एकादशी व्रत माहात्म्य · Ekadashi Vrat Mahatmya

There are twenty-four Ekadashis in a year, and in a leap month two more are added, making twenty-six. Sut ji told the glory of all these Ekadashis as a teaching that Lord Krishna once gave to Arjuna — whoever listens to it with devotion enjoys happiness in this life and finally attains Vishnu's abode.

The custom is this: on the night before Ekadashi, one should clean the teeth after sunset and eat nothing more that night. The next morning, with a calm mind and a resolve, one bathes in a river, pond, or well, first cleansing with clay before the water. Those who keep the fast should avoid the company of the fallen, thieves, hypocrites, liars, those who slander gods, the Vedas, or Brahmins, and the generally corrupt; if such contact happens by accident, looking at the sun is said to wash away the fault. After bathing, one should offer naivedya to the Lord with devotion, avoid sleep and physical union that day, spend the day and night in good company and wholesome talk rather than song and dance, and after devoutly having the Lord's darshan, bow and ask forgiveness for one's shortcomings. Ekadashi in the waxing fortnight and in the waning fortnight are considered equally sacred — there is no reason to treat one as lesser than the other.

The glory of this fast is said to be boundless. Even bathing and having the Lord's darshan at the Shankhoddhar tirtha does not equal one-sixteenth of the merit of an Ekadashi fast. Whatever merit is gained from bathing during a solstice, a lunar or solar eclipse, or at Kurukshetra, all of it together still falls short of the merit of this one fast. The merit of an Ashwamedh sacrifice is a hundred times smaller than that of observing Ekadashi. Feeding an ascetic who has practiced austerity for a thousand years carries the same merit as this fast. Feeding one Brahmin learned in the Vedas and Vedangas yields a certain merit; feeding ten such excellent Brahmins yields ten times that; serving celibate students yields ten times more still; the gift of land a thousand times more; the gift of knowledge ten times beyond that; and feeding a hungry person ten times more than even that — no merit equals the gift of food. The merit of this vrat satisfies even one's ancestors in heaven, and half the merit of any other vow equals the merit of keeping Ekadashi with even a single evening meal instead of a full fast.

Once Arjuna asked, 'O Lord, why do you call this tithi the greatest and most sacred of all pilgrimages?' Krishna replied: 'In the age of Satyug there lived a fearsome demon named Mura, whose terror drove Indra and all the gods from their own realms. Indra went to Mahadev and poured out his sorrow, and Mahadev advised him to seek Lord Vishnu at his ocean-abode. Following this counsel, Indra gathered all the gods and went to where Vishnu, lord of the universe, lay sleeping on the ocean of milk.'

Seeing him asleep, Indra bowed with folded hands and praised him: 'O god of gods, O slayer of demons, all the gods, terrified of the danavs, have come to you for refuge — you alone are the creator, sustainer, and destroyer of this creation, you alone are the sun, the moon, the fire, and the three worlds entire.' Indra explained that Maru, son of the mighty demon Naadijangh, had conquered the whole world by his strength and had made himself Indra, Agni, Yama, Varuna, the moon, and even the sun, so that only the Lord himself could now protect the gods. Hearing of this outrage, the Lord grew intensely angry, and taking all the gods with him, set out for Chandravati, the demon Maru's city.

At Chandravati, a fierce battle broke out between the gods and countless demons, but the gods could not hold their ground against them. The Lord himself then took up the conch, discus, and mace and entered the fight, destroying many demons, but Mura, their king, stood unmoved — every weapon the Lord loosed fell as harmlessly as flower petals against his radiance. Growing angry, the Lord finally engaged him in hand-to-hand combat, but even after what amounted to a thousand years of the gods' time, Mura remained unconquered. Exhausted, the Lord withdrew to Badrikashram to rest, and there he lay down to sleep in a single-mouthed, forty-eight-mile cave called Hemvati.

Following the Lord, Mura too reached that same cave, and seeing him asleep, moved forward intending to kill his enemy unopposed. At that very moment, from the Lord's own body there arose a maiden of extraordinary beauty bearing celestial weapons, who stood before Mura ready for battle. In the fierce fight that followed, she cut apart all of Mura's weapons, leaving him without chariot or arms. Weaponless, he lunged at her bare-handed, but she struck him down. When he rose and charged again, she severed his head with her own weapon and sent him to Yama's realm, and the surviving demons fled in terror to the netherworld. The Lord awoke, and seeing the maiden standing before him, was overjoyed; he asked her who had managed to destroy so mighty a demon — one even the gods themselves had been unable to overcome.

The maiden answered, 'My Lord, born of your own being, I saw this demon trying to kill you in your sleep, and so I destroyed him myself and freed the gods from fear. I am your own all-auspicious supreme power.' Pleased, the Lord asked her to name a boon. She asked that whoever observes a fast be freed from all their sins; that half the merit of a complete fast be granted even to one who eats just a single evening meal; and that whoever, with disciplined senses, fasts on her tithi attain Vishnu's own abode and enjoy boundless happiness there. The Lord replied, 'So be it, blessed one. Since you were born of my own being on the Ekadashi tithi, your name shall be Ekadashi. I shall free all who observe the Ekadashi fast from their sins and grant them the highest destination. The Ashtami, Chaturdashi, and especially the Ekadashi tithis are most dear to me, and among all pilgrimages, charities, and vows, the Ekadashi tithi grants the greatest merit of all.'

The Lord continued, 'O Arjuna, whoever observes the Ekadashi fast, I surely destroy their enemies and grant them the highest station. Thus did Ekadashi come into being. This eternal fast destroys every sin and fulfills every wish. There is no reason to distinguish between Ekadashi in the waxing or the waning fortnight — both bring equal merit. Whoever regularly listens to or recites this glory attains the merit of an Ashwamedh sacrifice; devotees of Vishnu who hear his stories day and night are honored in Vishnu's abode along with a crore of their ancestors; and whoever hears even a quarter of this glory is freed even from the sin of killing a Brahmin. There is no dharma equal to devotion to Vishnu, and no other vow equal to the Ekadashi fast.'