Annada-Ekādaśī appears during the dark fortnight, kṛṣṇa-pakṣa, of the month of Bhadra (August/September). What are her glories? In the Vedānta-sūtra, five kinds of puruṣas are described: annamaya-brahma, prāṇamaya-brahma, manomaya-brahma, vijñānamaya-brahma, ānandamaya-brahma. The first three represent the kṣetra, material body. The vijñānamaya-puruṣa, the jīva‚ is the knower of the kṣetra (this material body). The embodied soul cannot live without annamaya-brahma, which is represented as food or grains. By taking these food grains, the living entities become inclined toward sense gratification, bhogonmukha. Whatever they see, they try to acquire for their own enjoyment. The living entities thus become completely bhogonmukha.
We come to this world and receive this physical body, family, society, town, nation and world. For what purpose have we come? To only eat and fill our bellies? Day and night, we think only about our survival and our own sense gratification. Because of this tendency, people have no mercy for others. They want to enjoy everything and have no sevonmukha-vṛtti, service tendency.
If we do not serve our Supreme Father, then we are ungrateful. Aurangzeb, the Moghul emperor of India, said to his sons, “You should serve your father and follow his instructions. If you follow your father’s instructions you will receive auspiciousness.”
They asked him, “Should we serve you the way you served your father?”
Aurangzeb had usurped his father’s kingdom, and placed his father in jail and would give him only a glass of water and some chickpeas to eat. His father died in solitary confinement. Aurangzeb also killed his other brothers so he would have no competition for the throne.
This is our unfortunate condition. We give everyone pain and misery so that we may enjoy. We are great demons. We do not have sharp fangs like a beast, but our tendency is worse than that. We will do anything to gratify ourselves. We perform sin, become diseased, lament and then die. This is the natural sequence according to our actions. We are not going down the right path, so we must suffer. One day you should give up your enjoyment.
cira sukhī jana, brahmi ki kokhona, vyathita vedanā, bujhite pāre ki jatane biṣe, bujhibe se kise, kabhu asi biṣe, dang sei ni jāre
- Bengali Poet
[“Those who are always happy does not wander. How can he understand the sorrow of the destitute? He who has not been bit by a snake cannot understand the pain. If he is ever bitten, then he will realize the anguish.”] Day and night people are drinking the poison of saṁsāra. Then they will have to suffer the painful result. Therefore, one must receive this sevonmukha-vṛtti, service tendency. Where will it come from? Ekādaśī-devī is the mother of bhakti. She says, “Today, give up your enjoyment of material objects. Give up the serpent of sense gratification.” Our condition in this world is that whatever we can get our hands on we try to enjoy. We think, “this is mine,” and “that is mine.” A child will grab anything he can, thinking, “this is mine,” and, “this is mine,” and, “this is mine.” He cannot give up the habitual nature acquired from millions of lives. Renunciation gives great satisfaction. If you cannot give up sense enjoyment then, like a serpent it will devour you. When a serpent bites you, it takes many hours to die. The whole time you will be moaning in great pain. You think, “I will eat a paratha, rice, some fish, chicken and sweets. I will drink milk and then eat the cow.” We do not know that it is not us eating the meat but it is the meat eating us. Those animals we kill will come back to kill us. Māṁsa, meat, is defined in the Manu-saṁhitā—māṁ sa bhakṣayitāmutra yasya māṁsam ihādmy aham etan māṁsasya māṁsatvaṁ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ
[“The word māṁsa means: ‘That which I am eating now, will eat me in my next life.’ For this reason, wise men say that meat is called māṁsa or a repeated act—I (māṁ) eat him; he (saḥ) eats me.”] The beings living within the annamaya-koṣa, or food cells, are the separated parts and parcels of Bhagavān. The living beings are the servants of Bhagavān and are for His enjoyment. When you try to acquire and enjoy those objects, you commit great sin. The wealth of the soul manifests from Bhagavān’s potency and is meant for His service. We are suffering in this material existence because we have lost our service nature and forgotten that we are Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servants.kṛṣṇa bhuli’ sei jīva anādi-bahirmukha ataeva māyā tāre deya saṁsāra-duḥkha kabhu svarge uṭhāya, kabhu narake ḍubāya daṇḍya-jane rājā yena nadīte cubāya
Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.117-118
