Today is Harivasar Tithi. It is dear to Lord Hari. The benefits of practicing devotional forms, such as hearing and singing the glories of the Supreme Lord and His devotees, are more on Ekadashi Tithi as compared to other days. On top of that, if this Tithi is observed in any Dhama (places of spiritual significance) like Mathura Dham, Nabadwip Dham, Purushottam Dham, it will benefit millions of times more compared to if observed in other places. We cannot enter into the Dham with this material body. The Supreme Lord is transcendental, and likewise His Dham is also transcendental. Externally, to our material senses, Dham may also look like a place of this world, but it is not. As the Supreme Lord descends to this world, His Dham also descends here; Mahaprabhu advents, so does Nabadvip Dham, Krishna advents, so does Vrindavan Dham. Dham is not a part of this material world.

Wherever devotees sing the glories of the Supreme Lord is also a Dham. Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math is also Dham. Why? Because the objects of our worship, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Radha-Krishna, reside here. So this is also Dham. My Param Gurudev, the Gurudev of my Gurudev, Nityalila Pravisth Om Vishnupad 108 Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Thakur, came to Kolkata from Purushottam Dham. Kolkata in the Bengali language is pronounced as ‘Koli-kata’ (the place of Kali, quarrel), which got famous as Kolkata. My Param Gurudev, even while being in Kolkata, used to say, “I do not reside in Kolkata—the place of Kali (the place of irreligiosity)”, why? Because his worshipable object resides there. As He is beyond the three primeval qualities and transcendental, the place of His residence is also transcendental. Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math is also a Dham. It is not made up of the five gross elements namely: earth, fire, water, air, and ether, like any other place. This is also the appearance places of the Supreme Lord. If one observes the vow being here, the benefits will be a million times more. This is the place of Srila Gurudev. The benefits of observing Ekadashi vow at a place where devotees sing the glories of the Supreme Lord and His associates are a million times more than in other places. If you visit Kolkata Math and find the sankirtan-hall full with devotees, and if it is not Janmastami or Radhastami tithi or any appearance or disappearance day, then you do not have to refer to the panchang (Hindu calendar) to know which Tithi it is. That day must be Ekadashi Tithi. Those who stay far away from Math, as they cannot visit Math daily, come once in fifteen days on Ekadashi Tithi. They take darshan of Gurudev, Thakurji and participate in kirtans on Ekadashi and earn the benefits of fifteen days in just one day. It is less time, less energy and more profit—economics.

At the time of our Gurudev, the Karma-kandiya importance of Ekadashi was not being read. But one of my God-brothers began reading such instructions from one book.

The Karma-kandiya instructions were not read in the Math before. We were given instructions for chanting more Harinam on the special Tithi. This book was originally in Hindi language, but was later translated to the Bengali language, and then, after reading of these Karma-kandiya benefits, was introduced.

The purpose of mentioning such temporary benefits in the scriptures is to attract the conditioned souls of this world to observe Ekadashi-vrata, thinking about their eternal welfare. For example, when a child is sick, he must take some medicine to be cured. In my childhood days, as capsules were not available, one had to take medicine in the form of tablets only. But generally, children do not like to eat medicine as it tastes bitter. They like to eat ladoos, sugar candy or rasgulla, etc. So when a child is sick and taken to a doctor, the doctor gives him some medicine to cure his illness. Generally, the child refuses to take those medicines. At that time, the doctor and the child’s parents try to persuade him to take those medicines. Even if they warn him, saying that he might die if he does not take the medicines, still the boy will not be persuaded by their arguments. At that time, the doctor generally plays a trick. He inquiries from the parents about the eatable the child likes the most. If the child likes rasgulla then the doctor promises him to give it if he takes the medicine. So being tempted by such conditions, the child gets ready to take the medicine and gets cured of his disease. Here, the main purpose of the doctor is not to feed the child with rasgulla but to somehow make him take the medicine to cure his illness. In like manner, for foolish people like us who consider worldly things as our necessities, the Karma-kandiya section of scriptures mentions material benefits for following Ekadashi-vrata to tempt us with those benefits in order to make us observe the vrata.

