Paap Mochani Ekadashi: 20th March
Get Rid of Your Sins
There are a total of twenty-four Ekadashis which take place in a year and Paap Mochani is one among them which is celebrated in the honor of Lord Vishnu. In the literal sense, Paap Mochani comprises of two words i.e. ‘Paap’ means ‘sin’ and ‘Mochani’ signifying ‘removal’ and together it signifies that the one who would observe Paapmochani Ekadashi is absolved from all the past and present sins. On this auspicious and fortunate day of Paapmochani Ekadashi, devotees worship and offer prayers to Lord Vishnu.
It is believed that Paapmochani Ekadashi is highly favorable and the one who observes a fast on this particular day is freed from his sins and live a peaceful and happy life ahead. With the observance of the Ekadashi, devotees get clarity of vision and thought as well as they get rid of all the griefs and mental afflictions. However, if mere fasting would have resolved all the sins, then there would have been no sufferings in the life of such a people. Thus it is clear that by mere fasting we can’t get rid of our sins. Here it becomes important to understand what is sin and what is virtue. Provided below is a small story to explain the philosophy of sin and virtue.
Once a disciple asked, “Gurudev what is the difference between a sin and a virtue?”
The Guru replied, “Understanding sin and virtue is not that simple. Sometimes even the sin can become a virtue and a virtue can lead into creating a great sin. Let me explain it with an example.
Once a couple was running into a jungle trying to save their life from some robbers. The couple were completely exhausted due to running and tried to hide themselves from the robbers to save themselves. While they were finding a perfect place to hide, they were spotted by a person. Now this person had been a very crooked person who had never helped anyone in life and had always spoken lies in his entire life. The couple pleaded before him to not tell the robbers where they were hiding. Soon, the robber reached the point where the couple were hiding. The robbers too spotted that crooked person and asked him, “Did you see any couple?” To this the crooked man said, “Yes, I saw them running deep into the jungle. They must not be far away?” The robbers quickly left into the direction shown by the crooked man. The couple, who had been able to catch some breath by now, came out of the bushes and thanked the crooked man.
The couple started running into the opposite direction where the robbers went. However, due to their ill fate, the two paths intersected at some point. The couple came to know that they were close to the robbers and once again decided to take shelter behind the bushes. While they were finding a perfect place to hide, they were spotted by a person. Now this person had been a person who had never lied to anyone in life and had always spoken truth in his entire life. The couple pleaded before him to not tell the robbers where they were hiding. Soon, the robber reached the point where the couple were hiding. The robbers too spotted that truth speaking person and asked him, “Did you see any couple?” The truth speaking person was now in a dilemma. He had vowed that he will always speak truth in his life. If he doesn’t speak the truth, the couple will get saved but his vow will be broken. And if he tells the truth, the couple would be killed by the robbers. The person thought for a moment and then decided that he had already invested most of his life in speaking truth, so he must stick to his vow and pointed towards the bush where the couple were hiding. The robbers took out the couple from the bushes and killed them.
Few years later, both the truth speaking person and the crooked person died. On their way to appearing before the Lord, the truth speaking person continuously bullied the crooked person that the crooked person will go to hell as he has never spoken truth in his entire life and has never helped any one. They both appeared before the Lord and the Lord said, “The crooked man will go to heaven whereas this person who always spoke the truth must go to hell.”
The truth speaking person pleaded before the Lord, “My Lord! There is some mistake. I have always stayed with the truth in my entire life whereas this crooked man never said truth to anyone. He is great sinner my Lord. He must be sent to hell and I must go to heaven.”
The Lord replied, “Yes, definitely this person was a big liar throughout his life and you have always spoken the truth. However, there is one deed in each one of your life which has resulted in this action. This crooked man, by lying to the robbers, saved the life of two people which is far more superior than what all sins he committed in his life. On the other hand, your one truth lead to the death of two innocent people. This action of yours is most dreadful sin which a person can commit and has thus nullified all your virtues. Due to this reason only, you will go to hell and this man will go into heaven.”
