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PRODID:-//Bhagavat Dharma Samaj | Est. 1990 - ECPv6.6.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Bhagavat Dharma Samaj | Est. 1990
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DTSTART:20260101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260115
DTSTAMP:20260425T223054
CREATED:20250422T121309Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250422T121309Z
UID:31250-1768348800-1768435199@www.krsna.org
SUMMARY:Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī Vrataṁ – Māgha-kṛṣṇa pakṣa
DESCRIPTION:Dālbhya R̥ṣi said to Pulastya Munī\, “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 brāhmaṇa. 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.”\nPulastya Munī replied\, “O fortunate one\, you have asked me a good and confidential question\, which not even Brahmā\, Viṣṇu\, Śiva\, or Indra has ever asked. Please listen very carefully to my answer. \n“With the arrival of the month of Māgha [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 of Godhead\, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. 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 Purvāṣāḍhā-nakṣatra arrives. Then one should follow the rules and regulations of Ekādaśī\, which I shall now explain to you.” \n\n“After bathing\, the person who intends to observe Ekādaśī should worship the Supreme Lord. While praying to Lord Kṛṣṇa by chanting His name\, he should promise to observe the Ekādaśī fast. He should remain awake overnight and perform a homa. Then the devotee should perform āratī to the Lord – who holds a conch\, disk\, club\, and so on 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 sacred fire while chanting the holy names of the Supreme Lord\, Kṛṣṇa. Throughout the whole day and night he should also observe the standard Ekādaśī fast\, which in this case is a fast from all grains and beans. On this occasion one should offer the Lord pumpkin \, coconut\, and guava. If these items are unavailable\, betel nut may be substituted.” \n\n“The devotee should pray to Lord Janardana\, the benefactor of all beings\, in this way : ‘O Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa\, You are the most merciful Personality of Godhead and the liberator of all fallen souls. O Lord\, we have fallen into the ocean of material existence. Please be kind to us. O lotus-eyed divinity\, please accept our most humble and affectionate obeisances. 0 protector of the world\, we offer You our respects again and again. O Supreme Spirit \, O Supreme One\, O source of all our forefathers\, may You and Your eternal consort\, Śrīmatī Lakṣmīdevī\, please accept these humble offerings.” \n\n“The devotee should then try to please a qualified brāhmaṇa 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 Kṛṣṇa. According to one’s ability\, one may also donate a black cow to such a brāhmaṇa\, 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.” \n\n“O exalted Dālbhya Munī\, 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 brāhmaṇa. One who can arrange to give both kinds of sesame seeds on this sacred Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī 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.” \n\n“On this Ekādaśī 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 [ṣaṭ) ways in which sesame seeds [tila] are utilized for spiritual purification on this Ekādaśī. Therefore it is called Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī.” \n“The great Devarṣi Nāradajī once asked the Supreme Personality of Godhead\, Śrī Kṛṣṇa\, ‘O mighty-armed Lord\, O 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 Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī.” \n\n“Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied\, ‘O 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 brāhmanī 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 brāhmaṇas and young maidens\, and even planned to give away her house in charity. O best of the brāhmaṇas \, although this spiritually- minded woman gave charitable donations to worthy people\, the odd feature of her austerity was that she never gave food to brāhmaṇas or demigods.” \n\n“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 Śiva\, complete with a garland of skulls draped around My neck and a begging pot in My hand.” \n\n“As I approached her\, she said to Me\, “O respectable one\, tell me truthfully why You have come before me.” \n\n” I replied\, “O beautiful one\, I have come to get some sacred alms from you” -whereupon she angrily threw a dense lump of mud into My begging pot ! O Nārada\, I simply turned around and went back to My personal abode\, astonished at this fine brāhmanī’s peculiar mixture of great magnanimity and stinginess.” \n\n“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\, O Nāradajī\, 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?” \n\n“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 Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī.” \n\n“Hearing this\, she returned to her house. Eventually the demigods’ wives arrived there and in unison said\, “O beautiful one\, we have come to have your darfona. 0 auspicious one\, please open your door and let us see you.” \n\n“The lady replied\, “O 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 Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī. ” But not one of the wives responded.” \n\n“Later\, however\, they returned to the house\, and one of the wives nicely explained the sublime nature of this sacred Ekādaśī. 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\nNaga-patni. She was simply an ordinary lady.” \n\n“From then on the lady observed Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī\, 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 Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī\, both the lady and her new home in the spiritual world were at last radiantly splendid and lustrous with gold\, silver\, jewels\, and diamonds.” \n\n“O Nāradajī\, a person should not ostentatiously observe Ekādaśī 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.” \n\n“O Dālbhya Munī\,” Pulastya R̥ṣi concluded\, “one who properly observes the wonderful Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī 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 Ekādaśī 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 Godhead\, back home to the spiritual world.” \n\nThus ends the narration of the glories of Māgha-kṛṣṇa Ekādaśī\, or Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī\, from the Bhaviṣya-uttara Purāṇa.
