रमा एकादशी व्रत कथा (कार्तिक कृष्ण एकादशी) · Rama Ekadashi Vrat Katha (Kartik Krishna Ekadashi)

When Yudhishthira asked, Bhagwan Krishna said that the Ekadashi falling in the Krishna Paksha of the month of Kartik is called Rama Ekadashi, a highly meritorious observance that destroys all sins. So saying, he related its story.

There was a king named Muchukunda, a great devotee of Bhagwan Vishnu, in whose kingdom no obstacle or unrest ever arose. His daughter Chandrabhaga was married to Chandrasenkumar Shobhan. Once, on the day of Dashami, Shobhan came to visit his in-laws. That very day, an announcement went out across the city that no one in the kingdom would eat on the coming Ekadashi. Shobhan, unaccustomed to such a strict fast, grew anxious and asked his wife Chandrabhaga what he should do. Chandrabhaga explained that in her father's kingdom the Ekadashi vow was observed so strictly that even animals were not fed that day, and that if he ate, he would face public censure. Hearing this, Shobhan gathered his courage and said he too would observe the fast, whatever the outcome.

Shobhan kept the fast with full sincerity, but being unaccustomed to it, he passed away the very next morning at sunrise. King Muchukunda arranged a royal funeral for his son-in-law, and Chandrabhaga, after completing the customary rites, continued to live in her father's house. Yet through the merit of that very Ekadashi vow, Shobhan came to possess a magnificent celestial city atop Mount Mandaracala, where he lived in splendor equal to Kubera's. Some time later, a Brahmin named Somasharma from Muchukunda's city, passing by Mount Mandaracala on pilgrimage, recognized Shobhan there. Shobhan received him warmly and asked after his father-in-law, his wife Chandrabhaga, and the kingdom. Somasharma, after reporting that all was well, asked in wonder about this extraordinary city. Shobhan replied that it was the fruit of his Rama Ekadashi vow, but since he had not observed it with complete faith, he feared it would not endure. He asked Somasharma to carry this account back to Chandrabhaga.

Somasharma returned and told Chandrabhaga the whole account, saying he had seen her husband in a city as magnificent as Indra's own, but that it was unstable. Hearing this, Chandrabhaga's heart grew restless to see her husband, and she asked Somasharma to take her there, believing that the merit of her own vow could make the city permanent. Somasharma led her to the hermitage of sage Vamadev on Mount Mandaracala, where, through the power of the sage's mantra combined with the merit of her own long-kept Ekadashi vow, her body was transformed into a divine form, and she reached her husband. Shobhan was overjoyed to have his beloved wife back and seated her beside him on his throne. Chandrabhaga told him that she had faithfully observed the Ekadashi vow since the age of eight, and that by the power of this accumulated merit, the city would now remain stable and ever-prosperous until the end of the cosmic age, fulfilling every desire. From then on, by the power of the Rama vow, Chandrabhaga, adorned with divine splendor, beauty, and ornaments, has lived on with her husband in joy atop Mount Mandaracala. Bhagwan Krishna says: O Yudhishthira, this Rama Ekadashi fulfills every desire, just like the wish-fulfilling gem Chintamani and the wish-granting cow Kamadhenu.