JR
Hare Krishna
Kaisika Ekadasi today.... Nambaduvan playing Veena before Perumal....
Story:
It so happened that in the divyadesam of 'Thirukkurungudi' there lived a great bhakta of Sri Vishnu who was fondly named by bhagwan as 'Nampaaduvan' (our singer). Nampaaduvan kept fast on all Ekadasi days and would break the fast on the Dwadasi day only after first bathing, going to the temple and singing the glory of the Lord first. He was doing this for 10 yrs in consequence.. after 10 yrs one time, when he was on his way to the temple after the Ekadasi fast on the Dwadasi day, a preta/ghost/demon appeared before him and was about to eat him. Nampaaduvan told the demon that he would promise to return to the demon for being eaten, but first he has to sing to bhagwan Sri Vishnu at his temple as was customary for him to do. The demon would not believe him and would not let him go at first. But Nampaaduvan gave the demon 18 different promises and finally convinced the demon he would return back and then went to the temple. At the temple, bhagwan appeared in a different form and told Nampaaduvan not to go back to the demon but Nampaaduvan refused. After singing his song to the Lord, he returned back to the demon promptly for being eaten. The demon was taken aback! It praised Nampaaduvan for his sincerity in keeping up his promise and realizing his miserable state of being a demon, it changed its mind and said to Nampaaduvan, "I do not wish to eat you anymore, instead give me the merit of all your Ekadasi fastings to me now, I will let you go". Nampaaduvan refused and told the demon he would rather prefer himself eaten. The demon started begging Nampaaduvan and finally the demon asked Nampaaduvan for just the merit of the previous day's fasting and the dwadasi day's singing alone. To this Nampaaduvan agreed and lo! to everyone's amazement, on receiving the merit of just 1-time ekadasi fasting and singing glory of the lord from Nampaaduvan, the demon shed off his demonic form and ascended to the heaven! This day when this story happened came to be known as 'Kaisika Ekadasi' day and whoever listens to this story on this day will be immensely blessed.
Here is a very sweet presentation of the above 'Kaisika Purana' by Dr. D.A.Joseph in Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9jAO_hi2U
Thanks.
Story:
It so happened that in the divyadesam of 'Thirukkurungudi' there lived a great bhakta of Sri Vishnu who was fondly named by bhagwan as 'Nampaaduvan' (our singer). Nampaaduvan kept fast on all Ekadasi days and would break the fast on the Dwadasi day only after first bathing, going to the temple and singing the glory of the Lord first. He was doing this for 10 yrs in consequence.. after 10 yrs one time, when he was on his way to the temple after the Ekadasi fast on the Dwadasi day, a preta/ghost/demon appeared before him and was about to eat him. Nampaaduvan told the demon that he would promise to return to the demon for being eaten, but first he has to sing to bhagwan Sri Vishnu at his temple as was customary for him to do. The demon would not believe him and would not let him go at first. But Nampaaduvan gave the demon 18 different promises and finally convinced the demon he would return back and then went to the temple. At the temple, bhagwan appeared in a different form and told Nampaaduvan not to go back to the demon but Nampaaduvan refused. After singing his song to the Lord, he returned back to the demon promptly for being eaten. The demon was taken aback! It praised Nampaaduvan for his sincerity in keeping up his promise and realizing his miserable state of being a demon, it changed its mind and said to Nampaaduvan, "I do not wish to eat you anymore, instead give me the merit of all your Ekadasi fastings to me now, I will let you go". Nampaaduvan refused and told the demon he would rather prefer himself eaten. The demon started begging Nampaaduvan and finally the demon asked Nampaaduvan for just the merit of the previous day's fasting and the dwadasi day's singing alone. To this Nampaaduvan agreed and lo! to everyone's amazement, on receiving the merit of just 1-time ekadasi fasting and singing glory of the lord from Nampaaduvan, the demon shed off his demonic form and ascended to the heaven! This day when this story happened came to be known as 'Kaisika Ekadasi' day and whoever listens to this story on this day will be immensely blessed.
Here is a very sweet presentation of the above 'Kaisika Purana' by Dr. D.A.Joseph in Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9jAO_hi2U
Thanks.