Vedavyasa Muni wrote about dharma, artha, kama and moksha, which the conditioned souls feel as their necessities. Even after writing so many scriptures, he did not have peace or satisfaction in his heart. Ultimately, he wrote Srimad Bhagavatam on the order of Narad Goswami and attained eternal peace. Narad Goswami instructed him,

jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ
svabhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ
yad-vākyato dharma itītaraḥ sthito
na manyate tasya nivāraṇaṁ janaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.15)

“You have done the most abominable work. All the conditioned souls already incline to non-eternal desires with non-eternal ego, and you have encouraged them in that way in the name of religion. As they are guided under your instructions, they will accept such activities in the name of religion and will hardly care for any prohibitions.

Vyasadev Muni says to Narad Goswami, “I have written about salvation also.”

“It is even more abominable. You have completely closed the path for them to reach the Supreme Lord. You have deprived them of getting Krishna-prema for eternal time.”

“I have spoken about Him in Mahabharat, in the Gita”

“No, it will not work, you have to write for His satisfaction. You have to sing the glories of Krishna to please Him. In the Gita, you have written it with some other motives.”

And after writing Srimad Bhagavatam, Vyasadev obtained eternal peace.

What are the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
(Sri Caitanya Charitamrita Antya-lila 20.29)

“Say from the heart, speaking from the mouth will not work, “I do not want wealth”. But we speak from the mouth, not from the heart. We do not have the faith that the Supreme Lord is the protector and maintainer. Say from your heart, ‘na dhanam’.

The Lord says, “You blame Me saying that I am not showering My mercy on you”.

You first say, “I do not want wealth, wife, children, scholarship or even salvation”.

“What do you want?

“I want Your causeless devotion. I want You only”

It is said,‘bhava grahi janardhan’—the Supreme Lord sees what is inside our heart; He does not see what we speak externally.

He is residing in the heart. We can cheat the whole world, but not Him. If we think that we can cheat Him, then as our Swami Maharaj says, we are fool number one. The Supreme Lord knows everything, so we have to speak from the heart.

The material benefits of observing Ekadashi are mentioned in Karma-kandiya scriptures, but we should not observe vows for such material gains. If someone advises to observe Ekadashi-vrata to any ordinary person, he would say, “I cannot follow a vrata like this, I might die without food.” But if a rich person comes and declares that he would give five lakh rupees to a person who will observe a complete fast and perform Kirtan for the full day and night without sleeping, then everyone of us will get ready for it immediately. Everyone will get ready to perform fasting for five lakh rupees but not for the Supreme Lord! So the Supreme Lord is less valuable than five lakh rupees! If you think like that, then you do not know Him.

yasmin prāpte sarvam idam prāptam bhavati
yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati
(Mundaka Upanishad 1.3)

“By knowing and gaining Whom, we will know and gain everything.”

Our Param Gurudev and Gurudev did not write any such book which describes material benefits for observing such vows. This has been brought from outside, and therefore I had to write at the beginning of the book itself (in the preface) that the topics discussed in this book do not represent pure devotion.

Our sins cannot be destroyed fully by Karma-kandiya processes. Where do you find the evidence for this? It is there in Srimad Bhagavatam. What are the basis of the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?

ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa tanayas tad dhāma vṛndāvanaṁ
ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū vargeṇa yā kalpitā
śāstraṁ bhāgavatam pramāṇam amalaṁ prema pumārtho mahān
śrī caitanya mahāprabhor matam idaṁ tatrādaro naḥ para
(from Chaitanya-manjusha, a commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam)

“According to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, you are to worship Vrajeswara—The son of Nanda Maharaj. Vrajendra means Nanda Maharaj, the King of Nanda-bhavan, Gokul Mahavan. Sri Krishna, Son of Nanda-Maharaj, is the highest object of worship. His transcendental abode is Vrindavan. (Who are the best worshipers of the Vrajendranandan Krishna?) The mode of worship of the gopis is the best—madhurya rasa. (Is there any evidence?) You will find the evidence for this in Srimad Bhagavatam, the quintessence of all scriptures. It substantiates this view. (What is the highest attainment?) The highest objective, the highest end of life is Krishna-prema—Divine Love.”