URL:https://www.krsna.org/event/%e1%b9%a3a%e1%b9%ad-tila-ekadasi-vrata%e1%b9%81-magha-k%e1%b9%9b%e1%b9%a3%e1%b9%87a-pak%e1%b9%a3a/
CATEGORIES:Ekadashi,Festival
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.krsna.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Ṣaṭ-tila.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260129
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260130
DTSTAMP:20260425T223054
CREATED:20250422T123218Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250422T123411Z
UID:31254-1769644800-1769731199@www.krsna.org
SUMMARY:Jayā Ekādaśī Vrataṁ – Māgha śukla pakṣa
DESCRIPTION:Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja said\, “O Lord of lords\, Śrī Kṛṣṇa\, all glories unto You! O master of the universe\, You alone are the source of the four types of living entities-those born from eggs\, those born from perspiration\, those born from seeds\, and those born from embryos. You alone are the root cause of all\, O Lord\, and therefore You are the creator\, maintainer\, and destroyer. \n“My Lord\, You have so kindly explained to me the auspicious day known as Ṣaṭ-tilā Ekādaśī\, which occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of Māgha [January-February] . Now please explain the Ekādaśī that occurs during the light fortnight of this month. By what name is it known\, and what is the process for observing it? Who is the Deity that is worshiped on this sublime day\, which is so very dear to You?” \nLord Śrī Krsna replied\, “O Yudhiṣṭhira\, I shall gladly tell you about the Ekādaśī that occurs during the light half of the month of Māgha. This Ekādaśī obliterates all kinds of sinful reactions and demoniac influences affecting the spirit soul. It is known as Jayā Ekādaśī\, and the fortunate soul who observes a fast on this sacred day is relieved of the great burden of ghostly existence. Thus there is no better Ekādaśī than this\, for it truly bestows freedom from birth and death. It is to be honored very carefully and diligently. So I ask you to listen to Me very attentively\, 0 Pāṇḍava\, as I explain a wonderful historical episode regarding this Ekādaśī\, an episode I have already related in the Padmā Purāṇa. \n“Long\, long ago in the heavenly planets\, Lord Indra ruled his celestial kingdom very nicely\, and all the demigods living there were very happy and content . In Nandana Forest\, which was beautifully graced with pārijāta flowers\, Indra drank ambrosia whenever he liked and enjoyed the service of fifty million celestial maidens\, the Apsarās\, who danced in ecstasy for his pleasure. \n“Many singers\, led by Puṣpadanta\, sang in voices sweet beyond compare. Citrasena\, Indra’s chief musician\, was there in the company of his wife Mālinī and his beautiful son Mālyavān. An Apsara named Puṣpavatī became very much attracted to Mālyavān; indeed\, Cupid’s sharp arrows pierced the core of her heart. Her beautiful body and complexion\, along with the enchanting movements of her eyebrows\, captivated Mālyavān. \n“O king\, listen as I describe the splendid beauty of Puṣpavatī: She had incomparably graceful arms with which to embrace a man like a fine silken noose ; her face resembled the moon; her lotus eyes reached almost to her lovely ears\, which were adorned with wonderful earrings; her thin\, ornamented neck looked like a conch ; her waist was very slender\, the size of a fist; her hips were broad\, and her thighs like the trunks of banana trees ; her naturally beautiful features were complemented by gorgeous ornaments and garments ; her breasts were highly raised; and to look upon her feet was to behold newly grown red lotuses. \n“Seeing Puṣpavatī in all her heavenly beauty\, Malyavan was bewitched at once. They had come with other performers to please Lord Indra by singing and dancing enchantingly\, but because they had become so enamored of each other\, pierced through the heart by the arrows of Cupid\, lust personified\, they were utterly unable to sing or dance properly before the lord and master of the heavenly realms. Their pronunciation was wrong and their rhythm careless. Lord Indra understood the source of the errors at once. Offended at the discord in the musical performance\, he became very angry and screamed\, ‘You useless fools! You pretend to sing for me while in a stupor of infatuation with each other! You are mocking me! I curse you both to suffer henceforth as piśācas [hobgoblins] . As husband and wife\, go to the earthly regions and reap the reactions of your offenses.” \n“Struck dumb by these harsh words\, Mālyavān and Puṣpavatī at once became morose and fell from the beautiful Nandana Forest in the kingdom of heaven to a Himalayan peak here on planet earth. Immeasurably distressed\, and their celestial intelligence vastly diminished by the effects of Indra’ s fierce curse\, they lost their senses of taste and smell\, and even their sense of touch. It was so cold and miserable high on