Āmalakī Ekādaśī appears in the month of Phālguna (February/March) during the bright fortnight. Āmalakī refers to the amla fruit, which is also known as the dhātrī. Dhanvantari, the twelfth incarnation of the Lord and the founder of Ayurveda, describes the amla fruit to be like a mother or nursemaid (dhātrī). If you regularly take amla, as a juice or powder, your health will be protected, like a mother protects her children.
Other vratas and forms of tapasyā cheat the jīvas, but Ekādaśī-devī never cheats. As amla protects the body like a mother, Āmalakī Ekādaśī protects the soul. She especially appears by Kṛṣṇa’s order to help all conditioned souls, even those who are very weak in following bhakti. The conditioned souls have uncontrolled senses and are always running here and there. Their minds are constantly restless, and they have so much karma from past lives. They have no strength to remove the anarthas arising from past sins, previous pious activities, offenses, and in relation to bhakti. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa kindly sends Ekādaśī-tithi every fifteen days.
The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (2.5) states: “Śṛṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putrā—hear me, all you sons of immortality.” All jīvas are God’s sons, His parts and parcels. God thinks about the jīvas and how they can be saved from suffering in māyā, but the jīvas don’t like to think about God. Ekādaśī-devī inspires the jīvas to know that their well-wisher is only God.
The jīvas take birth in this world, but afterwards they don’t have anyone to truly take care of them, to help them come out of the material world. With more affection than a million mothers, Ekādaśī-devī comes to those jīvas who are doing sādhana, striving to become clean and lovingly serve God. She sees that these sādhakas have not realized their soul’s senses, that their spiritual senses have not been born or begun to grow, and thus she sends them to sādhu-saṅga, where they perform śravaṇa, kīrtana and the limbs of bhakti, and by this, the sādhakas steadily develop.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī writes that when you start the process of bhakti, first the jīva develops a little faith, and then goes to sādhu-saṅga and begins the process of bhajana. Gradually, anarthas are diminished, and niṣṭhā, firm faith, develops, up to the point of pure taste in bhakti and finally bhāva, divine ecstasy. But you must start with sādhu-saṅga, saintly association is paramount in the development of bhakti.
Ekādaśī-devī, as the mother of spiritual awakening, is present with the sādhakas at the time of their soul’s birth. How is the conditioned jīva freed of bondage and spiritually born? Śrī Guru is like our father, and gives us dīkṣā. And the gāyatrī-mantra is our mother. Ekādaśī-devī is the dhātrī, like a nursemaid in the birth of the soul.
When one takes shelter of an ācārya, he gives the gāyatrī-mantra, and if one takes shelter of mother Gāyatrī, then by her causeless mercy, one will be spiritually born. Who takes care of the new baby soul? Kṛṣṇa mercifully sends Ekādaśī-devī. She is more qualified than a million mothers.
In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.1.17), Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described six stages that come after the spiritual birth of the soul, when bhakti awakens in the heart.
