Pasankusa Ekadasi 2113

King Yudhishthira asked Sri Krishna the name of the Ekadashi of the bright half of Ashvina. The Padma Purana gives no tale of a person for this day. Sri Krishna answered with praise of the day itself.

"Listen, O king," He said. "This great Ekadashi is known as Papankusha, and it removes all sins. On this day I am worshipped by the name Padmanabha. The fruit that a person gains by long years of self control, the fruit that brings every wish, heaven and liberation, is gained simply by bowing to the eagle bannered Lord. Even one who is deluded and has done many sins does not go to hell after bowing to Vishnu, who takes away all sin. All the holy places and sacred shrines on earth are reached by reciting the names of Vishnu. Those who give themselves to Vishnu, the bearer of the Sharnga bow, never suffer the torments of Yama's world."

Sri Krishna also gave a warning. A devotee of Vishnu who speaks ill of Shiva does not reach the world of Vishnu, and a devotee of Shiva who speaks ill of Vishnu suffers in hell.

"In the three worlds," He went on, "there is no vow as purifying as this vow of Vishnu. As long as a person has not kept the holy day of Vishnu, sins stay in his body. A thousand horse sacrifices and a hundred Rajasuya sacrifices are not equal to a sixteenth part of it. Even those who keep it for some other reason do not go to Yama. It gives heaven and liberation and good health. It gives a wife and sons, wealth and friends. Not the Ganga, nor Gaya, nor Kashi, nor Pushkara, nor Kurukshetra is holier than the day of Vishnu."

He said that one who keeps it lifts up ten generations on the mother's side, ten on the father's side and ten on the wife's side. Such people take divine forms with four arms, dressed in white, with Garuda on their banners, and go to the abode of Vishnu. Whether one keeps it in childhood, in youth or in old age, no disaster comes. One who keeps Papankusha is freed from all sins and goes to the world of Vishnu, and one who gives gold, sesame, land, a cow, food, water, sandals or an umbrella does not see Yama.

"A person whose days come and go without good deeds," said Sri Krishna, "breathes but does not live, like the bellows of a blacksmith. Even a poor man should make each day fruitful by good acts, as far as he is able. Those who do good live long, are rich, are born in good families and are free from disease. By wrongdoing people fall into trouble, and by right action they rise to heaven. There is no doubt of this."

"I have told you the greatness of Papankusha, as you asked," He said. "What else would you like to hear?"