Sri Yudhisthira Maharaj said, “Oh Vasudeva, I offer my most
humble obeisances unto You. Please now describe to me the Ekadasi of the
dark fortnight (krishna paksha) of the month of Vaisakha (April-May), including
its specific merits and influence.”
Lord Sri Krishna replied, “Oh King, in this world and the
next, the most auspicious and magnanimous Ekadasi is Varathini Ekadasi, which
occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of Vaisakha. Whosoever
observes a complete fast on this sacred day has his sins completely removed,
obtains continuous happiness, and achieves all good fortune.
Fasting on Varathini Ekadasi makes even an unfortunate woman
fortunate. Upon anyone who observes it, this Ekadasi bestows material
enjoyment in this life and liberation after the death of this present
body. It destroys the sins of all and saves people from the miseries of
repeated rebirth. By observing this Ekadasi properly, King Mandhata was
liberated. Many other kings also benefited from observing it, kings such
as Maharaja Dhundhumara, in the Ikshvaku dynasty, who became free from leprosy
resulting from the curse that Lord Shiva had imposed upon him as a
punishment. Whatever merit one obtains by performing austerities and
penances for ten thousand years is achieved by a person who observes Varuthini
Ekadasi.
The merit one achieves by donating a great amount of gold
during a solar eclipse at Kurukshetra is gained by one who observes this one
Ekadasi with love and devotion, and certainly attains his goals in this life
and the next. In short, this Ekadasi is pure and very enlivening and the
destroyer of all sins.
Better than giving horses in charity is giving elephants,
and better than giving elephants is giving land. But better still than
giving land is the giving of sesame seeds, and better than that is giving of
gold. Still better than giving gold is giving food grains for all the
forefathers, demigods (devas), and human beings become satisfied by eating
grains. Thus there is no better gift of charity than this in the past,
present or future.
Yet learned scholars have declared that giving away a young
maiden in marriage to a worthy person is equal to giving away food grains in
charity. Moreover, Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
has said that giving cows in charity is equal to giving food grains. Still
better than all these charities is teaching spiritual knowledge to the
ignorant. Yet all the merits one can attain by performing all these acts
of charity are attained by one who fasts on the Varuthini Ekadasi.
One who lives off the wealth of his daughters suffers a
hellish condition until the inundation of the entire universe, Oh
Bharata. Therefore one should be especially careful not to use the wealth
of his daughter. Oh best of kings, any householder who takes his
daughter’s wealth out of greed, who tries to sell his daughter, or who takes
money from the man to whom he has given his daughter in marriage such a
householder becomes a lowly cat in his next life. Therefore it is said
that whoever, as a sacred act of charity, gives away in marriage a maiden
decorated with various ornaments, and who also gives a dowry with her, obtains
merit that cannot be described even by Chitragupta, the chief secretary of
Yamaraja in the heavenly planets. That very same merit, however, can be
easily achieved by one who fasts on the Varuthini Ekadasi.
The following things should be given up on the Dashami, (the
tenth phase of the Moon), the day before the Ekadasi: eating on bell-metal
plates, eating any kind of urad-dahl, eating red-lentils, eating chick-peas,
eating kondo (a grain that is primarily eaten by poor people and that resembles
poppy seeds or agarpanthas seeds), eating spinach, eating honey, eating in
another person’s house/home, eating more than once, and participating in sex of
any kind.
On the Ekadasi itself one should give up the
following: gambling, sports, sleeping during the daytime, betal nuts and
its leaf, brushing one’s teeth, spreading rumours, faultfinding, talking to the
spiritually fallen, anger, and lying.
On the Dwadasi the day after Ekadasi (the twelfth phase of
the Moon), one should give up the following: eating on bell-metal plates,
eating urad-dahl, red-lentils, or honey, lying, strenuous exercise or labour,
eating more than once, any sexual activity, shaving the body, face or head,
smearing oils on one’s body, and eating in another’s home.
Lord Sri Krishna continued, “Whoever observes the Varuthini
Ekadasi in this way becomes free from all sinful reactions and returns to the
eternal, spiritual abode. One who worships Lord Janardana (Krishna) on
this Ekadasi by staying awake throughout the entire night, also becomes free
from all his previous sins and attains to the spiritual abode. Therefore,
Oh king, he who is frightened of his accumulated sins and their attendant
reactions, and thus of death itself, must observe Varuthini Ekadasi by fasting
very strictly.
Finally, Oh noble Yudhisthira, he who hears or reads this
glorification of the sacred Varuthini Ekadasi obtains the merit earned by donating
one thousand cows in charity, and at last he returns home, to the Supreme abode
of Lord Vishnu in the Vaikunthas”.
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