glories of Kamada ekadasi from 2 Puranas

[Paramananda das]

glories of Kamada ekadasi from 2 Puranas
I was sendng the glories of Kamada ekadasi from Brahma Vaivarta Purana earlier this is from Varaha Purana and quoted by Krsna Balarama Swami in his Ekadasi book .Kamada ekadasis frees us from demoniac curses, from birth and death and from every goign to the the abode of Yamaraja and it promotes us to the Spiritual world best is to do full fast Nirjala if you can and chant 128 or 192 rounds at least 64 rounds of the Mahamantras and read sastra all day long with other Vaisnavas, Next best is to take some water, and third best is to only take ekadasi prasadam but this fast is very powerful in any case , Krsnas says Ye Yatha mam Prapadyante

TODAY (04.23) IS KAMADA EKADASI
Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī said, “O sages, let me offer my humble and respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Hari, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī and Vasudeva, by whose mercy I can describe the fast day that removes all kinds of sins. It was to the devoted Yudhiṣṭhira that Lord Kṛṣṇa glorified the twenty-four primary Ekādaśīs, 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 Puraṇas, for they are truly sublime.
Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja said, “O Lord Kṛṣṇa, O Vāsudeva, please accept my humble obeisances. Please describe to me the Ekādaśī that occurs during the light part of the month of Caitra [March-April]. What is its name, and what are its glories?”
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa replied, “O Yudhiṣṭhira, please listen to Me attentively as I relate the ancient history of this sacred Ekādaśī, a history Vasiṣṭha Muni once related to King Dilīpa, the great-grandfather of Lord Rāmacandra.
King Dilīpa asked the great sage Vasiṣṭha, “O wise brāhmaṇa, I wish to hear about the Ekādaśī, that comes during the light part of the month of Caitra. Please describe it to me.”
Vasiṣṭha Muni replied, “O king, your inquiry is glorious. Gladly shall I tell you what you wish to know. The Ekādaśī that occurs during the light fortnight of Caitra is named Kāmadā Ekādaśī. 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. O 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 Punḍarīka was the ruler of this most beautiful kingdom, which numbered many Gandharvas, Kinnaras, and Apsarās among its citizens.
Among the Gandharvas were Lalita and his wife Lalitā, 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. Lalitā loved her husband dearly, and likewise he constantly thought of her within his heart.
Once, at the court of King Pundarīka, many Gandharvas were dancing and Lalita 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, Lalita 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 Lalita 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, “O 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!”
O king, Lalita 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 Lalita, the loving Gandharva singer, had to suffer the reaction of his offense against King Pundarīka.
Seeing her husband suffering as a horrible cannibal, Lalitā became overwhelmed with grief. She thought, “Now that my dear husband is suffering the effects of the king’s curse, what is to be my lot? What should I do? Where should I go?” In this way Lalitā grieved day and night. Instead of enjoying life as a Gandharva’s 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 regions, a once-beautiful Gandharva demigod now reduced to the ghastly behavior of a man-eater. Utterly distraught to see her dear husband suffer so much in his dreadful condition, Lalitā began to cry as she followed his mad journeying.
By good fortune, however, Lalitā came upon the sage Śṛṅgi one day. He was sitting on the peak of the famous Vindhyācala Hill. Approaching him, she immediately offered the ascetic her respectful obeisances. The sage noticed her bowing down before him and said, “O most beautiful one, who are you? Whose daughter are you, and why have you come here? Please tell me everything in truth.”
Lalitā replied, “O great sage, I am the daughter of the great Gandharva Vīradhanvā, and my name is Lalitā. I roam the forests and plains with my dear husband, whom King Pundarīka has cursed to become a man-eating demon. O brāhmaṇa, I am greatly aggrieved to see his ferocious form and terribly sinful activities. O 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 demoniac form, O best of brāhmaṇas?”
