faultfinding, and greed, and meditate on the Supreme
Personality Shri Krishna. One should then gather up some
cow dung before it touches the ground and, after mixing it with sesame
seeds and cotton, form 108 balls. This should be done on the day when
the constellation of Purvasadhanaksatra arrives. Then one should follow
the rules and regulations of Ekadasi.

The devotee should then try to please a qualified brahmana with a warm
welcome, a pot full of water, an umbrella, a pair of shoes, and clothes,
requesting him at the same time to bestow his blessings, by which one
may develop unalloyed love for Krsna. According to one's ability, one
may also donate a black cow to such a brahmana, particularly to one who
is very well versed in all the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures. One
should also offer him a pot full of sesame seeds.

0 exalted Dalbhya Muni, black sesame seeds are especially suitable for
formal worship and fire sacrifices, while white or brown sesame seeds
are meant to be eaten by a qualified brahmana. One who can arrange to
give both kinds of sesame seeds on this sacred Sat-tila Ekadasi will be
promoted to the heavenly planets for as many thousands of years as the
number of seeds that would be produced if the seeds he donated were sown
in the ground and grew into mature, seed-bearing plants.

On this Ekadasi a faithful person should bathe in water mixed with
sesame seeds, rub sesame seed paste on his body, offer sesame seeds in
sacrifice, eat sesame seeds, give sesame seeds away in charity, and
accept charitable gifts of sesame seeds. These are the six [sat] ways in
which sesame seeds [tila] are utilized for spiritual purification on
this Ekadasi. Therefore it is called Sat-tila Ekadasi.

The great Devarsi Naradaji once asked the Supreme
Shri Krishna, 'O mighty-armed Lord, 0 You who are so affectionate
to Your loving devotees, please accept my most humble obeisances. O
Yadava, kindly tell me the result one obtains by observing Sat-tila
Ekadasi.'

Lord Shri Krishna replied, '0 best of the twice-born, I shall narrate to
you an account of an incident I personally witnessed. Long ago on earth
there lived an old female brahmana who worshiped Me every day with
controlled senses. She very faithfully observed many a fast, especially
on special days honoring Me, and served Me with full devotion, devoid of
any personal motive. Her rigorous fasting made her quite weak and thin.
She gave charity to brahmanas and young maidens, and even planned to
give away her house in charity. 0 best of the brahmanas, although this
spiritually-minded woman gave charitable donations to worthy people, the
odd feature of her austerity was that she never gave food to brahmanas
or demigods.

I began to reflect on this curious omission: "This fine woman has
purified herself by fasting on all the auspicious occasions and by
offering Me strict devotional worship. Therefore she has certainly
become eligible to enter My personal abode, which is unattainable by
ordinary persons." So I came down to this planet to examine her,
disguising Myself as a follower of Lord Shiva complete with a garland of
skulls draped around My neck and a begging pot in My hand.

As I approached her, she said to Me, "0 respectable one, tell me
truthfully why You have come before me."

I replied, "0 beautiful one, I have come to get some sacred alms from
you"- where upon she angrily threw a dense lump of mud into My begging
pot! 0 Narada, I simply turned around and went back to My personal
abode, astonished at this fine brahmani's peculiar mixture of great
magnanimity and stinginess.

At last this austere lady reached the spiritual world in her self-same
body, so great were her efforts at fasting and charity. And because she
had indeed offered Me a lump of mud, I transformed that mud into a
beautiful home. However, 0 Naradaji, this particular house was
completely devoid of any edible grains, as well as any furniture or
ornamentation, and when she entered it she found only an empty
structure. She therefore approached Me and said with great anger, "I
have fasted repeatedly on so many auspicious occasions, making my body
weak and thin. I have worshiped You and prayed to You in so many
different ways, for You are truly the master and protector of all the
universes. Yet despite all this there is no food or wealth to be seen in
my new home, 0 Janardana. Why is this?

I replied, "Please return to your house. Sometime later the wives of the
demigods will pay you a visit out of curiosity to see the new arrival,
but do not open your door until they have described to you the glories
and importance of Sat-tila Ekadasi."

Hearing this, she returned to her house. Eventually the demigods' wives
arrived there and in unison said, "0 beautiful one, we have come to have
your darsana. 0 auspicious one, please open your door and let us see you."

The lady replied, "0 most dear ones, if you want me to open this door,
you will have to describe to me the merit one obtains by observing the
sacred fast of Sat-tila Ekadasi." But not one of the wives responded.

Later, however, they returned to the house, and one of the wives nicely
explained the sublime nature of this sacred Ekadasi. And when the lady
at last opened her door, they saw that she was neither a demigoddess, a
Gandharvi, a she-demon, nor even a Naga-patni. She was simply an
ordinary lady.

From then on the lady observed Sat-tila Ekadasi, which awards material
enjoyment and liberation at the same time, as it had been described to
her. And she finally received the beautiful furnishings and grains she
had expected for her home. Moreover, her once ordinary material body was
transformed into a beautiful spiritual form with a fine complexion. So,
by the mercy and grace of Sat-tila Ekadasi, both the lady and her new
home in the spiritual world were at last radiantly splendid and lustrous
with gold, silver, jewels, and diamonds.

0 Naradaji, a person should not ostentatiously observe Ekadasi, out of
greed, with the hope of attaining wealth dishonestly. Selflessly, he
should simply donate sesame seeds, clothes, and food according to his
capacity, for by doing so he will achieve good health and exalted
spiritual consciousness, birth after birth. Ultimately, liberation and
admittance into the Lord's supreme abode will be his to enjoy. That is
my opinion, O best of the demigods.'

0 Dalbhya Muni, Pulastya Risi concluded, "one who properly observes the
wonderful Sat-tila Ekadasi with great faith becomes free from all kinds
of poverty-spiritual, mental, physical, social, and intellectual-as well
as all kinds of ill luck and evil omens. Indeed, following this Ekadasi
fast by donating, sacrificing, or eating sesame seeds frees one of all
past sin, without a doubt. One need not wonder how this happens. The
rare soul who properly performs these acts of charity in the right
devotional mood, following the Vedic injunctions, will become utterly
free of all sinful reactions and go back to Shri Krishna, back home to the
spiritual world."
_________________
Vasant Punjabi.

"Shri Vallabh Shri Vithal Sukh-kari naa-me nishpap thai nur-nari,
------Nitya Lila nitya nautam shruti na pame par."----

[kavita]

jai shree krishna,

hello uncle.thanks for the beautiful story. even i read it.

thanks a lot from mummy.

Raveena and Natasha.
_________________
Jai Shree Krishna
Kavita Bhatia