Mahaprabhu came to preach the message of Srimad Bhagavatam, which is all about pure devotion. In the 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there comes the description of different types of hellish planets (Naraka). In our childhood, we had seen some pictures of such hellish planets. Two people are cutting into two pieces, the head of a person with an axe. We used to get scared after seeing those pictures. When I asked why they are doing so, I was told that performing such and such sin will result in such a fate. Another picture showed a huge cooking pan filled with hot oil and living beings inside about to be fried in that oil. There is one more such planet, which is called ‘kumbipaka-naraka’. It is full of crocodiles, serpents, scorpions and other insects. The person will be left there to reap the fruits of his actions. Nowadays, they don’t show such pictures, but we were shown them. People these days do not have faith in such instructions. They do not believe in the teachings imparted by the Supreme Lord. So they are not afraid of doing even abominable sins.

When Pariksit Maharaj heard the description of such hellish planets, he thought, “I also have done a sinful act. When I requested water, Samik Muni did not respond. I put a dead snake on his neck. I committed an offense against him. His son then cursed me that I will be killed by a snake-bite after seven days.”

He then asked Sukadeva Goswami, “Is there any rescue for a person who has already done some sinful acts?”

Sukadeva Goswami replied, “Yes.”

“What is that?”

“One should do atonement to get rid of the results of the sinful activities.”

Different sins have different types of atonement. As all the sinful activities are not the same, the prescribed atonements are also different. For example, if someone kills a cat, then as atonement, he will have to observe Chandrayan-vrata for one month. He will have to bear the pain of observing that vow. And he will have to give a salt equivalent to the weight of the cat to charity. But if someone kills a cow, then along with Chandrayan-vrata, he will have to give the gold equivalent to the weight of the cow in charity. So in this way, the more intense the sinful activity, the more intense is the atonement to become rescued from it.

Listening to Sukadeva Goswami’s instructions, Pariksit Maharaj said,

śrī-rājovāca
dṛṣṭa-śrutābhyāṁ yat pāpaṁ
jānann apy ātmano ’hitam
karoti bhūyo vivaśaḥ
prāyaścittam atho katham

kvacin nivartate ’bhadrāt
kvacic carati tat punaḥ
prāyaścittam atho ’pārthaṁ
manye kuñjara-śaucavat
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.9-10)

A person committed theft and thus was jailed for it. He lost his reputation in society. He saw as well as heard that only his action is to be responsible for whatever has happened. But even after seeing or hearing he may commit theft and get punished again and again. So what is the fruit of such seeing or hearing if he cannot restrain himself from committing such activity?

There is one example in this context. One person got the position of a judge. But his father has a habit of stealing. The son does not like this act of his father. He said, “Whatever you need, I will give you. But, please stop stealing.” But his father had gotten into the habit of stealing. So he then bought a large amount of land and constructed a few houses on it, and told his father that if you desired to steal, then go from one house to another and steal whatever you wanted, but do not go outside. His father agreed to it.

It may sometimes be seen that the human being may stop committing the sinful activity after performing proper prayaschitta (atonement), but in other places it is seen that he commits the same sinful activities repeatedly even after making atonements each time.

Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur mentioned in his commentary that even if someone relinquishes a sinful activity in his young age, he may commit that sin in his old age due to the seed of the sin not being removed from his heart.

Pariksit Maharaj compared such atonements with the bathing of elephants. We see that an elephant goes to bathe with his wives and children. But after bathing, when he comes to the bank of the bathing pool, he smears his body, as well as the bodies of associates, with mud. So what is the use of such bathing? Similarly, if one undergoes atonement after committing a sinful activity and repeatedly commits the same sinful activity again and again, then performing such atonement is compared to bathing an elephant. Is there any process which eradicates the propensity of committing sin?