[“Because he has forgotten Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the jīva has been absorbed in his attempts to enjoy the material energy since time immemorial. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa’s māyā-śakti awards the jīva the various sufferings of saṁsāra. Sometimes he is elevated to the heavenly planets, and at other times he is thrown in the hellish planets. This is just like a man who is punished by the king by being tied to a wooden plank and dunked in a river. Sometimes he is immersed till he nearly drowns, and sometimes he is released for a few moments of apparent happiness.”] When we forget our true nature, then the witch of māyā attacks us with countless kinds of affliction. By great fortune the living beings come in contact with Vaiṣṇavas, and they then come to realize their dreadful condition in material existence, and pray to Kṛṣṇa for mercy. As described in Śrī Prema-vivarta (6.1-13)—cit-kaṇa – jīva, kṛṣṇa – cinmaya bhāskara nitya kṛṣṇe dekhi – kṛṣṇe karena ādara kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga-vāñchā kare nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare
The living entity is a tiny particle of spiritual consciousness, like an atomic particle of light emanating from the sun. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the complete transcendental consciousness, the spiritual sun. As long as the living entities are attentive to Kṛṣṇa, they maintain veneration for Him. However, when they turn their focus away from Kṛṣṇa, they desire material pleasure. Kṛṣṇa’s bewildering potency, māyā, who is standing nearby, then grasps them in her clutches.piśācī pāile jena mati-cchana haya māyā-grasta jīvera haya se bhāva-udaya
[The eternal function of the living entity who has turned away from Kṛṣṇa becomes covered, just as a person’s intelligence becomes covered when he is obsessed by a witch.]āmi siddha kṛṣṇa-dāsa, ei kathā bhūle māyāra naphara hañā cira-dina bule
[He forgets the Lord’s identity, and his own identity as a servant of Kṛṣṇa. Becoming a slave and servant of māyā, he moves about here and there forever in this deluding material existence.]kabhu rājā, kabhu prajā, kabhu vipra, śūdra kabhu duḥkhī, kabhu sukhī, kabhu kīṭa kṣudra
[Sometimes he is a ruler and sometimes a subject, sometimes a learned brāhmaṇa and sometimes a low-caste śūdra. Sometimes he is distressed and sometimes happy, and sometimes he is an insignificant insect.]kabhu svarge, kabhu martye, narake vā kabhu kabhu deva, kabhu daitya, kabhu dāsa, prabhu
[Sometimes he is in heaven, sometimes on the mortal plane, and sometimes in hell. Sometimes he is a demigod and sometimes a demon. Sometimes he is a servant and sometimes a master.]ei-rūpe saṁsāra bhramite kona jana sādhu-saṅge nija-tattva avagata hana
[As he is moving about like this throughout material existence, if by some immense fortune he happens to obtain the association of pure devotees, he comes to hear of his own identity, and his life thus becomes meaningful.]nija-tattva jāni āra saṁsāra na cāya kena vā bhajinu māyā kare hāya hāya
B[y associating with those devotees, he understands his real identity and becomes indifferent to mundane enjoyment. Sincerely grieving for his predicament, he laments, “Alas! Alas! Why did I serve māyā for so long?”]kaṅde bole, ohe kṛṣṇa! āmi tava dāsa tomāra caraṇa chāḍi’ haila sarva-nāśa
[He cries lots and prays to the Lord. “O Kṛṣṇa! I am Your eternal servant, but I have been utterly ruined because I neglected service to Your lotus feet. Who can say how long I have been moving about aimlessly as māyā’s slave?]kākuti kariyā kṛṣṇe ḍāke eka-bāra kṛpā kari kṛṣṇa tāre chāḍāna saṁsāra
[“O Kṛṣṇa, friend of the fallen! Please protect this lonely soul. Deliver me from Your illusory potency and engage me in Your service.”] Śṛī Kṛṣṇa is an ocean of mercy, and when He hears the living entity call out in such desperation even once, He quickly frees him from this mundane existence.māyāke pichane rākhi’ kṛṣṇa-pāne cāya bhajite bhajite kṛṣṇa-pāda-padma pāya kṛṣṇa tāre dena nija-cic-chaktira bala māyā ākarṣaṇa chāḍe haiyā durbala
[Kṛṣṇa empowers the living being with His cit-śakti, so that māyā’s potency to attract the soul gradually becomes weakened. The jīva then turns away from māyā and desires to attain Kṛṣṇa. He worships Kṛṣṇa repeatedly and finally becomes qualified to attain His lotus feet.]‘sādhu-saṅge kṛṣṇa-nāma’–ei-mātra cāi saṁsāra jinite āra kona vastu nāi
[Therefore, the only way to go beyond this insurmountable material existence is to chant kṛṣṇa-nāma in sadhu-saṅga.] We have heard this philosophy, but have no ability to give up our sinful nature and our desire to run after sense enjoyment. We think, “I will enjoy everything.” But we must give up the path of enjoyment and come on to the path of renunciation. We will have to give up our materialistic nature. Ekādaśī-devī appears on this day to help the conditioned souls awaken their service tendency and give up their enjoying tendency. If we take shelter of her, she will cut off our attachments and moha. Then she will help us realize we are a part and parcel of Bhagavān and His eternal servants. We will realize that we have been afflicted in saṁsāra for so many births having forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Now I realize that I am your servant. When we surrender to Kṛṣṇa, we will experience peace and supreme bliss. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings in Śaraṇāgati (Ātma-nivedana, song 8):ātma nivedana, tuyā pade kari,hainu parama sukhī duḥkha dūre gela, cintā nā rahila,caudike ānanda dekhī