kleśa-ghnī śubhadā mokṣa-laghutā-kṛt sudurlabhā sāndrānanda-viśeṣātmā śrī-kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī ca sā
[(1) Bhakti-devī destroys all kinds of distress; (2) she awards all kinds of good fortune; (3) she makes the pleasure of impersonal liberation appear insignificant; (4) she is rarely achieved; (5) her nature is imbued with the most intense and superlative pleasure; (6) and she is the sole means to attract Śrī Kṛṣṇa.] Kleśa-ghnī, or the stage of destruction of all kinds of suffering, begins with the removal of pañca-kleśa, the five causes of misery, namely: ignorance (avidyā), false ego (asmitā), mundane attachment (rāga), aversion (dveṣa), and absorption in material objects (abhiniveśa). This can be an extremely painful process. When one starts bhajana and seriously chanting the gāyatrī-mantras, then many problems arise. The body creates many obstacles, the mind rebels, and family members are displeased and try to stop the sādhaka. They say, “Why are you leaving us? Why are you running after God?” Ekādaśī-devī comes by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy to help that sādhaka and protect him from all such obstacles. Next, as one continues steadily in the stage of sādhana-bhakti, all auspiciousness arises. This is known as subhadā. However, along with this come respect, name, fame, popularity, wealth, and followers. This stage is more dangerous than the first. We must remain ever vigilant, not develop false pride, and remain fixed in our spiritual practice. In times of distress, we do not lose sight of the goal, indeed, it becomes more attractive. We yearn to be freed of suffering and situated in pure bhakti. But when we are surrounded by opulence and followers, we can easily forget the real goal and become corrupted. So we must be very careful. If we always stay under the shelter of and pray to Ekādaśī-devī, she will protect us in this stage as well. The stages of kleśa-ghnī and subhadā are described to be like the first two, tender leaves, that sprout from the devotional creeper, risen in the heart. These two leaves are very fragile and can be easily destroyed. By the mercy of Ekādaśī-devī, our fragile, sprouting devotion will be protected, like a mother protects her newborn. Next come the stages of mokṣa-laghutā-kṛt and sudurlabhā. Before the awakening of bhāva the jīva still on some level desires liberation. However, at the awakening of bhāva one realizes that mukti is insignificant. Ekādaśī-devī kindly removes the desire for mukti and gives us entrance into the most rare, or sudurlabhā, school of bhāva-bhakti. Ekādaśī-devī does not give the insignificant happiness of impersonal liberation, nor mundane pleasure, or any kind of material sense pleasure. She gives pure loving devotion. When spiritual bliss blooms in the heart, one forgets all his previous suffering in material existence. Ekādaśī-devī helps us cross beyond all lesser paths of happiness and urges us forward to the perfection of our spiritual form, or svarūpa-siddhi. Upon the attainment of svarūpa-siddhi, one will be astonished, “Before, my material body was ugly, old, and deformed, but now I am a beautiful youth in a spiritual body.” At this stage, one’s spiritual beauty and love attracts even the supremely beautiful, all-attractive Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa, (8.138-324) Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura describes the pastimes of Mahāprabhu on Ekādaśī:śrī hari-vāsare hari-kīrtana-vidhana nṛtya ārambhilā prabhu jagatera prāṇa
puṇyavanta śrīvāsa-aṅgane śubhāramba uṭhilō kīrtana-dvani gopāla govinda
Mahāprabhu invites everyone to follow Ekādaśī, and in Kali-yuga the best way to follow Ekādaśī is by the performance of harināma-saṅkīrtana. When kīrtana begins, Mahāprabhu starts to dance ecstatically, showering everyone with bhakti-rasa and vraja-rasa. If poor people suddenly receive great wealth, they could lose it all, not knowing how to use it properly. Training is therefore necessary. Mahāprabhu thus teaches the bhaktas by His own example of absorption in saṅkīrtana.mṛdaṅga-mandirā bāje śaṅkha-karatāla saṅkīrtana-saṅge saba hôilô miśāla
brahmāṇḍa bhedilo dhvani pūriyā ākāśa caudikera amaṅgala jāya saba nāśa
