Guru Maharaj: All the types of cooked green leafy vegetables that are considered śāk like pālak, lāl, polmi śāk, are all prohibited this month. According to Bhakti Vidyāpūrṇa Mahārāja, it does not include lettuce or the coriander leaves. I don’t know about moringa or drumstick leaves, if they are considered as śāk or not. One month we don’t take śāk, and next month we don’t take yogurt, third month we don’t take milk, and then the fourth month we don’t take urad-dāl. Non-vegetarians for this month, they don’t take any nonveg. Since we are vegetarians, we give up high protein like urad-dāl. In the middle of this Cāturmāsya comes the Puruṣottama month when there is no specific restriction for eating. But in that month, no auspicious ceremony like śubha-karma is performed. But one gets a thousand times benefit for any devotional service. It is good to offer lamps to Kṛṣṇa, bathe in the Ganges, to do devotional service. So, I start it on the Ekādaśī, you have the alternative to start on the Ekādaśī or the full moon day. So, most devotees do on full moon, I do it on Ekādaśī, because it is very hard to find out for me when is the full moon! But I know when it is Ekādaśī,also, we follow at the end of the Cāturmāsya, the Bhīṣma-pañcaka, from the Ekādaśī to the full moon. So, I finish my Cāturmāsya on the day before Ekādaśī, and then I can observe the Bhīṣma-pañcaka anyway.
02-July-2020 in Śrīdhām Māyāpur, India