[By surrendering myself to Your lotus feet I have become extremely happy. All miseries have gone far away and I have no worries anymore. I only see happiness in all directions.] One day, Kṛṣṇa said to all the Vrajavāsīs, “We will have Annakūṭa-mahotsava, whatever grains you have, you must offer everything to Bhagavān in very nice preparations.” Śrī Kṛṣṇa instructed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.27)—yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam
[O Son of Kuntī, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you sacrifice and give in charity and whatever austerities you do, offer them all to Me.] Whatever action we perform, and whatever we have, we must offer it to God. However, for us this is not possible. We will always save something for ourselves. Kṛṣṇa arranged for Annakūṭa-mahotsava, and all the Vrajavāsīs prepared wonderful delicacies with everything they possessed and offered it to Girirāja. Kṛṣṇa said to the Vrajavāsīs, “Give everything to Girirāja; don’t hide anything in your turbans. Offer your daṇḍavat-praṇāmas and tell Girirāja you surrender completely to Him.” Kṛṣṇa said, “Girirāja is so large, but you are bringing Him very slight amounts of food. It is only small morsels for His mouth.” “Then what to do?” asked the Vrajavāsīs? Kṛṣṇa said, “Offer yourselves to Girirāja. Say to Him, ‘Girirāja we are all Your servants and we will always do everything for You.” Girirāja appeared in a massive form and rapidly took all the offerings that were given to Him. Still, Girirāja’s stomach was not filled. Kṛṣṇa said, “Indra only takes soma-rasa, heavenly liquor, and his mind is impure. But just see our Girirāja, He is eating everything and is calling out, ‘Ano re! Ano re! Bring more, Bring more.’” The Vrajavāsīs said, “We have nothing left, what can we do?” “Give Him a tulasī leaf,” Kṛṣṇa said. They gave this to Girirāja and He said, “Now I am satisfied, Tṛpto ‘smi! Tṛpto ‘smi! Now My stomach is full.” Then Girirāja filled up all the pots and said, “Now you all eat.” He gave so much. A thousand times more appeared than what they had offered. Therefore, we should not think we would have any shortness if we offer everything to Kṛṣṇa. He will fulfill our store with thousands of times more then we can ever give Him. What does Ekādaśī-devī do? She connects us to Bhagavān’s service. She awakens our vraja-bhāva, our mood towards Kṛṣṇa in a relationship in the primary rasas, as a servant, sakhā, mother or father, or mañjarī. She gives these moods and makes us inclined towards service. She endeavors to help us in all ways and helps us lose taste for mundane sense enjoyment, giving us a higher taste. She helps us renounce the conception of being a separate enjoyer and to realize that we are Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servants. Until we can give up this mentality of being an independent enjoyer, we will always suffer in this saṁsāra. Everything you do here is for your own self. Until you give up this mentality, everything you do will be selfish and will only bring you suffering. Kṛṣṇa will not eat your remnants. He will only take the remnants of the Vrajavāsīs who have pure love for Him. To give the pure mentality of a servant, Annada-Ekādaśī-devī appears on this day. The living being cannot remain alive without some food. When he offers everything to Kṛṣṇa and receives His prasādam, he may become liberated from the mentality of being an independent enjoyer and he can accept the fact that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Enjoyer and he is His eternal servant. Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, “When will one’s miserable state of saṁsāra be destroyed? He must receive My prasāda—prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ hānir asyopajāyate prasanna-cetaso hy āśu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate
Bhagavad-gītā 2.65
[“The suffering of one who receives prasāda is completely destroyed. One becomes self-controlled, blissful and his intelligence is fixed in attaining his desired goal.”] First you must offer everything to Kṛṣṇa and then it will become His prasādam. Taking that prasādam, all your misery in this world will be finished. Until you can do this you will have to suffer in this world. Bhagavān is the Supreme Father, if you surrender to Him then no one will be able to cause you any disturbance. Ekādaśī-devī comes as Annada-Ekādaśī to teach us how to offer our anna, and to understand it is Kṛṣṇa’s property. Without this understanding, we will be misers and will always worry about our own maintenance. We will hide coins in our wall or under our bed so no one can find them. Our mentality will always be very low. We will not have a generous nature and will never give