Sat-tila Ekadasi comes in the month of Magh (January/ February), during the dark fortnight. Ekadasi-devi appears every fifteen days to purify and cleanse the conditioned souls of their habitual material nature. By following Ekadasi, the consciousness of the soul is awakened. The soul receives strength and nourishment. Ekadasi-devi cleans the soul of the many sins and offenses he has committed. Her help is causeless and unconditional.
At the creation of this world, the age of Satya-yuga began. However there were no grains for people to eat. The jivas' bodies are composed of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. They need food made of these elements to survive. But at first there was nothing for them to eat. To alleviate the hunger of the jivas, Brahma prayed to Maha-Laksmi. On being requested by Brahma, Maha-Laksmi gave him a seed. What was this seed? It was the seed of all grains, and was the prasada remnants of Lord Narayana. Maha-Laksmi gave the prasada first to Prthvi-devi, the Earth-goddess.
Once Prthvi-devi accepted this prasada, many plants began to grow. Sesame seeds were the first plants to produce food for the jivas. These seeds contain good amounts of nutrients and protein and are helpful in nourishing the body. Barley appeared next. Gradually, all the varieties of grains appeared. From that time, the embodied souls have been living on the many varieties of crops produced by the prasada of Sri Laksmi-Narayana. By eating nature's produce, the living entities become healthy and strong.
Because of their wayward, conditioned nature, the living beings began to hoard food and cheat other, without thinking about the welfare of anyone beside themselves and their immediate families.
ami vaisnava tui vaisnava aro ekta vaisnava hare
tin vaisnava thakte katal kabe pore
One should not think, "I am a Vaisnava. My wife is a Vaisnavi and my children are Vaisnavas. Serving my wife and children is Vaisnava-seva. There is no need to worry about any others." Once, a householder returned home from work with a large, ripe jackfruit. His wife said, "Let us offer this and serve it to sadhus as vaisnava-seva. We can accept their remnants." But the husband replied, "We three are Vaisnavas. If we eat the jackfruit, this is vaisnava-seva; this is enough."
To maintain their families, people will resort to varieties of cheating. They will procure food and wealth by inappropriate means and maintain their health by subsisting on the food they have unlawfully collected. They will not share the food they have amassed with anyone else. This cheating business is prevalent all over the world. All the castes and religions are polluted by this enjoying mentality. Everyone is trying to cheat each other.
Although the Earth was blessed with grains as God's prasada, the conditioned souls did not properly use nature's produce. They hoarded much more then they required and maintained a cheating propensity.
Lord Brahma created this world and Krsna in His form of Narayana gave all advice and help to the jivas, but still they didn't change. They remained absorbed in the bodily concept of life. The body is worse than a prostitute. For their own enjoyment, the proprietors of the body, mind, and senses make the soul their slave. Hence, people remain engrossed in sense gratification throughout the day and night. Not only one's mind and senses exploit and enslave the soul, but the senses and minds of other people also exploit the mind, body, and senses of souls for their own gratification. People of an exploitive and enjoying nature are of the conception, "Everyone should serve me, everyone should follow me. Everyone should feed and comfort me. Everyone should become my follower. Whoever fulfills my demands is a good person, he is my friend."
Do you know the meaning of a friend in this world? One who fries another every day to fulfill his or her own selfish interests and thus brings another's end is called friend. People don't understand the real nature of their so-called near and dear ones.
The living entities in your body will disturb you if you feed them unoffered food. If you nourish your body with maha-prasada and the prasada of the Vaisnavas, then the many living beings who reside in your body will become your real friends instead of your enemies.
yajna-sistasinah santo
mucyante sarva-kilbisaih
bhunjate te tv agham papa
ye pacanty atma-karanat
Bhagavad-gita 3.13
The bhaktas of Bhagavan are freed from all types of sins because they eat food that is offered first as a sacrifice to the Lord. Others, who prepare food for their own personal happiness, digest only sin.
The devotees take the last portion of the remnants of the Lord as maha-prasada. If you maintain your body with the remnants of maha-prasada, it will not present any problems to you. The soul is the servant of the six urges of the senses. Prasada helps us cross beyond bondage to the senses.
vaco vegam manasah krodha-vegam
jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etan vegan yo visaheta dhirah
sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat
Upadesamrta 1
A self-controlled person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the demands of the mind, the fury of anger, and the urges of the tongue, belly, and genitals, is fit to make disciples all over the world.
People want to make disciples all over the world, but they have not made their own senses their disciples. Ekadasi-devi helps the souls conquer the great foes of the six urges.
Ekadasi-devi destroys the conditioned souls' anarthas and gives them good tendencies and all facilities to advance in devotional life. But you must seek her blessings and come near her lotus feet.
Pray with the songs of our acaryas:
madhava, bahuta minati kori taya
dei tulasi tila deha samarpinu
daya jani na chadabi maya
"O Madhava, I sincerely pray to You! Offering Tulasi and sesame, I surrender my body to You. I know that You are merciful and will not reject me."
Offering yourself with Tulasi and sesame, you should surrender your body to the Lord. On the day of Sat-tila Ekadasi, be of the conviction, "I will give my wealth in charity. I have hoarded so much, but on this day, I will give my accumulated wealth and possessions in charity to God and His devotees. I will give my very self and everything I possess."
We should try to realize that in many lives, we have cheated many people. We should think, "I have cultivated many anarthas. I have lavishly fed this body. I have lived my life carelessly, but one day I was bound to taste the fruits of my actions. Therefore, those causing me suffering are paying me in the same coin I gave them."
Sat-tila Ekadasi appears to cleanse the mind, senses, and the five elements of the body.
Hari-katha spoken by Sripada Premananda Prabhu; rendition by Rasik Mohan Das