The sage replied, “O heavenly maiden, there is an Ekādaśī named Kāmadā that occurs in the light fortnight of the month of Caitra. It is coming up soon. Whoever fasts on this day has all his desires fulfilled. If you observe this Ekādaśī 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.” Lalitā was overjoyed to hear these words from the sage.
Lalitā faithfully observed the fast of Kāmadā Ekādaśī according to the instructions of the sage Śṛṅgi, and on Dvādaśi she appeared before him and the Deity of Lord Vāsudeva and said, “I have faithfully observed the fast of Kāmadā Ekādaśī. 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 Lalitā 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 Lalita, a handsome heavenly singer adorned with many beautiful ornaments. Now, with his wife Lalitā, he could enjoy even more opulence than before. All this was accomplished by the power and glory of Kāmadā Ekādaśī. At last the Gandharva couple boarded a celestial airplane and ascended to heaven.”
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa continued, “O Yudhiṣṭhira, best of kings, anyone who hears this wonderful narration should certainly observe holy Kāmadā Ekādaśī 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 Ekādaśī than Kāmadā Ekādaśī. It can eradicate even the sin of killing a brāhmaṇa, 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.”
Thus ends the narration of the glories of Caitra-śukla Ekādaśī, or Kāmadā Ekādaśī, from the Varāha Purāṇa.
[Ekādaśī, The Day of Lord Hari, by Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balarām Swāmījī, KBS0135]
so here you have both :
Kamika Ekadasi
The saintly king Yudhisthira maharaj said, "Oh Supreme Lord, I have heard from You the glories of fasting on Deva-sayani Ekadasi, which occurs during the light fortnight of the month of Ashadha.
Now I would like to hear from You the glories of the Ekadasi that occurs during the dark fortnight (krishna paksha) of the month of Shravana (July -August).
Oh Govindadeva, please be merciful to me and explain its glories.
Oh Supreme Vasudeva, I offer my most humble obeisances unto You.
The Supreme Lord, Shri Krishna, replied, "Oh King, please listen attentively as I describe the auspicious influence of this Holy fast (vrata) day, which removes all sins.
Narada Muni once asked Lord Brahma about this same topic.
'Oh regent of all beings,' said Naradji, 'Oh you who sit upon a water born lotus throne, please tell me the name of the Ekadasi that occurs during the dark fortnight of the sacred month of Shravana.
Please also tell me which Deity is to be worshipped on that Holy day, the process one must follow to observe it, and the merit it awards.'
Lord Brahma replied, 'My dear son Narada, for the benefit of all humanity I shall happily tell you everything you wish to know, for just hearing the glories of the Kamika Ekadasi bestows merit equal to that obtained by one who performs a horse sacrifice.
Certainly, great merit is attained by one who worships, and who also meditates on the lotus feet of the four-armed Lord Gadadhara, who holds conchshell, disc, club and lotus in His hands and who is also known as Shridhara, Hari, Vishnu, Madhava, and Madhusudana.
And the blessings achieved by such a person / devotee, who worships Lord Vishnu exclusively are far greater than those achieved by one who takes a sacred bath in the Ganges at Kashi (Varanasi), in the forest of Naimisharanya, or at Pushkara, which is the only place on the planet where I am formally worshipped.
But one who observes this Kamika Ekadasi and also worships Lord Shri Krishna achieves greater merit than one who has darshan of Lord Kedaranatha in the Himalayas, or one who bathes at Kurukshetra during a solar eclipse, or one who donates the whole Earth in charity, including its forests and oceans, or one who bathes in the Gandaki River (where the sacred Shaligrams are found) or the Godavari River on a full moon (purnima) day that falls on a Monday when Leo (Simha) and Jupiter (Guru) are conjoined (conjunct).
'Observing Kamika Ekadasi bestows the same merit as donating a milk-cow and her auspicious calf, along with their feed.
