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[sv-rituals] Re: Ekadasi - doubt

From the Bhakti List Archives

mani2 • Thu Sep 05 2002 - 12:03:51 PDT 


> I also believe that we normally follow the traditions
> as handed down the ages for us. Till I read this
> article it never mattered when we observed ekadasi. As
> per the almanac and elders guidance it has been
> observed so far. It is also hard to believe that there
> would be some sort of selective-community basis for
> the Paapapurusha .Can someone please clarify.

Dear Yamini,

Your question is a very good one and I have wondered about
the same. I think the answer lies in the origin of the story
and the reason for the fast itself.  The story of the pApa-purusha
living in rice seems to be an ingenious tale designed to scare
God-fearing people into observing the Ekadashi vrata for their
own good. The purpose of the vrata itself is not to avoid pApa
per se but more to dedicate the day to self-purification and
worship of Hari. This is why it is known as Hari-vAsara or 
Hari's day. The problem is that human beings are inherently
selfish and always need to know how they will benefit or
lose out by not doing something. Counselling them to do
selfless acts rarely works. So, I suspect the idea of the
pApa-purusha was dreamt up by a smart rishi somewhere so that
more people would follow the vrata.

The problem is in the present divergence about when to
observe the vrata.  I think the right idea is that since
this is all krishnaarpanam we should just observe the day
to the best of our ability and to the best of our knowledge
and leave the rest up to Hari. One follows a particular
tradition in this regard more to have a regular pattern
and community to share with, and not necessarily because
one or the other is right or wrong.

Hope this helps,
Mani



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