Papankusha Ekadashi

Maharaja Yudhishthira asked, "Madhusudan! Now, please kindly tell me, during the bright fortnight of Ashwin, which Ekadashi is observed?"

Lord Shri Krishna replied, "O King! The Ekadashi observed during the bright fortnight of Ashwin is known as Papankusha. It is renowned for its ability to eradicate all sins and is highly auspicious. On this day, one should worship me, Vasudeva, also known as Padmanabha, to attain all their desires and to receive the blessings of heaven and liberation."

The name itself carries the meaning: an ankusha is the goad with which an elephant is controlled, and this Ekadashi is the goad that holds sin in check.

The fruit that a person obtains by enduring rigorous austerity for a long time and conquering the senses is obtained by simply offering reverence to Lord Garudadhwaja on this day. The merit gained by visiting all the sacred places and temples on Earth is gained by merely chanting the name of Lord Vishnu on this day. Those who take refuge in the all-pervading Lord Janardan, bearing the Sarngadhanush, do not have to endure the torments of Yamaloka.

Although a person might have committed unlimited and abominable sins, he can still escape hellish punishment just by paying his obeisances to Lord Sri Hari, the taker away of all sin. Whoever chants the sacred names — Rama, Vishnu, Janardana or Krishna — especially on Ekadashi, never sees the punishing abode of Yamaraj.

The Lord warned equally of sectarian hatred: a devotee of Vishnu who criticises Lord Shiva does not attain a place in the realm of Vishnu and falls into hell; and one who follows the Shaiva or Pashupata tradition and criticises Vishnu is cast into the terrifying Raurava hell. The merit obtained by performing one hundred horse sacrifices and one hundred Rajasuya sacrifices is not even equal to one sixteenth of the merit a devotee attains by fasting on Ekadashi. Nothing in all the three worlds is as pleasing, or as able to purify one of accumulated sin, as Ekadashi, the day of the lotus-naveled Lord, Padmanabha.

Neither the Ganges, nor Gaya, nor Kashi, nor Pushkara, nor even the holy site of Kurukshetra can grant as much auspicious merit as this Papankusha Ekadashi.

After observing the fast during the daytime the devotee should remain awake through the night, absorbed in hearing, chanting and serving the Lord — for by so doing he easily attains the supreme abode of Lord Vishnu. Not only that: ten generations of ancestors on his mother's side, ten generations on his father's side, and ten generations on his wife's side are all liberated by a single observance of this fast. All these ancestors attain their original four-armed transcendental Vaikuntha forms, and wearing yellow garments and beautiful garlands they ride to the spiritual realm on the back of Garuda.

Whether one is a child, a youth, or in old age, fasting on Papankusha Ekadashi frees one from all sins and makes one immune to a hellish rebirth. Whoever donates gold, sesame seeds, fertile land, cows, grain, drinking water, an umbrella, or a pair of shoes on this most auspicious of holy days will never have to visit the abode of Yamaraj. And on this Ekadashi especially, even the poor should first bathe and then give some charity according to their means.

This Ekadashi bestows heaven, liberation, good health, beauty, wealth and friends, and is beneficial for all.