Kamika Ekadashi Vrat Katha

Yudhishthira asked Shri Krishna about the Ekadashi of the dark fortnight of Shravana. Krishna told him what Brahma once told his son Narada about it.

Brahma said that this Ekadashi is called Kamika, and that merely hearing of its glory gives the merit of a horse sacrifice. On this day Lord Vishnu should be worshipped as Shridhar, with flowers, fruit, sesame and above all tulsi leaves, for the Lord is more pleased with a single tulsi leaf than with heaps of jewels. Whoever lights a lamp of ghee or sesame oil before the Lord on this day, and stays awake in the night singing his name, brings joy to his ancestors in heaven. The fast destroys even grave sins, though no one should sin deliberately in the hope of being cleansed by it.

The story told with this fast at home is of a strong and quick-tempered warrior who lived in a village. One day he quarrelled with a Brahmin over a small matter, lost his temper and struck him, and the Brahmin died. The warrior was filled with remorse. He wanted to take part in the Brahmin's last rites, but the Brahmins of the village refused, saying that he carried the sin of killing a Brahmin and would have to be purified first.

The warrior begged them to tell him how he could be freed. They told him to keep the fast of Kamika Ekadashi in the dark fortnight of Shravana with full devotion, worship Lord Vishnu, keep vigil through the night and feed Brahmins the next day.

The warrior did all this with a repentant heart. That night, as he slept beside the Lord's image, Lord Vishnu appeared to him in a dream and told him that his sin had been forgiven. The warrior was freed from the sin and lived a righteous life from then on.