Pāpamocanī Ekādaśī comes in the month of Caitra (March/ April), during the dark fortnight. Pāpamocanī Ekādaśī makes arrangements according to what we need in spiritual life. She helps us become free of all sins, as well as the tendency to sin.
Guru and śāstra remind us:
āyur harati vai puṁsām udyann astaṁ ca yann asau tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta uttamā-śloka-vārtayā
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.17
As the sun carries out his business of rising and setting, he observes our activities and how much time we waste. He is the witness. By the rising and setting of the sun our lives are gradually reduced. However not for those who engage their time in hari-kathā of the Lord. We do karma and when the fruit finally comes to us we suffer. At the time of acting we do not worry and we are careless. But no action is fruitless. We must suffer bondage by our karma. When materially exhausted, if the jīva turns to Ekādaśī-devī and prays for salvation then she goes to Kṛṣṇa and asks, “How can I help this person? The conditioned souls are proud, misled, and mad. They even go as far as to criticize Your devotees along with their own family members, superiors and so on. How can I change these jīvas’ mood?” Kṛṣṇa instructed Ekādaśī-devī, “The Sun-god is witness and the giver of energy to the jīvas, but the jīvas misuse the power he gives them by utilizing it in pursuance of their material desires and sinful activity.” “The Sun has a son and a daughter named Yama and Yami. They are twins. One is dharma-rāja and one is Yamunā-devī. Have those who come to you go to the bank of the Yamunā and, staying there from morning to evening, chant the holy name and try to follow bhakti. Give such a person the tendency and mood necessary for this.” Nanda Mahārāja did this. He came with the Vrajavāsīs to the bank of the Yamunā on the day of Ekādaśī and together they did kīrtana and followed vrata. Ambarīṣa Mahārāja did the same. He went with sādhus and brāhmaṇas and engaged all his senses in service to Kṛṣṇa. Bhagavān told Ekādaśī-devī, “It is the order of the Sun-god that if someone takes shelter of Yamunā, Yama cannot take them.” Washermen need soap powder to make cloth clean, but Yamunā does not need anything to purify us. If Yamunā is not nearby then you can write down her names and recite them. Chant Yamunāṣṭakam, meditate on her, and then start your Ekādaśī-vrata. In your mind, offer Yamunā-devī a seat and all the articles of arcana. Also make a seat in front of her for her beloved and another beside her for Ekādaśī-devī and one also for Gurudeva. Offer bhoga and glorify them with selected kīrtanas. How can we become pure and how can our behavior be sincere and pleasing to Śyāmasundara and not just a drama? Our eternal svarūpa does not change, but our temporary nature and principles are always changing. We follow the mind, whose business is to accept and reject ideas constantly, and we do asat-saṅga. Therefore, Ekādaśī-devī requests us today to take shelter of Yamunā-devī—then we will be purified. Thus Ekādaśī-devī is called Pāpamocanī. Sin can be washed away, but more difficult than that is to eradicate the pāpa-bīja, the seed or tendency to sin. For those whom Ekādaśī-devī has freed from sin, there is no question of collecting further sin and becoming impure again. We must understand that it is the will of Ekādaśī-devī that we take complete shelter of Yamunā-devī. Yamunā-devī will purify us on the request of Ekādaśī-devī. By our own efforts we can try to cleanse our hearts and offer our senses in the service of God, but actually this is only possible by the mercy of Ekādaśī-devī and Yamunā-devī. Simply washing is not everything. How can what is washed stay clean? How can our nature change and stay good always. This is only possible by the power of God’s close associates. Ekādaśī-devī desires that our anarthas be removed by associating with such personalities. In ancient times, many great sages came to Prayāga in the spring season and prayed to Veṇī Mādhava, where the three rivers, Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī meet, they started kīrtana and performing vrata. By the power of this practice, they