Email posted to acbspn mailinglist
prior to Nirjala Ekadashi 2003
 

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Dear brave devotees,
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my respectful pranam. All glories to Ekadashi. All glories to Lord Krishna.
All glories to Lord Krishna's Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.

As you know, tomorrow is Nirjala Ekadashi.

Why I referred to you as "brave" is because even after having followed Nirjala Ekadashi for a decade, I am still scared about tomorrow. I am still thinking, "how am I going to do it" "will I be able to make it", "it is peak summer and so hot in Mumbai, how can I stay without water". I am even thinking about different methods of cheating Lord Krishna inspite of Him being in everybody's heart as "parmatma", the all knowing Supersoul.

I thought:

1. I will spend the whole day in my office's Air Conditioned cabin. That way the lesser heat I feel, the lesser the need for quenching thirst will be!
    

2. or I will eat all kind of oily and junk food tonight so that tomorrow whole day my stomach will be upset and thus there will be no hunger!
    

3. or I will wait till 11:30 pm tonight and then have a major big feast and drink 2 liters of cold water finishing just before midnight. That way the austerity for tomorrow will be little lesser.
    

4. or tomorrow whole day I will just simply sleep. That way no hunger or thirst will torment me!
    

5. I wish I had my own airplane which I would take in westward direction for a direct round trip of our planet so that, I am always ahead on time and by the time I reach back to my city, one day would have already passed in my city and thus I would never have faced Nirjala Ekadashi!

Pure genius! Isn't it? :-(

I am trying to match my wits against that of Supreme Lord!  Vah re vah bhaiya!

Instead of all these jugglery I wish I would meditate something like:

1. Oh, tomorrow is Nirjala Ekadashi.  Wow! What a wonderful opportunity.

2. I had to wait 1 whole year to get this chance. If I miss this opportunity then the next time I get the chance will be after another one whole year. Who knows where I will be that time in what position and condition, how will be my health or job stress/responsibilities that time. Who knows I will be able to do it that time or not. So let me tighten my belt and take full advantage of tomorrow's God given opportunity. (literally!)

I WILL JUST GO AHEAD AND DO IT. I WILL NOT LOOK FOR ANY EXCUSES. I WILL NOT LET ANYTHING ELSE BOG ME DOWN. I AM DOING IT FOR PLEASING GOD... IN THIS PROCESS I DON'T MIND A LITTLE WHATEVER DISCOMFORT I MAY FACE. AFTERALL IT IS MY PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, EVERYTHING I DO WILL ONLY BE LESS.

3. First I must thank Lord Krishna that He so kindly has provided me this very special opportunity to remember Him with gratitude. This special Ekadashi process helps me and those whom I care-for the most. It is for our own spiritual purification and rapid advancement.

4. Ahhhh.... finally here is *THE* day which I can use for totally dedicating my time in staying (vaas) closer (upa) [upa+vaas="upavaas"] to Lord Krishna.

5. If I were to madly fall in love with a person of opposite gender and was immersed in complete remembrance of him/her remembering that person, about how he/she looks, what he/she does, what all dress he/she wears, how he/she talks, how he/she smiles, what nice things he/she said, what wonderful and attractive things he/she did once in this place and once in that place, how some people were praising him/her for his/her wonderful qualities, what beautiful praises where those.

Why not?, he/she is indeed worthy of appreciation and praise. Oh I love him/her so much...   thoughts and meditation like this may come.  If I were to only immerse myself in similar meditation about Lord Krishna then I am sure automatically I will not feel hunger or thirst. Being immersed in mediation of His sweet pastimes I will automatically not be tormented by any bodily "needs" including sleep!

6. Let me meditate on the Supreme Absolute Being. The master, creator, controller, owner, maintainer of all that exists. Let me behold the wondrous beauty of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna who dazzles even the cupid. (kandarpa koti kamaniya vishesha sobham [spoken by Lord Brahma in Sri Brahma Samhita] --> "if even millions of cupids were to be put together, they would swoon in ecstasy and faint beholding the molten beauty of Lord Krishna"

7. Let me meditate on the activities of Sri Hari the Supreme Personality of Godhead which are constantly praised with uttamaslokas (choicest poetry) by the perfected sages and great devotees like mother Kunti, sage Narada, Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma, Lord Indra, Brihaspati, the seven sages and the four Kumaras.

8. Let me meditate on Him who is the only shelter of all who are tormented by the repeated cycle of birth, oldage, disease and death. The Supreme Lord who is the Lord of all Lords as confirmed by all the 33 Crores demigods in their personal samhitas, puranas, upa-puranas and agamas. May that Lord Hari who is to be compulsorily first offered the bhoga to in His form as SHALIGRAM SHILA before the prasad (mercy food) is offered to any demigod, be he Lord Shiva or his son or wife Lord Ganesha or mother Durga or any another demigod or demigoddess.