Now there was a smile on Guru’s face. He further proceeded, “Now you must have got some insight now sins and virtues are classified. It is not that simple and you will be able to understand only one you gain complete knowledge. Mere saying that speaking truth is a virtue and speaking a lie is sin can make things disastrous as explained in the incident above.”
We all, whether knowingly or unknowingly, commit sins in our life. As per Hindu Dharma, which is based on Karma, “You reap, what you sow”. In our day to day activity, we many a times tell lies, we knowing or unknowingly kill insects, think bad about others and speak bad about others. Our every action results in a Karma and we will get results based on our Karmas only. Some Karmas bring instant results in our life whereas some Karmas bring results in long time. If we eat rotten food, we are sure to see the results the very next day. One the other hand, if we exercise daily, we are going to get results in long time by remaining fit and fine in our later part of life.
Our current life is designed based on the Karmas that we did in the past. This past can be the deeds that we did in our current life as well as the Karmas that we did in our earlier lives. One incident how actions of our previous lives affect us is mentioned below.
Lord Krishna visited Bhishma while Bhishma was lying on arrow bed. There were tears in eyes of Bhishma for all the sins that he had committed in his life. When he looked at Lord Krishna, he asked, “Madhav, I know that what all I am suffering from is due to the sins that I must have committed in my life. However, I can look back up to my last seven lives and can’t see any sin that was committed by me. I can’t understand why I have to go through all this in the last phase of my life.”
“Ganga Putra, you have the power to see only your last seven lives but I can see up to your last twenty five lives. In your tenth life, you were a king and there was a beautiful garden just outside your room. One day, while roaming in the garden, you found a venomous snake. You took a spear and threw the snake using it. The snake feel on a thorny shrub and its entire body got pierced with the thorn. The snake couldn’t come out of those thorns and died on the same tree. It’s your that sin Ganga Putra due to which you are lying on a bed of arrows now.”
This incident not only teaches us the impact of Karma but the presence of someone in our life who can help us to understand our Karmas and can guide us how to get rid of our sins. The advantage of getting rid of sins is that one not only feels lighter from the burdens of the sins, one also starts getting the best results of the efforts.
We can easily see in our daily life that two individuals who took birth in the same hospital as well at the same time have entirely different life. One’s life might be full of success whereas the other one’s life might be full of failures and struggle. Where one of them is able to attain greatness in life without much efforts, the other person finds it difficult to even arrange for his bread and butter. The reason behind such a different lives of these two individuals is the Karma that they did in their past life.
There is no major difference between animals and human beings. What all activities are performed by humans, the same are performed by animals too. Animals breathe and so do humans, animals eat and so do humans, animals give birth to their children and so do humans, animals also die after completing their life and so do humans. The only difference between animals and humans is that animals can’t think of getting up early and pray to God, they don’t have the wisdom to think what activities they should do and what not. It is only a human, who has been blessed of this wisdom, to think how he can get enlighten in his life.
One can enlighten the life only with the help of wisdom, following which even a simple person can achieve totality in life, even a simple man can become a God. A simple man can witness the aura of a God, he or she can become divine and this is the base of life. If we can’t see the true form of God then this is a waste of life. Until and unless we get rid of our sins, we can’t attain anything worthy in our life.
Paap Mochani Diksha is one divine blessing from Gurudev to all His beloved disciples. One must get initiated by this diksha to start getting the positive effects of the good deeds that we have done in our last as well as current life without any interference from our sins. If a person can’t meet Gurudev personally, then the initiation process can also be done on the photograph of the individual. There are several advantages of getting initiated in this diksha. A person can see that the efforts being put by him or her are giving results sooner as compared to what he or she used to get earlier. A harmonious environment starts to exist in the home of such an individual. Success, name, fame and prosperity are sure to follow you after getting initiated in this diksha.
It is mandatory to obtain Guru Diksha from Revered Gurudev before performing any Sadhana or taking any other Diksha. Please contact Kailash Siddhashram, Jodhpur through Email , Whatsapp, Phone or Submit Request to obtain consecrated-energized and mantra-sanctified Sadhana material and further guidance,