Then Sukadeva Goswami says that the Karma-kandiya atonement process is for common people. There is a higher process than this.

śrī-bādarāyaṇir uvāca
karmaṇā karma-nirhāro
na hy ātyantika iṣyate
avidvad-adhikāritvāt
prāyaścittaṁ vimarśanam
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.11)

“Sukadeva Goswami, the son of Vedavyas Rishi, said, “My dear King, since acts meant to neutralize impious actions are also fruitive, they will not release one from the tendency to act fruitively. Persons who subject themselves to the rules and regulations of atonement are not at all intelligent. Indeed, they are in the mode of darkness. Unless one is freed from the mode of ignorance, trying to counteract one action through another is useless because this will not uproot one’s desires. Thus, even though one may superficially seem pious, one will undoubtedly be prone to act impiously. Therefore, real atonement is enlightenment in perfect knowledge, Vedanta, by which one understands the Supreme Absolute Truth.”

Fruitive activities cannot counter the tendency of acting fruitively. The external potency of the Supreme Lord is made up of three primeval qualities, namely: satva, rajo and tamo. The rajo-gun is responsible for creation, satva-gun for maintenance, and tamo-gun is for destruction. Satva-gun has knowledge in it, rajo-gun has both knowledge as well as ignorance and tamo-gun has ignorance only. The sins performed in the mode of tamo-gun cannot be removed by pious activities performed in satva-gun. So if one has this ego that he atoned for a sinful activity he committed, then that ego is a false ego. The mode of goodness that makes one atone for the sinful activity he committed in the modes of passion or ignorance is futile since all three modes are generated out of ignorance, and one type of ignorance cannot remove another type of ignorance. The root of the sinful activity cannot be removed by performing such atonements. It requires the realization of the soul. But we consider ourselves to be the body. How can we get the realization of our soul?

nāśnataḥ pathyam evānnaṁ
vyādhayo ’bhibhavanti hi
evaṁ niyamakṛd rājan
śanaiḥ kṣemāya kalpate
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.12)

Sukadeva Goswami says, “My dear King, if a diseased person eats the pure, uncontaminated food prescribed by a physician, he is gradually cured, and will not be attacked by any new disease because of the infection he had. Similarly, for realizing the soul, one will have to follow the regulative principles of knowledge.”

tapasā brahmacaryeṇa
śamena ca damena ca
tyāgena satya-śaucābhyāṁ
yamena niyamena vā

deha-vāg-buddhijaṁ dhīrā
dharmajñāḥ śraddhayānvitāḥ
kṣipanty aghaṁ mahad api
veṇu-gulmam ivānalaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.13-14)

“One will have to do penance. He will have to follow Brahmacharya (celibacy). One will have to serve the spiritual master. It is not good to take only benefits from parents, Rishi-munis, other living entities, and demigods. One has to serve them. One has to keep oneself clean by following the regulative principles of cleanliness. Viswanath Chakravarti Thakur has commented on this, saying one has to be clean internally from the heart. One should avoid violence and chant the given Mantras following particular rules for it. Then one will get the realization of the soul. And as the fire burns the bamboo tree completely, all the sins will be burnt by the fire of knowledge.”

In this context, Maharaja Pariksit asked Sukadeva Goswami the following question, “You mentioned that as and when a forest of bamboo trees gets destroyed when the trees catch fire, the sins of a sinful man get destroyed by performing atonement. But the roots of the bamboo trees remain under the mud, and if rainwater falls on them, they again sprout into fresh bamboo trees. So there is still a reason to worry because performing atonement cannot remove the root cause of committing sin completely. Is there any process following which the root cause of committing sins will be removed? Please instruct me about that process.

Sukadeva Goswami replied, “Yes, there is one process which eradicates the root cause of all the sins.”

kecit kevalayā bhaktyā
vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ
aghaṁ dhunvanti kārtsnyena
nīhāram iva bhāskaraḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.15)

"If a person takes absolute shelter at the lotus feet of Supreme Lord Vasudeva, then that one pointed devotion to Him will uproot the weeds of sinful actions from him, as the sun dissipates the dew drops that are collected over plants and flowers at night by its rays.”