9. May I always meditate on that Supreme being Sri Vishnu whose shelter and protection is sought by one and all, be it the king of demigods Lord Indra, the creator of demigods Lord Brahma, the spiritual master of demigods Sriman Brihaspati or even be the master of the demigods and the asuras and the annihilator of the universe the great Lord Maheshvara himself.  The puranas are replete with tens of thousands of such stories where *EVERYTIME* anyone in this creation is in deep trouble, their final shelter is only the one and only SRI VISHNU, the Jagatraya, Jagannivasa, Jagannatha, Janardana who is but a plenary expansion of Lord Krishna as confirmed in Padma Purana, Srimad Bhagavatam and almost every other purana. "ete cha amsa kala pumsa, krishnas to bhagavan svayam", "ishwara parama krishna sacidananda vigraha", and confirmed by Himself in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "aham sarvasya prabhavo, matah sarvam pravartate". "aham beej prada pita" etc.

10. May that infallible Supreme Being Sri Achyuta, the master of the senses Hrsikesha, the object of the senses Govinda, the master of the cows Gopala, the Lord of Vrindavan that Gopinatha, the ultimate shelter of His devotees Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu be my constant meditation. ***===>> May I always think about Him, meditate on Him, chant His holy names, hear about Him, read about Him, sing about Him, pray to Him and speak about Him. May I read out about Him to my friends, May I talk about Him to my friends, colleagues, relatives and to all known and unknown people, May I give out [sell/gift] a book of Srila Prabhupada (all of which purely describe Sri Krishna's undisputed authority and dominion over the entire creation) to one and all without discrimination.<<===***

NOTE: Round the year, the daily observation of the 7 regulative principals of 4 don'ts and the 3 dos will help me follow this and other Ekadashis very nicely.

May I be thus engaged fully in this Pandava Nirjala Ekadashi and have no time left to think about food, water, rest, sleep or personal sense gratification. May I be fully KRISHNA CONSCIOUS atleast for this one day of the entire year.

Let me COMPLETELY dedicate myself this Nirjala Ekadashi for Lord Krishna. I will have no other master to whom I will serve tomorrow. NO ONE ELSE -- not even my boss, my friends or even my mind.

On Dwadashi at the appropriate break-fast time (as applicable to my city, calendar available at: http://www.iskcon.org/calendar/vcal401.zip) I will break my previous day's fast with charnamrita (the water <with tulasi leaves> used for bathing the photo or deity of Lord Krishna> and take some other simple fruit juice or butter milk prasadam.

Charged up by the constant meditation of my dear Lord the previous day, I will then prepare my best feast for Lord Krishna and offer it to Him as maha-bhog decorated with Tulasi leaf (if Tulasi is not physically available, then do it mentally) with the minimum of the following mantras:

Srila Prabhupada's pranaami mantra <guru mantra>:

nama om vishnu paadaaya krishna preshthaaya bhu tale
shrimate bhaktivedaanta swaamin iti naamine

namaste saarasvate deve gaura vaani prachaarine
nirvisheshya sunya vaadi paaschatya desha taarine


Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's pranaami mantra <gaura mantra>:

shri krishna chaitanya prabhu nityaananda
shri advaita gadaadhar srivaas-aadi gaura bhakta vrinda


The Hare Krishna Mahamantra <Sri Sri radha-krishna mantra>:

hare krishna hare krishna
krishna krishna hare hare
hare raama hare raama
raama raama hare hare

<mahamantra chanted minimum 3 times, but appropriately for 108 times>

[Hear sample audio of the three mantras]

Ofcourse my cooked feast will be strictly vegetarian and it will be also free of Onion and Garlic <Lord Krishna doesn't eat tamasic items>

I will offer this feast to the Lord in His own plate, exactly like in my home I have my own exclusive plate. I will not contaminate the Lord's plate and utensils by using my utensil cleaning parphernalia for Him. Everything of His is exclusive for Him alone! :-)

After offering Him the boga for a decent period of time (that may take for a person to finish his meals), I will then remove the bhoga items, transfer it to my utensils and then stowing away the Lord's paraphernalia, I and my loved ones will immerse myself with tears in our eyes in relishing the Supreme Lord's Maha-Prasadam feast!

Such is the causeless mercy of Lord Krishna.

All glories to Lord Krishna!

All glories to Sri Ekadashi Mahotsav.

All glories to Pandava/Bhima Nirjala Ekadashi.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his children at the ACBSPN.COM mailing list.

I am a very foolish and arrogant person, I know inspite of all this talk, I am still nervous for tomorrows Ekadashi. Let me approach this "Day of Lord Hari" (Ekadashi) with reverence, gratitude and humility and not bungle it up as I do for everything in my life.

Seeking your support and good wishes,

yours in service of Srila Prabhupada
Avadhut das
Webmaster ACBSPN.COM
Hare Krishna!

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