The sounds of the mṛdaṅga, conch, karatāla, singing, and dancing, all mix together during the mahā-saṅkīrtana. As the Lord starts kīrtana in Kali-yuga, everything inauspicious in the four directions is annihilated. Kali Mahārāja flees in fear to his sanctums where gambling, drinking, prostitution, and animal slaughter are practiced. Mahāprabhu and His followers started this kīrtana movement, and especially Śrīla Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja spread it everywhere, making adharma run far away. Wherever the pure rasa of mahā-saṅkīrtana flows, Gaurahari Himself is present. He is ushering that flood of prema to every village, and Himself is floating on the waves. Ekādaśī-devī also follows the flow of saṅkīrtana-rasa. For following Ekādaśī purely, Mahāprabhu gave one strong instruction: “Rise early in the morning, during brāhma-muhūrta, and begin kīrtana!” Don’t think that the sun and moon control Ekādaśī-devī. The sun and moon are not the controllers. Ekādaśī-devī comes from eternal Goloka Vṛndāvana, and she arrives during brāhma-muhūrta, between three a.m. and six a.m., regardless of the sun’s position at that time in any given place in the world. Otherwise, how would countries where there is no sunlight for six months follow Ekādaśī? If anyone starts harināma-saṅkīrtana at that time of brahma-muhūrta to welcome her, Ekādaśī-devī will be very pleased. Mahāprabhu teaches this as He welcomes the arrival of Mādhava on Mādhava-tithi, by inviting all His associates for harināma-saṅkīrtana during brāhma-muhūrta. Kīrtana gives life. We are now like dead people without life. Bring back your life by starting kīrtana; your consciousness will come, your sense will come. This is the mercy of Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Kṛṣṇa-nāma gives cetana, pure consciousness that, I am not a man or woman—I am nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa. Perform kṛṣṇa-kīrtana and this realization will come. Where is saṅkīrtana taking place? At Śrīvāsa-aṅgana, in Māyāpura. The four brothers Śrīvasa Paṇḍita, Śrī Rāma Paṇḍita, Śrīpati, and Śrīnidhi, as well as Advaita Prabhu, Govinda Ghoṣa, Mādhava Ghoṣa, Sañjaya, Mukunda, and Vāsu Ghoṣa are all present. Pṛthivī-devī is shaking in bliss. She rejoices, “This auspicious sound will remove all the anarthas of the jīvas and it will destroy the demons and free the world of their influence.” Thus, at dawn on Ekādaśī, Mahāprbhu’s mahā-saṅkīrtana begins.ūṣah-kāla hōite nṛtya kare viśvambhara jūtha jūtha hōilō jatō gāyana sundara
śrīvasa-paṇḍita lōiyā eka sampradāya mukunda lōiyā āra jano-katō gāya
lōiyā govinda ghoṣa āra katō jana gauracandra-nṛtye sabe karena kīrtana
Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita is in his own group on one side, and on another side is Mukunda with his party, and on another side is Govinda Ghoṣa, and elsewhere is Mādhava Ghoṣa with more devotees. This kīrtana-maṇḍala is on all four sides of Mahāprabhu, who is very happy in the midst of His praṇayi-bhaktas. They have assembled with heartfelt love to spread kīrtana-rasa in all directions, attracting the jīvas and cleaning their hearts.dhōriyā bulena nityānanda-mahābalī alakṣite advaita layena pada-dhūli
What is the power of Nityānanda Prabhu? He removes the anarthas inside your heart. He breaks, smashes, and throws them out, all the time while chanting, “Haribol! Gaurahari! Hare Kṛṣṇa!” Nityānanda Prabhu goes everywhere and gives mahābala, great power. With love he asks, “Why are you not doing kīrtana? Are you in any difficulty? Chant harināma. Come with me and chant the names of Gaurhari! Chant the glories of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa! I only beg this of you.” Advaita Prabhu is very clever. He is Mahā-Viṣṇu, but still He takes the dust of the devotees in Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtana and smears it on His body. Why? Mahā-Viṣṇu is surprised to see the suffering of this world. He is surprised to see how almost all the jīvas He creates and maintains are against God. He declares, “I am taking the dust of Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtana-bhaktas and will distribute it to everyone. Then they will achieve immense spiritual power!” The Vaiṣṇavas’ foot-dust is present wherever there is harināma-saṅkīrtana. If you take and smear this dust on your body, you will gain immense spiritual strength. You will be active in bhakti and will never be agitated by your mind and senses running here and there.gadādhara ādi jato sajala-nayane ānanda vihvala hoilo prabhura kīrtane
