Hearing this, Ghanshyam was very pleased and asked Mohandas, “If Ekadashi is so important, why don’t people follow it?”

Hearing the question, Mohandas felt slightly offended because he himself didn’t follow the Ekadashi vrat and didn’t encourage others to follow it either. He immediately tried to defend himself, arguing, “There is no need to go hungry unnecessarily. It is our duty to preserve and nourish our bodies, so we should eat and drink to our heart’s content. And anyway, Ekadashi has been bound in the mandir at Jaganathpuri.”

Hearing these completely absurd arguments that contradicted the scriptures, Ghanshyam left and sat in the parikrama of the mandir.

Seeing Ghanshyam get up, the rest of the audience got angry at Mohandas’s reply. They told him strongly, “How dare you sit on the throne of righteousness and yet speak against niyams and penance.”

Hearing this attack, Mohandas reconsidered his actions. He realized his mistake. Tears came to his eyes as he thought to himself, ‘Such a young boy cares so much for righteousness and penance, whereas I am obsessed in indulgence at the end of my life; and due to that, I make others do wrong also.” He came out and fell at Ghanshyam’s feet, repenting for his mistake. He then promised to preach righteousness and the importance of Ekadashi from then on.