the Himalayan wastes of snow and ice that they could not even enjoy the oblivion of sleep. \n“Roaming aimlessly hither and thither in those harsh altitudes\, Mālyavān and Puṣpavatī suffered more and more\, from one moment to the next. Even though they were situated in a cave\, because of the snowfall and cold their teeth chattered ceaselessly\, and their hair stood on end because of their fright and bewilderment. \n“In this utterly desperate situation\, Mālyavān said to Puṣpavatī\, ‘What abominable sins did we commit to have to suffer in these piśāca bodies\, in this impossible environment? This is absolutely hellish! Though hell is very ferocious\, the suffering we are undergoing here is even more abominable. Therefore it is abundantly clear that one should never commit any sin.’ \n“And so the forlorn lovers trudged onward in the snow and ice. By their great good fortune\, however\, it so happened that that very day was Jayā Ekādaśī\, the Ekādaśī of the light fortnight of the month of Māgha. Because in their misery they neglected to drink any water\, kill any game\, or even eat whatever fruits and leaves were available at that altitude\, they unknowingly observed Ekādaśī by fasting completely from all food and drink. Sunk in misery\, Mālyavān and Puṣpavatī collapsed beneath a pipal tree and did not even try to get up. The sun had set by this time.” \n“The night was even colder and more miserable than the day. They shivered in the frigid snowfall as their teeth chattered in unison\, and when they became numb\, they embraced just to keep warm. Locked in each other’s arms\, they could enjoy neither sleep nor sex. Thus they suffered through the whole night under the powerful curse of Indra.” \n“Still\, O Yudhiṣṭhira\, by the mercy of the fast they had by chance observed on Jayā Ekādaśī\, and because they had remained awake all night\, they were blessed. Please hear what happened on the next day. As Dvādaśī dawned\, Mālyavān and Puṣpavatī had given up their demoniac forms and were once again beautiful heavenly beings wearing lustrous ornaments and exquisite garments. As they looked at each other in amazement \, a celestial airplane [vimāna) arrived on the spot. A chorus of heavenly denizens sang their praises as the couple stepped into the beautiful aircraft and proceeded directly to the heavenly regions\, buoyed up by the good wishes of everyone. Soon Mālyavān and Puṣpavatī arrived at Amarāvati\, Lord Indra’ s capital city\, and then they immediately went before their lord and offered him their cheerful obeisances. \n“Lord Indra was astonished to see that they had been restored to their original status and forms so soon after he had cursed them to suffer as demons far\, far below his celestial kingdom. Indra asked them\, ‘What extraordinary meritorious deeds have you performed so that you could give up your pisiica bodies so quickly after I had cursed you? Who released you from my irresistible curse?” \n“Mālyavān replied \, ‘O Lord\, it was by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead\, Lord Vāsudeva\, and also by the powerful influence of Jayā Ekādaśī\, that we were released from our suffering condition as piśāca. This is the truth\, O master : Because we executed devotional service to Lord Viṣṇu by observing Jayā Ekādaśī\, the day most dear to Him\, we have happily been restored to our former status.” \n“Indra said\, ‘Because you served the Supreme Lord Keśava by observing Ekādaśī\, you have become worshipable even by me\, and I can see that you are now completely purified of sin. Whoever engages in devotional service to Lord Śrī Harī or Lord Śiva becomes praiseworthy and worshipahle even by me. Of this there is no doubt .’ Lord Indra then gave Mālyavān and Puṣpavatī free rein to enjoy each other and wander about his heavenly planet.” \n“Therefore\, O Yudhiṣṭhira\, one should strictly observe a fast on the day of Lord Harī\, especially on Jayā Ekādaśī\, which frees one from the sin of killing even a twice-born brāhmaṇa. A great soul who observes this fast with full faith and devotion has in effect given all kinds of charity\, performed all kinds of sacrifice\, and bathed in all the holy places of pilgrimage. Fasting on Jayā Ekādaśī\, qualifies one to reside in Vaikuṇṭha and enjoy unending happiness for billions of yugas – indeed\, forever. O great king\, one who even hears or reads these glories of Jayā Ekādaśī achieves the blessed merit attained by performing an Agnistoma sacrifice\, during which hymns from the Sāma-veda are recited.” \n  \nThus ends the narration of the glories of Māgha-śukla Ekādaśī\, or Jayā Ekādaśī\, from the Bhaviṣya-uttara Purāṇa.
URL:https://www.krsna.org/event/jaya-ekadasi-vrata%e1%b9%81-magha-sukla-pak%e1%b9%a3a/
CATEGORIES:Ekadashi,Festival
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.krsna.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jaya_Ekadasi-1.jpg
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