Gadādhara is Mahāprabhu’s śakti. Hearing Mahāprabhu’s kṛṣṇa-kīrtana he becomes delighted. He says, “Now this world will become glorious. There now will be no more suffering and problems in the lives of those who hear this spiritual sound. All will be cleansed, happy, and pleased. Without kṛṣṇa-kīrtana-rasa, the other rasa of this world is just throwing jīvas into a miserable ocean, not giving any sweet nectar for benefitting their life. That ocean is made only of bitterness, and no one comes out of that water on their own… it is not possible.” Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura then tells:jakhōna uddaṇḍa nāce prabhu viśvambhara pṛthivī kampita haya, sabe pāya ḍara
kakhōno vā madhura nācaye viśvambhara jenō dekhi nandera nandana naṭavara
aparūpa kṛṣṇāveśa aparūpa nṛtya ānande nayana bhōri’ dekhi saba bhṛtya
nijānande nāce mahāprabhu viśvambhara caraṇera tāla śuni ati manohara
This kīrtana and dancing of Mahāprabhu causes pṛthivī-devī to experience all types of ecstatic symptoms like trembling, shaking, changing color and hairs standing on end. As she shakes, she happily exclaims, “Oh now I am clean from the burden of people’s accumulated sins. My life is now successful.” Sometimes Mahāprabhu very slowly and sweetly dances, as He sings most beautifully. Mahāprabhu’s dance resembles the dancing of Nandana-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa; He appears then like Naṭavara Nanda-kiśora. His eyes are very long and his arms extend down to his knees, ājānu-lambita-bhujau kanakāvadātau, and with His merciful glance, He infuses everyone nearby with great power. “Do kīrtana! You also do kīrtana! Drink, drink, drink this kīrtana-rasa and you will become pleased and satisfied.” All the bhaktas are mesmerized watching Mahāprabhu dance.bhāva-bhare mālā nāhi rahaye galāya chiṇḍiyā padaye giyā bhakatera pāya
catur-dika śrī hari-maṅgala-saṅkīrtana mājhe nāce jagannātha-miśrera nandana
Mahāprabhu receives a beautiful flower garland, which He wears as He dances, and it moves in a most enchanting way. Mahāprabhu is present in all the different kīrtana groups as they sing and dance. Mahāprabhu is dancing up, down and everywhere. This flower garland breaks and scatters everywhere at the feet of all the bhaktas, like Mahāprabhu’s love is spreading to all, like rays of the sun emanating heat, light, and power to everyone making them very strong.jā’ra nāmānande śiva vasana nā jāne jā’ra yaśe nāce śiva, se nāce āpane
jā’ra nāme vālmikī hōilā tapodhana jā’ra nāme ajāmila pāilō mocana
Jagannātha-miśra’s son, Śrī Śaci-nandana Gaurahari is now dancing, singing, and playing with all the bhaktas. Śiva Ṭhākura continuously day and night chants this harināma, and therefore he has no attachment with anything of this world. He always tastes aprakṛta-rasa, and therefore has no desires for any other rasa. Vālmiki was previously demoniac and a dacoit. Nārada Ṛṣi and Agastya Ṛṣi gave him Rāma-nāma, and afterward he lost all connection with his material body and material life. Termites came and ate his body and he didn’t even know. He had no attachment. All his flesh was eaten, even his bones hardly remained. Nārada Ṛṣi came and saw him in this condition, and from his kamaṇḍalu sprinkled God’s caranāmṛta over the termite mound where Vālmiki had been sitting, and gave Vālmiki a new body. This physical body has so many worms and bacteria that cause pain. But when, during harināma, this physical body disappears and a spiritual body manifests, then there are no more of these problems. Similar to a snake, which sheds its skin, you will also leave this material structure by the process of chanting harināma. We don’t know when we will have to give up this body. There is no guarantee when we will have to leave. But if we chant harināma at that time, then one will attain a spiritual body and life; the physical and subtle bodies will be removed. Vālmiki in this way attained his spiritual body, as well as Ajāmila also.jā’ra nāma śravaṇe saṁsāra-bandha ghuce heno prabhu avatārī’ kali-yuge nāce