In this process, any possibility of reviving those weeds will not remain. If you take shelter of gyan (knowledge), yoga (mystic performances) etc., then there is a chance of falling down. The lives of Saubhari Rishi and Vishvamitra Rishi are examples of this. Saubhari Rishi tried to control his senses by meditating, being completely submerged in water. Despite such severe austerity, he faced a spiritual fall. He saw the mating of fish in water and got the desire to associate with a woman. He got married to fifty daughters of King Mandhata. Mahayogi Vishvamitra fell after having a sight of Menaka. Until you have tasted the higher mellows, you cannot leave the attachment for lower tastes. Maya can attract you by any means. There it is said in the above verse, kevalayā bhaktyā—only by devotion. Devotion is the foundation.

na tathā hy aghavān rājan
pūyeta tapa-ādibhiḥ
yathā kṛṣṇārpita-prāṇas
tat-puruṣa-niṣevayā
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6. 1. 16)

“A sinful person never gets purified by any other means like undergoing austerities, karma-kanda (the process of atonement) or gyan-kanda (the process of knowledge), to the extent he gets purified by pure devotion or by being surrendered to the Supreme Lord. And how will one get that devotion? By tat-puruṣa-niṣevayā—serving the surrendered devotees.”

If one associates with a bona fide pure devotee who has completely surrendered himself to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, then ‘surrender’, which is the natural propensity of the soul, will manifest. If all are sleeping, then who will wake up the others? If one person is awake, then he can awaken thousands of people. Similarly, a surrendered soul, an awakened soul, can awaken thousands of sleeping souls.

In this sixth canto of Bhagavatam, there comes the narration of Ajamil. He was a Brahmin with all the twelve prescribed qualities in him. Once he saw a prostitute and became attracted to her. He started associating with her. He then left his parents and wife and spent all the money he had on her. He did not even think about maintaining his parents. He was eighty and had ten sons by that prostitute. To maintain his livelihood, he started performing all the abominable activities. He named his tenth son ‘Narayan’ due to some pious activity of his previous births. He was extremely attached to his youngest son. He used to repeatedly call him out of affection like “Hey Narayan, don’t go there, go with me”, “sit with me “, “eat with me “, “sleep with me.” He never left Narayan alone. Finally, the time for his death approached. He committed so many sins throughout his life. There are three types of sins a person commits in his life—sins committed by body, mind and words. And therefore, three messengers of death (Yamadutas) come to take the person to the place of Yamaraj (the King of death).

There are three people whom I know who have seen Yamadutas. Two of them are dead, but one is still alive. He stays in Nabadwip. His name is Khitija. When he was fourteen years old, Yamadutas came and forcefully dragged him onto the road to Yamaloka. After they arrived at Yamaloka, the person saw that one by one, all those who were taken there were presented in the assembly of Yamaraj to decide their punishments, like the accused are presented in the court. He was also present there. He was very much afraid. And here in his house, all were crying and preparing his dead body to take to the crematorium for his last rites. In Yamaloka, when he was presented in the assembly, it came out that he was taken there mistakenly in place of an old man with the same name as he had. So they then brought him back to this world. And here, his relatives were about to throw him into the fire. Suddenly his body started moving, and all became afraid, considering him as a ghost. The boy said, “I am not a ghost, I am alive“. They then brought him back to his house. Thus, he had seen the abode of Yama. Later, that boy could not stay in his house; he came to Sridhar Maharaj, and he narrated all his experiences to him. He was then instructed by Sridhar Maharaj on what the real aim of a human life is. And then he took Harinam initiation from him and started practicing devotion. He did not return to his house after.

