People are often unreasonable, self-centred: Forgive them anyway. If you are Honest, People may cheat you, but be Honest anyway. What you spend years to build, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. The good you do today, People will often forget tomorrow. Do Good anyway. You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God; it never was between you and them anyway.

SB 5.5.21-22 — Of the two energies manifest [spirit and dull matter], beings possessing living force [vegetables, grass, trees and plants] are superior to dull matter [stone, earth, etc.]. Superior to nonmoving plants and vegetables are worms and snakes, which can move. Superior to worms and snakes are animals that have developed intelligence. Superior to animals are human beings, and superior to human beings are ghosts because they have no material bodies. Superior to ghosts are the Gandharvas, and superior to them are the Siddhas. Superior to the Siddhas are the Kinnaras, and superior to them are the asuras. Superior to the asuras are the demigods, and of the demigods, Indra, the King of heaven, is supreme. Superior to Indra are the direct sons of Lord Brahmā, sons like King Dakṣa, and supreme among Brahmā’s sons is Lord Rudra. Since Lord Rudra is the son of Lord Brahmā, Brahmā is considered superior, but Brahmā is also subordinate to Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because I am inclined to the brāhmaṇas, the brāhmaṇas are best of all.

Amind filled with peace creates a heart filled with contentment.

SB 5.6.9 — Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued speaking to Mahārāja Parīkṣit: My dear King, the King of Koṅka, Veṅka and Kuṭaka whose name was Arhat, heard of the activities of Ṛṣabhadeva and, imitating Ṛṣabhadeva’s principles, introduced a new system of religion. Taking advantage of Kali-yuga, the age of sinful activity, King Arhat, being bewildered, gave up the Vedic principles, which are free from risk, and concocted a new system of religion opposed to the Vedas. That was the beginning of the Jain dharma. Many other so-called religions followed this atheistic system.

SB 5.6.10 — People who are lowest among men and bewildered by the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord will give up the original varṇāśrama-dharma and its rules and regulations. They will abandon bathing three times daily and worshiping the Lord. Abandoning cleanliness and neglecting the Supreme Lord, they will accept nonsensical principles. Not regularly bathing or washing their mouths regularly, they will always remain unclean, and they will pluck out their hair. Following a concocted religion, they will flourish. During this Age of Kali, people are more inclined to irreligious systems. Consequently these people will naturally deride Vedic authority, the followers of Vedic authority, the brāhmaṇas, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the devotees.

SB 5.6.11 — Low-class people, due to their gross ignorance, introduce a system of religion that deviates from the Vedic principles. Following their own mental concoctions, they automatically fall down into the darkest regions of existence.

SB 5.6.12 — In this Age of Kali, people are overwhelmed by the modes of passion and ignorance. Lord Ṛṣabhadeva incarnated Himself to deliver them from the clutches of māyā.

When you want to do something sincerely and are decisive about it; the power of concentration becomes available to you. Concentration allows you to achieve more in less time and respond to situations in a more effective way.

SB 5.6.2 — Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied: My dear King, you have spoken correctly. However, after capturing animals, a cunning hunter does not put faith in them, for they might run away. Similarly, those who are advanced in spiritual life do not put faith in the mind. Indeed, they always remain vigilant and watch the mind’s action

SB 5.6.3 — All the learned scholars have given their opinion. The mind is by nature very restless, and one should not make friends with it. If we place full confidence in the mind, it may cheat us at any moment. Even Lord Śiva became agitated upon seeing the Mohinī form of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and Saubhari Muni also fell down from the mature stage of yogic perfection.

SB 5.6.4 — An unchaste woman is very easily carried away by paramours, and it sometimes happens that her husband is violently killed by her paramours. If the yogī gives his mind a chance and does not restrain it, his mind will give facility to enemies like lust, anger and greed, and they will doubtlessly kill the yogī.

SB 5.6.5 — The mind is the root cause of lust, anger, pride, greed, lamentation, illusion and fear. Combined, these constitute bondage to fruitive activity. What learned man would put faith in the mind?

As you do, so you become. Every action that you perform is recorded in you, the soul. These imprints ultimately mould your character and destiny. When you understand this principle, you will pay more attention to bringing your best to everything you do

SB 5.5.15 — If one is serious about going back home, back to Godhead, he must consider the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead the summum bonum and chief aim of life. If he is a father instructing his sons, a spiritual master instructing his disciples, or a king instructing his citizens, he must instruct them as I have advised. Without being angry, he should continue giving instructions, even if his disciple, son or citizen is sometimes unable to follow his order. Ignorant people who engage in pious and impious activities should be engaged in devotional service by all means. They should always avoid fruitive activity. If one puts into the bondage of karmic activity his disciple, son or citizen who is bereft of transcendental vision, how will one profit? It is like leading a blind man to a dark well and causing him to fall in.