charity, annada. Today, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was weeping as a child. Usually He would not stop crying until someone would chant, “Haribol! Haribol!” But today He would not stop crying even though many people were chanting, “Haribol,” for many hours. Finally, Śrī Jaganatha-miśra asked Mahāprabhu why He was weeping. Mahāprabhu said, “Today is Annada-Ekādaśī. Hiraṇya and Jagadīśa Paṇḍita are offering so much anna to Bhagavān and if I cannot eat that, I will not be able to stop crying. I will not find any peace. They are giving that to Me and if I do not take it then it will be useless and they will feel so bad.” We are instructed not to distribute grains or eat grains on Ekādaśī, but this does not mean we should not offer grains to Bhagavān on Ekādaśī. On Ekādaśī people make Bhagavān fast on some fruit or roots. This is an offense in Bhagavān’s service, sevā-aparādha. On Ekādaśī you should offer chapanna-bhoga, fifty-six preparations, with many grain dishes, to Bhagavān. Jagannātha-miśra went to the house of Hiraṇya and Jagadīśa Paṇḍita and told them how Nimāi wanted to take the offerings they were making to Ṭhākurajī. Hiraṇya and Jagadīśa were singing kīrtana and had offered opulent bhoga. Jagannātha-miśra asked them, “Today is Ekādaśī, why are you offering so many things?” “We are fasting,” they said, “but do not want to make Bhagavān fast. We made fifty-six preparations for His pleasure.” Jaganatha-miśra asked them to bring the offerings to Mahāprabhu, saying, “My son Nimāi, Viśvambhara, is crying and wailing because He wants your bhoga.” Hiraṇya and Jagadīśa understood He was the Lord and were overjoyed. For so many years they had been serving the Lord, but still had some trace of doubt that Bhagavān was accepting their offerings. Now they realized the truth when the offerings were brought to Nimāi. Taking them, Nimāi began to smile and laugh. He sat down like Girirāja and took one item at a time, eating and laughing in great bliss. We must cultivate the tendency to give charity. But who should we give to? We should not give to those who are lame, lepers, or sinful people. Then we will only take a share of their sin. It is like we are buying their sin and in the end we will also become diseased. Our charity must be given to Bhagavān. Offer bhoga to Bhagavān, then by distributing His prasādam, and taking His prasādam, you will never again have to suffer disease or lamentation in the material worlds. If you take anything without first offering it to Bhagavān, it is a great sin. You cannot create anything in this world; everything is the property of Bhagavān. He has created everything. If you selfishly take anything without first offering it to Bhagavān then it will cause you great suffering. First we perform sin and then by these actions we are teaching others. We must offer everything to the Lord. Bhagavān’s prasādam is beneficial to all living entities. You will become very merciful and magnanimous to others by distributing His prasādam. On Annada Ekādaśī we must purify our consciousness. She comes to help us with this and to engage us in Bhagavān’s service. In this way, we can learn how to offer everything to Him. If you steal from Bhagavān you will be forced to suffer the sinful reactions. If we do not offer everything to Bhagavān then we will incur the sins of killing other living beings for our own gratification.yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṇāt
Bhagavad-gītā 3.13
[“Saintly persons who accept the remnants of yajña become free from all sins, but those who cook grains and other foodstuffs for their own sake are sinful, and certainly partake of sin.”] Everything should be offered to Bhagavān, this is called yajña. Then you may take whatever remnants are there to maintain your life. Ekādaśī-devī comes to give us spiritual strength and intelligence. She helps us realize our own internal moods and relationship with Bhagavān. Every Ekādaśī has some specialty, which is indicated by her name. We must understand her qualities and respect and surrender to her. Then she can give us treatment for our material disease. We see people in this world speculating on Ekādaśī. They will not take whole grains but they think if they turn it into flour and mix it with Gaṅgā water to make rotis — this will not break Ekādaśī. Otherwise, they soak the mung-dahl and say it is raw and therefore it is fine. Some people think to take only nuts and dried fruits and make a nice feast for themselves. This is not the process either. On Ekādaśī we must learn to offer our eleven senses to Bhagavān. When we do so, Ekādaśī-devī will protect, maintain and nourish us. Follow this process. Do not follow your mental speculation. On this day, study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, and serve Ṭhākurajī with all your senses. Surrender to Ekādaśī-devī, following the guidance of the Guruvarga and the Vaiṣṇavas, and then you will receive supreme auspiciousness. 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.