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Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Ekadasi


Dear Lars,



Hello. Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories

to Srila Prabhupada!



I'm very glad the volume of Sri Caitanya Caritamrta arrived there and

you are relishing the nectar. That is the main thing. Of course it is

just one volume. There are sixteen others. You should try and get them

as well. Unfortunately it is out of print for many years now -- the

BBT are promising a "new" version later this year.

Whether it will come our or not I don't know. 



There is, however, a single-volume edition [with very small, but still

just readable, type] available for $US88. I have found the Krishna

Culture mail order service in the US quite efficient. They have a very

big catalogue you can ask them to send you. It has many, many books in

it which may not be bona fide so you have to be a little careful, but

it has all Prabhupada's books and all the devotional paraphernalia you

could ever want. So they are providing a very nice service. Their

address is:



         Krishna Culture

         P.O. Box 12380

         Philadelphia PA 19119 USA



I get great relief from reading Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. Sometimes the

preaching work is difficult, but as soon as I pick up the

Caitanya-caritamrta I feel very happy and I have often read one whole

volume in one reading. Reading for hours and hours. It is really so

nice. You will want to get the other volumes also.



As for garlic onions and mushrooms you might like to do a search on my

www site (click on the magnifying-glass in the button bar at the top

of most screens). There is quite a bit there. Basically these things

are not in the mode of goodness [garlic & onions = passion and

mushrooms = ignorance) So Krishna doesn't like them. We are cooking

for Krishna and Krishna likes foods in the mode of goodness from the

groups of milk products, grains, fruits and vegetables. So we should

cook what Krishna likes, not what we like, that is the main point...



It is nice that sometimes you are cooking, but are satisfied by 

simply offering the food to Krishna. That is a very good thing. But

you will have to find a few people to distribute the prasadam to!!

Actually an advanced devotee is not concerned about eating very

palatable food for himself, he gets great pleasure by preparing it and

offering it to Krishna and seeing others relish Krishna prasadam.

Devotees are satisfied with simple food, just to keep the body and

soul together, but they want to offer Krishna the best first-class

opulent preparations. But it is an advanced stage. There is no harm in

taking prasadam to our satisfaction in the beginning. This sort of

renunciation should come naturally. We should become so busy in

Krishna's service that there is no time left for eating and sleeping.

That was what happened to the six gosvamis of Vrndavana [the direct

disciples of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu] They were so busy chanting

Hare Krishna, discussing the pastimes of Krishna, worshipping the

Deity of Krishna, and writing books about Krishna that they had

practically no time to eat and sleep. Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was a

very great example in this manner. He was so busy that he couldn't

sleep more than two hours at night and as far as eating was concerned

he just ate a little butter every second day. But it is not false. He

was not hungry. He was just to busy serving Krishna to find the time

to eat and sleep. So I hope that someday I can also become so busy

serving Krishna. But at the moment I eat and sleep too much. These

things should be reduced. They are a waste of time. But it cannot be

done falsely, that will not last. There has to be real attachment to

Krishna, we have to be really very busy in Krishna's service...



As for Ekadsai, it means eleven. The Vedic calender is based on the

moon. So one month is one full moon till the next. The month is

divided into two fortnights, one during the waning moon (the moon

getting smaller) and one during the waxing moon (the moon getting

bigger). So Ekadasi occurs on the eleventh day of the waxing moon and

the eleventh day of the waning moon. Basically you can work out when

it is yourself from this information, but there are other

complications as well so sometimes it is observed the day after, but

that is to much to go into here... 



The idea of Eakdasi is on that day sin personified takes shelter in

the grains -- so it is very inauspicious to eat grains on the Ekadasi.

So devotees fast at least from all grains, some devotees also fast

completely, some even don't drink any water as well -- but at least we

should fast from grains. It is a very auspicious day in the sense that

any devotional service performed on the Ekadasi is very powerful,

especially hearing and chanting. I have heard it said chanting on an

Ekadasi is ten times more powerful than on an ordinary day. So

devotees like to take the opportunity to chant extra rounds on the

Ekadasi [some chant 64 rounds which is not really that difficult if

you fix your mind up to do it]. It is also very good to read lots from

Prabhupada's books on the Ekadasi...



The fasting is really so we can read and chant more. If you don't eat

it saves a lot of time and you don't have to sleep so much either. Too

much eating means too much sleeping... and it is not at all good to

spend much time sleeping on the Ekadasi. In fact traditionally in

India the devotees would stay up all night chanting Hare Krishna. But

that may be a little difficult for us in the West, particularly if we

have a full days service to do the next day.



So we should at least fast from grains and increase our reading and

chanting on the Ekadasi days... And if we can do other things [chant

64 rounds, fast completely, stay up all night chanting Hare Krishna,

etc] then that is very good.



Generally we don't perform great austerities, in fact Bhagavad-gita

calls performing austerities not reccomended in the scriptures

demoniac. But if you want to perform some austerity then the Ekadasi

is the time to do it. It is recommended in the scriptures and it will

be very effective in helping you advance in Krishna consciousness...



Thanks very much for the letter and the money. I will send you the

bank account no. on Monday. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! 



Your servant



Madhudvisa dasa
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Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!