SB 5.5.16 — Due to ignorance, the materialistic person does not know anything about his real self-interest, the auspicious path in life. He is simply bound to material enjoyment by lusty desires, and all his plans are made for this purpose. For temporary sense gratification, such a person creates a society of envy, and due to this mentality, he plunges into the ocean of suffering. Such a foolish person does not even know about this.

SB 5.5.17 — If someone is ignorant and addicted to the path of saṁsāra, how can one who is actually learned, merciful and advanced in spiritual knowledge engage him in fruitive activity and thus further entangle him in material existence? If a blind man is walking down the wrong path, how can a gentleman allow him to continue on his way to danger? How can he approve this method? No wise or kind man can allow this.

SB 5.5.18 — One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother or a worshipable demigod.

Sri Suta Goswami said, “Oh sages, let me offer my humble and respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Hari, Bhagavan Sri Krishna, the son of Devaki and Vasudeva, by whose mercy I can describe the fast day that removes all kinds of sins.
It was to the devoted Yudhisthira that Lord Krishna glorified the twenty-four primary Ekadasis, which destroy sin, and now I shall recount one of those narrations to you.
Great-learned sages have selected these twenty-four narrations from the eighteen Puranas, for they are truly sublime.

Yudhishthira Maharaja said, ‘Oh Lord Krishna, Oh Vasudeva, please accept my humble obeisances. Please describe to me the Ekadasi that occurs during the light part of the month of Chaitra [March-April].
What is its name, and what are its glories?’

Lord Sri Krishna replied, ‘Oh Yudhishthira, please listen to Me attentively as I relate the ancient history of this sacred Ekadasi, a history Vasishtha Muni once related to King Dilipa, the great-grandfather of Lord Ramachandra.
King Dilipa asked the great sage Vasishtha, “Oh wise brahmana, I wish to hear about the Ekadasi that comes during the light part of the month of Chaitra.
Please describe it to me.”

Vasishtha Muni replied, “Oh king, your inquiry is glories. Gladly shall I tell you what you wish to know. The Ekadasi that occurs during the light fortnight of Chaitra is named Kamada Ekadasi. It consumes all sins, as a forest fire consumes a supply of dry firewood. It is very purifying, and it bestows the highest merit upon one who faithfully observes it.

Oh king, now hear an ancient history which is so meritorious that it removes all one’s sins simply by being heard. Once, long ago, there existed a city-state named Ratnapura, which was decorated with gold and jewels and in which sharp-fanged snakes would enjoy intoxication. King Pundarika was the ruler of this most beautiful kingdom, which numbered many Gandharvas, Kinnaras, and Apsaras among its citizens. Among the Gandharvas were Lalit and his wife Lalita, who was an especially lovely dancer. These two were intensely attracted to each other, and their home was full of great wealth and fine food.
Lalita loved her husband dearly, and likewise Lalit constantly thought of her within his heart.

Once, at the court of King Pundarika, many Gandharvas were dancing and Lalit was singing alone, without his wife. He could not help thinking about her as he sang, and because of this distraction he lost track of the song’s meter and melody. Indeed, Lalit sang the ending of his song improperly, and one of the envious snakes who was in attendance at the king’s court complained to the king that Lalit was absorbed in thinking of his wife instead of his sovereign. The king became furious upon hearing this, and his eyes turned crimson with rage.

Suddenly he shouted, ‘Oh foolish knave, because you were lustfully thinking of a woman instead of reverently thinking of your king as you performed your court duties, I curse you to at once become a cannibal! Oh king, Lalit immediately became a fearful cannibal, a great man-eating demon whose appearance terrified everyone. His arms were eight miles long, his mouth was as big as a huge cave, his eyes were as awesome as the sun and moon, his nostrils resembled enormous pits in the earth, his neck was a veritable mountain, his hips were four miles wide, and his gigantic body stood a full sixty-four miles high. Thus poor Lalit, the loving Gandharva singer, had to suffer the reaction of his offense against King Pundarika.

Seeing her husband suffering as a horrible cannibal, Lalita became overwhelmed with grief. She thought, ‘Now that my dear husband is suffering the effects of the kings’ curse, what is to be my lot?
What should I do? Where should I go?’

In this way Lalita grieved day and night.
Instead of enjoying life as a Gandharvas wife, she had to wander everywhere in the thick jungle with her monstrous husband, who had fallen completely under the spell of the king’s curse and was wholly engaged in terrible sinful activities.
He wandered fitfully across forbidding region, a once-beautiful Gandharva now reduced to the ghastly behaviour of a man-eater.
Utterly distraught to see her dear husband suffer so much in his dreadful condition, Lalita began to cry as she followed his mad journeying.