On this all auspicious day, whosoever worships Lord Sri Shridhara-deva, Vishnu, is glorified by all the devas, Gandharvas, Pannagas, and Nagas.
'Those who are afraid of their past sins and completely immersed in sinful materialistic life should at least observe this best of Ekadasis according to their ability and thus attain liberation.
This Ekadasi is the purest of all days and the most powerful for removing sins of the native.
Oh Narad ji, Lord Shri Hari Himself once said about this Ekadasi, "One who fasts on Kamika Ekadasi attains much more merit than one who studies all the spiritual literatures.
'Anyone who fasts on this particular day remains awake throughout the night will never experience the anger of Yamaraja, the king of death personified.
It has been seen that whoever observes Kamika Ekadasi will not have to suffer future births, and in the past too, many Yogis of devotion who fasted on this day went to the spiritual world.
One should therefore follow in their auspicious footsteps and strictly observe a fast on this most auspicious of Ekadasis.
'Whosoever worships Lord Shri Hari with Tulsi leaves is freed from all implication of sin.
Indeed, he lives untouched by sin, as the lotus leaf, although in the water, is untouched by it.
Whosoever offers Lord Shri Hari but a single leaf from the sacred Tulsi tree (occillium basilcum sanctum) attains as much merit as one who gives away in charity two hundred grams of gold and eight hundred grams of silver.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is more pleased by one who offers Him a single Tulsi leaf than by one who worships Him with pearls, rubies, topaz, diamonds, lapis lazuli, sapphires, gomeda stones (gomaz), cat's eye gems, and coral.
One who offers Lord Keshava newly grown manjari buds from the Tulsi plant gets rid of all the sins he has committed during this or any other lifetime.
Indeed, mere darshana of Tulsi on Kamika Ekadasi removes all sins, and merely touching her and praying to her removes all kinds of disease.
One who waters Tulsi devi need never fear the Lord of death, Yamaraja.
One who plants or transplants Tulsi on this days will eventually reside with Lord Shri Krishna in His own abode.
To Srimati Tulsi devi, who awards liberation in devotional service, one should therefore daily offer one's full obeisances.
'Even Chitragupta, Yamaraja's secretary, cannot calculate the merit obtained by one who offers Shrimati Tulsi-devi a perpetually burning ghee lamp.
So dear is this sacred Ekadasi to the Supreme Personality of Godhead that all the forefathers of one who offers a bright ghee lamp to Lord Shri Krishna on this day ascend to the heavenly planets and drink the celestial nectar there.
Whoever offers a ghee or sesame oil lamp to Shri Krishna on this day is freed from all his sins and enters the abode of Surya, the Sun-god, with a body as bright as ten million lamps.
This Ekadasi is so powerful that if one who is unable to fast simply follows the practices as mentioned herein, s/he is elevated to the heavenly planets, along with all their forefathers.
'Oh Maharaj Yudhisthira,Lord Shri Krishna concluded, "...these were the words of prajapathi Brahma to his son Narad Muni concerning the incalculable glories of this Kamika Ekadasi, which removes all sins.
This sacred day nullifies even the sin of killing a brahmana or the sin of killing an unborn child in the womb, and it promotes one to the spiritual world by making one supremely meritorious.
One who kills the innocent, i.e., a brahmin (brahmana), a child in the womb, a pious and spotless woman, etc., and then later hears about the glories of Kamika Ekadasi will be relieved of the reaction to one's sins.
However, one should NOT think beforehand that one can kill a Brahmin or other innocent folk and then go unpunished simply by hearing of this Ekadasi.
Such knowing commission of sin is an abomination.
Whosoever hears these glories of the Kamika Ekadasi with faith becomes free of all sins and returns home, back to Godhead - Vishnu-loka, Vaikuntha.
Thus ends the narration of the glories of the Shravana-krshna Ekadasi, or Kamika Ekadasi, from the Brahma-Vaivarta Purana.
'Wishing You a Very Happy Kamada Ekadashi