Mahāprabhu has come for distributing the holy name of God, and on this Ekādaśī day, He is starting saṅkīrtana and Ekādaśī-devī is cleaning everyone. Many people take medicine but don’t control their diet. If the diet is controlled, then the medicine works very quickly. However, if you are sick and you take medicine, but your diet is not controlled, then the medicine may not be very effective. Mahāprabhu is giving kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, which is like strong medicine, and Ekādaśī-devī has come to help the jīvas control their diet. She is training and helping them to be strong in bhakti, by only adminstering to them diet of bhakti’s limbs. If a jīva hears this harināma on the day of Ekādaśī then anarthas from many lives will be removed.jā’ra nāma gāi’ śuka-nārada-beḍāya sahasra-vadana prabhu jā’ra guṇa gāya
sarva mahā-prāyaścitta je prabhura nāma se-prabhu nācaye, dekhe jatō bhāgyavān
Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Nārada Ṛṣi also went everywhere singing and distributing harināma, but not so many could accept it. Mahāprabhu appeared in Kali-yuga with this holy name and said, “Now I will give the holy name and clean and purify all.” This is like Śrīla Gurudeva and the Vaiṣṇavas; so merciful and kind. These sādhus themselves go everywhere to give harināma and purify everybody. In our own lives, we can see how we did not know what harināma was. We had no desire for chanting and we were always remembering mundane things day and night. But Guru and Vaiṣṇavas, in order to purify us, kindly came and gave us taste for harināma. So Mahāprabhu says, “O Nārada, Śuka, Prahlāda, you tried your best.” Prahlāda Mahārāja tried again and again to change his demon family but they would not change. His gurus, Śaṇḍa, like an ox, and Amarka, like a black monkey, would not take harināma. Prahlāda Mahārāja pleaded to everyone, “Chant harināma!” His Father asked, “Who has taught you this? Your guru?” Prahlāda replied, “matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.5.30). How can my gurus teach me harināma? They are like an ignorant monkey and ox. They have no transcendental taste and they spend their time chewing that which has already been chewed; in other words, contaminated remnants. They don’t know Kṛṣṇa and they can’t tell good from bad.” In this way, Prahlāda Mahārāja has knowledge, and he tried to spread harināma. Mahāprabhu said, “On Ekādaśī start kīrtana! She will help us.” Therefore, Guru and Vaiṣṇavas in the Mathurā Maṭha, order everybody to come together on Ekādaśī and form groups and perform kīrtana all day long. Gurudeva would then go and visit these groups. By this order, then everywhere, in the temples, in homes, kṛṣṇa-kīrtana was happening. Only with kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana it is a pure Ekādaśī, otherwise, if there is no kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, then it’s not Ekādaśī; it’s only one’s own recreation. How can one perform atonement, or prāyaścitta? “Sarva mahā prāyaścitta je prabhura nāma–only the holy name is helpful.”prabhura ānanda dekhi’ bhāgavata-gaṇa anyone galā dhori’ karōya krandana
sabāra aṅgeta śobhe śrī candana-mālā ānande gāyena kṛṣṇa-rase hoi’ bholā
For most people it is impossible to fast day and night. If some fast they become sick. Others fast for yoga, to rid their body of disease. However, if you are drink kṛṣṇa-rasa, bhakti-rasa, then you won’t have to think about fasting. Mahāprabhu started this mahā-saṅkīrtana and everyone who drank this bhakti-rasa, and showered and floated in this kīrtana-rasa forgot all other things; their hunger, thirst and other ailments. Day and night Mahāprabhu’s devotees embraced one another only crying. Everybody was ornamented with candana and a mālā, wearing a Vaiṣṇava-veśa. Being fully absorbed in harināma-saṅkīrtana, they forget everything of this world.jateka vaiṣṇava saba kīrtana-āveśa nā jāne āpana deha, anya jana kise
“jaya kṛṣṇa-murāri-mukunda-vanāmali!” āhara-niśa gāya sabe hoi kutūhalī