Another incident happened in Assam in a village close to our Sarbhog Math. There was a wealthy man who took Diksha initiation from Srila Prabhupada. But his family members did not follow any rules and regulations of bhakti and consumed all sorts of non-vegetarian foods like meat, fish, eggs, etc. By associating with them, he too started consuming those prohibited eatables and thus gradually lost all his taste for sadhu-sanga. His mind became contaminated. He fell from his spiritual path. Seven or eight years passed by when he was attacked by a disease. So he was on his deathbed when he saw a dangerous sight. He said that he saw some people come (Yamadutas) and took him away after binding him. They started dragging him on a road filled with pointed stones which prick one’s foot as soon as one keeps it on them. After that, he saw a more horrific sight. Those fishes, birds, etc, which he ate were approaching him by making sounds. He immediately realized the reason behind his plight. The Yamadutas ordered those creatures, “Do not come now. Let us bind him up properly to this tree, and then you all can feast on him as you wish. He will not be able to escape.” The Yamadutas continued to bind him, and he recognized all those creatures who were waiting on all sides to feast on him. After seeing this scene, he got very scared. He had once performed Vraja Mandala Parikrama with Srila Prabhupad, and he remembered that scene suddenly in that most frightful situation. He started crying out, “Krishna Balaram! Krishna Balaram! ….Gurudev! Gurudev !!….” and instantly all those creatures along with the Yamadutas disappeared. He sat up on his bed in sound health. Everyone exclaimed, “Are you a ghost?” to which he said, “No, I am not a ghost. You people have ruined me. You all couldn’t save me. It was my Gurudev who saved me, and so I won’t listen to you all. Give me back my Tulsi beads, which I wear on my neck.” They said, “Oh, he has gone mad”. He continued, “Go and bring my Japamala (chanting beads) and call all the devotees here. I will serve them again.” From that time onwards, he used to go for Nabadwip-dham-parikrama every year and also in whichever year there was Vraja Mandala Parikrama, he used to participate in that too. He also constructed a room for our Gurudev in Sarbhog Math along with a washroom, etc.

Here, Ajamila saw the fearsome figures of the Yamadutas at the time of his death. Ajamila became scared by seeing them. They started attracting him to take his soul out of his body. At that time, he was thinking of his youngest son Narayan, and called out his name loudly out of fear ‘Narayan! Narayan!’ By calling out the names, he got the remembrance of Lord Vishnu. Thus, there was Sanketik Namabhash (glow of the Holy Name), and immediately four messengers of Lord Vishnu (Vishnudutas) arrived there. Ajamila has been freed from the sins of not only this birth but millions of previous births by his performing Namabhash and doors for the liberation opened for him.

Here, so many material benefits of observing Ekadashi-vrata are mentioned like, one will get a place in Swarga—the upper planetary system, etc., but Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita,

kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 9.21)

“After the fruits of the pious activities are exhausted, one has to come back to this mortal world.”

Mahaprabhu has not come to give us some temporary benefits like places in Jana-loka, Tapa-loka, etc. He has come to give us the topmost attainment, the Divine Love to the Supreme Lord. We should observe Ekadashi for the topmost attainment, the causeless devotion to Him. Our Gurudev, Paramgurudeva and Guruvarga also instructed us to follow the path of pure devotion. They did not instruct us about the Karma-kandiya aspects of following Vratas. The material benefits mentioned in the Karma-kanda scriptures are to attract common people to follow such vows. But those instructions are not for us. They are all temporary benefits.

So you should keep the names of your children based on names of the Supreme Lord. But nowadays, I have seen many places, people keep the names like Pinky, Montu, Ghontu, Bibli, Tibli, etc. Suppose a person keeps the name of a child as Bibli and he is always calling her by that name, and then at the time of death, when the Yamadutas arrive by seeing their fearful forms, he calls out the name ‘Bibli…Bibli..Bibli’ loudly. The Yamadutas will come, grab him, and take him away. But, if you keep the name of your child as Govind, Krishna, Madhusudan or any name that represents the Lord, then you will be rescued. Ajamila committed many sinful activities, but he did not blaspheme any Vaishnava. But if someone is an offender to Vishnu and Vaishanava, then the name of the Supreme Lord will not come out of him. A topmost sinner can get the grace of the Holy Name if he has not done any offense to any Vaishnava, but a person with numerous pious activities cannot get it if he has committed offenses to Vaishnavas.