Mokshada Ekadashi vrat katha

The story of King Vaikhanasa

As told in the Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, chapter 39 (the Gita Press edition numbers its chapters two higher), checked against the Sanskrit, Deshpande’s English translation and the Gita Press Hindi, and compared with Drik Panchang, Bhakti Bharat and the ISKCON book.

Yudhishthira bowed to Lord Vishnu and said to Krishna, “O God of gods, for the good of all people and for the ending of sins, I ask you this. The Ekadashi that comes in the bright half of Margashirsha: what is its name, what is its rite and which deity is worshipped that day? Lord, tell me all of it in full.”

Krishna said, “O king, you have asked well. I have already told you of Utpanna Ekadashi, in the dark half of Margashirsha. Now hear of the Ekadashi of the bright half. It is known as Mokshada, and it takes away all sins. On this day Lord Damodara should be worshipped with care, with tulsi buds, incense and lamps.”

“By giving away the merit of this Ekadashi, even forefathers who through their sins have fallen into hell or into a lowly birth attain liberation; of this there is no doubt. Now hear its ancient, sacred story.”

In the lovely city of Champaka, graced by devotees of Vishnu, ruled a king named Vaikhanasa. He cared for his subjects as if they were his own children. Many brahmins learned in the Vedas lived in his city.

One night the king saw in a dream that his father and forefathers were suffering in hell. Weeping again and again, they were saying to him, “You are our son; free us from this suffering.” Seeing this, the king’s mind was filled with wonder and distress. In the morning he told the brahmins all that he had seen in the dream.

The king said, “Brahmins, since I saw this I have had no peace. This great kingdom, these elephants and horses, my wife and my sons, nothing pleases me now. What shall I do, where shall I go? My heart is choking. Of your kindness, tell me the vow, the austerity or the practice by which my forebears may be freed at once. If a son is alive and strong and yet his father lies in a dreadful hell, what use is such a son?”

The brahmins said, “O king, close by is the great ashram of the sage Parvata. He knows both the past and the future. Go to him.”

Hearing this, King Vaikhanasa went at once to the ashram of the sage Parvata. Many sages versed in the Vedas were there, and among them Parvata looked like a second Brahma. The king lay full length before him in salutation. The sage asked after the seven limbs of his kingdom, that is, the state of the whole realm, and whether it was free of trouble and the king at ease.

The king said, “Lord, by your grace all is well in my kingdom. But in a dream I have seen my forefathers lying in hell. Tell me, by the power of what merit will they be freed? It is to ask this that I have come to you. Show me some way.”

Hearing this, the sage Parvata fixed his eyes and sat in meditation. After a short while in meditation he said, “O king, I have come to know your father’s past deeds. In his former birth he did not keep his duty as a husband to his wife: in her season, when a wife has the right to her husband’s company, he denied her that right. It is because of that sin that your father lies in hell.”

King Vaikhanasa asked again, “O sage, by the power of which vow will they be freed?” The sage said, “In the bright half of Margashirsha comes the Ekadashi called Mokshada. Keep its fast and give its merit to your father. By the power of that merit he will be set free.”

Hearing the sage’s words, the king returned home. When the month of Margashirsha came, he kept the fast of Mokshada Ekadashi with his family as the sage had told him, and offered all its merit to his father.

The moment the merit was offered, flowers began to rain from the sky. The king’s father, together with the forefathers, was freed from hell. As he went on his way to heaven he blessed his son from the sky: “Son, may it be well with you, may it be well with you.” With these words he went to heaven.

At the end Krishna says, “O king, whoever keeps the auspicious Mokshada Ekadashi in this way loses his sins and after death attains liberation. There is no Ekadashi greater than this for giving liberation. For people it is like the wish-granting chintamani gem.” By the Padma Purana the merit of this fast cannot be counted, and reading and hearing its katha bring the fruit of a Vajapeya sacrifice.