Shravana Putrada Ekadashi

Yudhishthira said, "You have so nicely explained to us the wonderful glories of the Saphalaa Ekaadasi, which occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of Pausha. Now please be merciful to me and explain to me the details of the Ekaadasi that occurs in the light fortnight of this month. What is its name, and what Deity is to be worshiped on that sacred day? Oh Purushottama, Oh Hrishikesha, please also tell me how You can be pleased on this day?"

Lord Sri Krishna replied, "Oh saintly king, for the benefit of all humanity I shall now tell you how to observe fasting on the Pausha-shukla Ekadasi." He said that the injunction applies also to the Ekadashi named Putrada, which destroys all sins and elevates one to the spiritual abode; that Shri Narayana, the original personality, is the worshipable Deity of the Ekadashi, and that for his faithful devotees he happily fulfils all desires and awards full perfection. Among all animate and inanimate beings in the three worlds, there is no better personality than Lord Narayana.

There was once a kingdom named Bhadraavati, ruled by King Suketumaan, whose queen was the famous Shaibyaa. Because he had no son, he spent a long time in anxiety, thinking, "If I have no son, who will carry on my dynasty?" He could find no happiness anywhere in his kingdom, not even in his own palace, and spent more and more time in his wife's palace, gloomily thinking only of how he might get a son.

Both the king and queen were in great distress. Even when they offered tarpana, their mutual misery made the water seem as undrinkable as if it were boiling; they thought they would have no descendants to offer tarpana to them when they died, and would become lost souls. They were especially upset to learn that their forefathers were worried that soon there would be no one to offer them tarpana either. Neither ministers nor friends nor loved ones could cheer them, and the king's elephants and horses and infantry were no solace to him.

The king thought, "It is said that without a son, marriage is wasted. Indeed, for a family man with no son, both his heart and his splendid house remain vacant and miserable. Bereft of a son, a man cannot liquidate the debts that he owes his forefathers, the demigods and to other human beings. A son is proof of the pious activities a man performed in his past one hundred lifetimes. The great blessing of sons, wealth, and sharp intelligence can be achieved only by worshiping the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. That is my opinion."

In such anxiety, day and night, he at last decided to end his misery by suicide — but he realised that suicide throws a person into hellish conditions of rebirth, and turned from it. Instead he rode alone into the forest, and there, wandering among the animals and birds, he came at noon upon a lake surrounded by the ashrams of great sages. Auspicious omens appeared to him, and he approached the sages and bowed.

The sages told him they were the Vishvadevas, that they had come to bathe there, and that the day was Putrada Ekadashi, in the light fortnight of Pausha — and that whoever fasts on this day obtains a son. Hearing this, the king begged them for their mercy, and they granted him a benediction.

King Suketumaan returned to his kingdom and observed the Putrada Ekadashi fast with his queen, according to all the rules. In due course Queen Shaibyaa conceived, and a radiant son was born to them, who grew to be brave and virtuous and cared for his subjects as his own.

Whoever observes Putrada Ekadashi obtains a worthy son, is freed from all sins, becomes famous and learned, and at the last attains the spiritual abode.