By good fortune, however, Lalita came upon the sage Shringi one day.
He was sitting on the peak of the famous Vindhyachala Hill.
Approaching him, she immediately offered the ascetic her respectful obeisances.

The sage noticed her bowing down before him and said, ‘Oh most beautiful one, who are you?
Whose daughter are you, and why have you come here? Please tell me everything in truth.

Lalita replied, ‘Oh great age, I am the daughter of the great Gandharva Viradhanva, and my name is Lalita.
I roam the forests and plains with my dear husband, whom King Pundarika has cursed to become a man-eating demon.
Oh brahmana, I am greatly aggrieved to see his ferocious form and terribly sinful activities.
Oh master, please tell me how I can perform some act of atonement on behalf of my husband.
What pious act can I perform to free him from this demonic form, Oh best of brahmanas?

‘The sage replied, ‘Oh heavenly maiden, there is an Ekadasi named Kamada that occurs in the light fortnight of the month of Chaitra.
It is coming up soon.
Whoever fasts on this day has all his desires fulfilled.
If you observe this Ekadasi fast according to its rules and regulations and give the merit you thus earn to your husband, he will be freed from the curse at once.’

Lalita was overjoyed to hear these words from the sage.
Lalita faithfully observed the fast of Kamada Ekadasi according to the instructions of the sage Shringi, and on Dvadasi she appeared before him and the Deity of Lord Vasudeva and said, ‘I have faithfully observed the fast of Kamada Ekadasi.
By the merit earned through my observance of this fast, let my husband be free from the curse that has turned him into a demoniac cannibal.
May the merit I have gained thus free him from misery.’

As soon as Lalita finished speaking, her husband, who stood nearby, was at once freed from the king’s curse.
He immediately regained his original form as the Gandharva Lalit, a handsome heavenly singer adorned with many beautiful ornaments.
Now, with his wife Lalita, he could enjoy even more opulence than before.
All this was accomplished by the power and glory of Kamada Ekadasi.
At last the Gandharva couple boarded a celestial airplane and ascended to heaven.

Lord Sri Krishna continued, ‘Oh Yudhishthira, best of kings, anyone who hears this wonderful narration should certainly observe holy Kamada Ekadasi to the best of his ability, such great merit does it bestow upon the faithful devotee.
I have therefore described its glories to you for the benefit of all humanity.
There is no better Ekadasi than Kamada Ekadasi.
It can eradicate even the sin of killing a brhmana, and it also nullifies demoniac curses and cleanses the consciousness.
In all the three worlds, among movable and immovable living entities, there is no better day’

Ekadashi is mentioned in a number of Puranas. It is associated with Lord Vishnu and ‘Haribhakti Vilas’ talks in detail about its importance. Today, in Hindu religion Ekadasi has come to mean a day to fast. It falls on the 11^thday of every lunar fortnight and thus there are two Ekadashi in a month. It is also known as ‘Harivasara’ and ‘Hari din.’ Several Puranas including Padma Purana and Skanda Purana detail about the significance of Ekadeshi.

How to fast on Ekadashi?

How to observe ‘Ekadashi’ is clearly mentioned in ‘Harivasara.’ In modern day, many people will find it difficult to observe it in its entire strictness. But there are a large number of people who observe it. And there are numerous observations on what food one can have? There are also regional variations to the way in which the Ekadasi is observed.

The preparation starts on Dasami day – a day before Ekadashi. The person observing Ekadashi should wake up early in the morning on Dasami day and should take bath and perform other daily routines. The person should mentally prepare for the Ekadashi. He/She should only have one meal on the Dasami day and should avoid salt. Alcohol, non-vegetarian food and sex should be avoided. Some Puranas say ‘dal’ and ‘honey’ should be avoided on Dasami day.

The next day, that is the Ekadashi day, is meant for total fasting. Praying to Vishnu is the order of the day. Some people avoid sleep during Ekadashi night and they hear religious discourses and perform ‘Arati.’ But many people today will not be able to stay awake the entire night due to work pressure etc.

The next day on Dwadasi – that is the day after Ekadeshi – the same routine done on Dasami is followed. Overeating should be avoided on Dwadasi day. Puranas state that one should not take pride in observing Ekadashi. The food on Dwadasi should be cooked in one’s house.

It is good to go on fast once in a while as it recuperates the body. Ekadashi observance cleans our body and the digestive organs get much needed rest.

Those people suffering from ailments and on medications should take the advice of a doctor before fasting. Never torture your body in the name of religion. There is nothing wrong in having fruits or milk. And you can bring a certain amount of flexibility in the way it is observed.