Mokshada Ekadashi Vrat Katha

Yudhishthira asked Shri Krishna about the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Margashirsha. Krishna said that it is called Mokshada, the giver of liberation, and that it frees even ancestors suffering in hell. Then he told this story.

In the city of Champaka there once ruled a king named Vaikhanasa. He cared for his people like his own children, and learned Brahmins lived in his kingdom. One night the king had a dream in which he saw his father suffering in hell. His father cried out to him: "Son, save me from this torment."

The king woke deeply troubled. In the morning he called the Brahmins and told them his dream. "I can find no peace while my father suffers like this. What is the use of my kingdom and wealth if I cannot help him? Tell me what penance, gift or vrat will free him."

The Brahmins said: "Near here is the ashram of the sage Parvata, who knows the past, present and future. Go to him; he will show you the way."

The king went to the sage's ashram, bowed to him and told him of his dream. Parvata Muni closed his eyes and meditated for a while. Then he said: "In his life your father committed a sin against his wife, and because of it he has gone to hell. In the bright fortnight of Margashirsha comes Mokshada Ekadashi. Keep its fast and give its merit to your father, and he will be freed."

The king returned home and kept the Mokshada Ekadashi fast with his family, as the sage had told him, and offered its merit to his father. At once flowers rained from the sky, and his father, freed from hell, blessed him and went to heaven.

Shri Krishna said that this Ekadashi is like the wish-fulfilling chintamani, and that whoever keeps it or hears this story gains great merit. On this same day Shri Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at Kurukshetra, so it is also celebrated as Gita Jayanti.