became completely self-controlled and fixed in transcendence. Our senses are our good friends. They are God’s gift, but if we give them bad education from childhood they become a great problem. The senses will not be our enemies if we engage them in sevā, but if we teach them to lie and be duplicitous then they will be against us and cause us so much harm by collecting anarthas. Therefore, come under Ekādaśī-devī’s shelter. She is expert in saving lost souls. She will bring us to Yamunā, from under whose shelter even Yamarāja cannot remove us and punish us. Kṛṣṇa cannot stay distant from someone who takes shelter of Yamunā. There is no other way to be rid of sinful reaction and the sinful tendency. Chant the holy name under the guidance of someone who is dear to Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says:yad-brahma-sākṣāt-kṛti-niṣṭhayāpi, vināśam āyāti vinā na bhogaiḥ apaiti nāma! sphuraṇena tat te, prārabdha-karmeti virauti vedaḥ
[O nāma! The Vedas loudly exclaim that even without undergoing any misery, a devotees prārabdha-karma, which cannot be destroyed even by fixed meditation on impersonal brahma, is at once eliminated by Your appearance on the tongue.] Only if they see that you are continuously chanting harināma in the guidance of God’s family will anarthas run away in fear. If you distance yourself from that family for even one second you will be smashed. So how can we always be with that family? This is possible by Yamunā’s mercy and Ekādaśī-devī’s arrangement. Ekādaśī-devī gives one relationship with God’s family—the Vrajavāsīs. How can anarthas come to be with you if you are chanting and doing sevā? Ekādaśī-devī teaches everyone to take shelter of Yamunā-devī.cidānanda-bhānoḥ sadā nanda-sūnoḥ parā-prema-pātrī drava-brahma-gātrī aghānāṁ lavitrī jagat-kṣema-dhātrī pavitrī-kriyān no vapur mitra-putrī
Padma Purāṇa
[I again and again offer prayers to Śrī Yamunā, the Sungod’s daughter, who is the giver of unnatojjvala prema for Nandanandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa. She embodies transcendental bliss and directly personifies the liquid form of Parabrahma. Simply remembering her eliminates all types of wickedness and great sins, thus making the heart pure. She grants all auspiciousness upon the world, and can even inject vraja-rasa into dry, barren hearts. May she mercifully purify us.] Bathing in Gaṅgā purifies the soul, but just by touching one drop of Yamunā you get equal benefit. If you are just touched by the air that touched Yamunā you get the same benefit of touching the waters of the Gaṅgā. And if you just simply remember Yamunā you get the benefit of being touched by the breeze Patita-pāvini Gaṅgā. Therefore, which intelligent person will not glorify her and take her shelter. How foolish you are if you don’t avail this opportunity. Especially on this day, there is no need of any other business. Just be with Ṭhākurajī or śālagrāma on the bank of the Yamunā in the association of sādhus and engage in kīrtana and kathā. This is our soul’s business. Therefore, this Pāpamocanī Ekādaśī is very special. If you follow you will understand. If you continuously think of Yamunā-devī’s glories, she will give you everything needed for your spiritual journey to your eternal home. Do not be like the monkeys on the bank of the Yamunā who live there but have no knowledge of her glories. Only go to her with the devotees. Do not do anything independently from the devotees. Pray to Ekādaśī, “O most magnanimous Ekādaśī-devī, please help me. I am plagued by the anarthas that I have collected for millions of lifetimes and that I am still presently collecting. Please help me. My collection grows day by day and I cannot find relief from the burning that this causes me. Please save me.” The process of following Ekādaśī-devī is very simple. We do not follow smārta Ekādaśī, but pāramārthika Ekādaśī. There are many kinds of Ekādaśī, there is Ekādaśī conceptualized to be helpful for health, Ekādaśī who helps with material enjoyment, Ekādaśī who offers many opulent results, and so on—but we follow pāramārthika Ekādaśī for the growth of the soul into ekādaśa-bhāva. 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.