All the bhaktas are drinking this kṛṣṇa-rasa and becoming maddened in ecstasy. They are losing sense of their own bodies and everyone around them. They are only chanting, “Jaya Kṛṣṇa, Murāri, Mukunda Vanāmalī,” again and again.āhara niśa bhakta-saṅge nāce viśvambhara, śrānti nāhi kāro, sabe sattva-kalevara
By chanting in this way, all rajasika and tamasika conditionings are removed, and one rises above even sattva-guṇa. Śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā, then descends into the heart, and bhāva is attained. In other words one comes to the platform of nirguṇa and svarūpa-siddhi is achieved. Ekādaśī-devī through the medium of kṛṣṇa-kīrtana gives at once this bhāva-siddhi, without a delay. It is not like submitting an application today and getting an answer one year after, life time after. No. Just now, at once you will get the result. “Sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate 'tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.2).” Kṛṣṇa will come and grant you svarūpa-siddhi and liberation. But first you start. Follow Mahāprabhu, then you are lucky. Then you are a follower of Ekādaśī.ei mātā nāce mahāprabhu viśvambhara niśi avaśeṣa mātra se eka prahara
For the complete day and night of Ekādaśī Mahāprabhu and all of His party are dance and sing. They first start in the early morning at 3 o’clock, during the brāhma-muhūrta, on the morning when Ekādaśī-devī first arrives.ei mātā ānanda haya navadvīpa-pure prema-rase vaikuṇṭhera nāyaka bihare
When the brāhma-muhūrta comes, then the entire kīrtana party goes to Gaṅgā, bathes and swims, and afterwards returns through Māyāpura in the early morning still performing kīrtana. All the bhaktas then worship Śrī Hari, Guru and Vaiṣṇavas, and offer their respectful obeisance to Śaci-mātā, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, Malini-devī, Advaita Ācārya, Sītā-devī, and many others. On the morning of Dvādaśī the bhaktas nicely arrange to break the Ekādaśī-vrata in the proper time by cooking with grains and first offering the mahā-prasāda to Śrīman Mahāprabhu followed by the devotees.e-sakala puṇya kathā je kare śravaṇa bhakti-saṅge gauracandre rahu tā’ra māna
śrī kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nityānanda-cāda jāna vṛndāvana dāsa tachu pada-juge gāna
The special glory of Mahāprabhu’s Ekādaśī kīrtana is not just any drama, story or ordinary history; it is Gaurahari’s eternal līlā. If you practice this kīrtana in your life then realization will surely come – you will understand the glories of Ekādaśī and mahā-saṅkīrtana as they are. Therefore, in Śrīla Sarasvatī Prabhupāda’s time, there was no school at the Bhaktivinoda Institute on the day of Ekādaśī, no bhikṣa, nor any other programs. On that holy day, there was only kṛṣṇa-kīrtana, and nothing else. All of Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s disciples would fast nirjala on Ekādaśī. Śrīla Akiñcana dāsa Bābāji Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Purī Gosvāmī Mahāraja and many of Prabhupāda’s ācāryas never took anything on Ekādaśī, except for kṛṣṇa-kīrtana-rasa, and nāma-rasa, and they never felt any weakness or difficulty. Even into the last stages of their lives, they never experienced sickness because of this fasting. They were strong until their last day and with kṛṣṇa-kīrtana they departed. In Mathurā before westerners had come to Keśavajī Gaudīya Maṭha, Guru and Vaiṣṇavas would sit in the very early morning for kīrtana and then leave for parikramā to Govardhana, afterward coming to Vṛndāvana for parikramā. Mahāprabhu has told us to pray to Ekādaśī-devī for blessings and mercy. Mahāprabhu Himself followed all rules and regulations for Ekādaśī day as part of His teachings to the jīvas of Kali-yuga. Those who come to this sampradāya and meet Guru and Vaiṣṇavas are very lucky. Now Śrīla Gurudeva and the Vaiṣṇavas are watching from the eternal world to see what all are doing. If one is strictly following in his line, following Ekādaśī-devī purely, then definitely his blessings and mercy will shower down on us and Ekādaśī-devī will give all help and protection. Hari-katha spoken by Sripada Premananda Prabhu; rendition by Rasik Mohan Das This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.