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Sat-tila Ekadashi - Vrat Katha
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Falls on: Magh Krishna Paksh
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Result of spirit soul encounters material energy
Dalbhya Risi said to Pulastya Muni �When the spirit soul encounters 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 Brahmin�.
�O 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�.
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Question never asked
Pulastya Muni replied, �0 fortunate one, you have asked me a food for life and moreover
a very confidential question, which not even Brahma, Vishnu, Shiv, or Indra has never
asked. Please listen very carefully to my answer�.
Pulastya Muni gives solution
�With the arrival of the month of Magh, one should bathe, carefully control his senses by
giving up lust, anger, pride, jealousy, faultfinding, and greed, and meditate on Purna
Prushotam Bhagwan 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 Purva-sadha-naksatra arrives. Then one
should follow the rules and regulations of Ekadashi, which I shall now explain to you�.
�After bathing, the person who intends to observe Ekadashi should worship Purna Prushotam.
While praying to Bhagwan Shri Krishna by chanting His name, he should promise to observe
the Ekadashi fast. He should remain awake overnight and perform a Yagiya. Then the
devotee should perform arati to the Bhagwan who holds a Shankh (Conch), Chakra (disk),
Gadha (club), and Padma (lotus) in His hands, offering Him sandalwood paste, incense,
camphor, a bright ghee lamp, and delicious preparations of food. Next the devotee should
offer the 108 balls of cow dung, sesame seeds, and cotton into the Yagiya (sacred fire)
while chanting the holy names of Purna Prushotam Bhagwan Shri Krishna. Throughout the
whole day and night he should also observe the standard Ekadashi fast, which in this case
is a fast from all grains and beans. On this occasion one should offer the Bhagwan
pumpkin, coconut, and guava. If these items are unavailable, betel nut may be substitute�
The devotee should pray to Bhagwan Janardan, the benefactor of all beings, in this way:
'Hai Bhagwan Shri Krishna, You are the most merciful and the liberator of all fallen
souls. Bhagwan, we have fallen into the ocean of material existence. Please be kind to us.
Hai Kamal Nain (lotus-eyed), please accept our most humble and affectionate obeisance.
Hai Rakshak (protector) of the world, we offer You our respects again and again. Bhagwan
Shri Narayan, You are the source of all our ancestors, may You and Shri Laksmiji, please
accept these humble offerings'.
'The devotee should then try to please a qualified Brahmin 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 Shri Krishna.
According to one's ability, one may also donate a black cow to such a Brahmin,
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'.
�O 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 Brahmin. One who can arrange to give both kinds of sesame seeds on this sacred
Sat-tila Ekadashi 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 Ekadashi 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. Sesame seeds
[tila] are utilized for spiritual purification on this Ekadashi in these six [Chat or Sat] ways.
Therefore, it is called Sat-tila Ekadashi�.
Devrisi wants to know the fruit of Sat-tila Ekadashi vrat
The great Devrisi Naradji once asked Purna Prushotam Bhagwan, Shri Krishna, �Hai
Shas-tra-dhari Bhagwan, You who are so affectionate to Your loving devotees; please
accept my most humble obeisances. Hai Yadav, kindly tell me the result one obtains by
observing Sat-tila Ekadashi�.
Bhagwan Shri Krishna narrates an incident He personally witnessed
Bhagwan Shri Krishna replied, �Devrisi Narad, I shall narrate to you an account of an
incident I personally witnessed. Long ago on earth there lived old Brahmin women 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
Brahmin and Kumaris (young maidens), and even planned to give away her house in charity.
Devrisi Narad, although this spiritually-minded woman gave charitable donations to worthy
people, the odd feature of her austerity was that she never gave food to Brahmin or Devs�.
�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 Earth to examine her,
disguising Myself as a follower of Bhagwan Shiv, 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, O respectable one, tell me truthfully why You have
come before me�.
�I replied, O 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! Narad, I simply turned around and
went back to My personal abode, astonished at this fine Brahmini's peculiar mixture of
great magnanimity and stinginess�.
Food plays important roll
�At last this austere woman reached the spiritual world in her self-same body, so great
was 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, Narad, 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, Hai Janardan. Why is this�?
�I replied, Please return to your house. Sometime later the wives of the Devs 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 Ekadashi�.
�Hearing this, she returned to her house. Eventually the Dev's wives arrived there and in
unison said, O beautiful one, we have come to have your darsan. 0 auspicious one, please
open your door and let us see you.
The woman 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 Ekadashi.
However, 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 Ekadashi. Moreover, when the woman at last opened her door,
and saw that she was no Devi, nor Gandharvi, or she-demon, nor even a Naga-patni.
She was simply an ordinary woman.
From then on the woman observed Sat-tila Ekadashi, 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 Ekadashi, both the woman and her new
home in the spiritual world were at last radiantly splendid and lustrous with gold, silver,
jewels, and diamonds�.
�Narad, a person should not ostentatiously observe Ekadashi, 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 Bhagwan�s abode will be his to enjoy. That is my opinion�.
Pulastya Risi concluded
�0 Dalbhya Muni�, Pulastya Risi concluded, �one who properly observes the wonderful
Sat-tila Ekadashi 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 Ekadashi 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 home to the spiritual world."
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