Parama Ekadashi 2215

From the Padma Purana

The Padma Purana gives no separate story for this day. The last of its Ekadashi chapters is Sri Krishna's praise of the Ekadashi vow itself, and that praise is retold here.

King Yudhishthira said he had heard of many vows, but of none like the Ekadashi, and he asked Krishna to speak of it once more. Krishna said that the Ekadashi, whether it falls in the bright fortnight or the dark, should never be let go, for it brings freedom and increases happiness. In the Kali age it frees a person from the bonds of worldly life, grants every good wish and destroys all sins on earth. Those who love Vishnu should never give it up. It gives long life, fame, children and health, beauty, even a kingdom, and in the end freedom. Those who keep it with great faith, as it is taught, take on the form of Vishnu, and are seen to be free even while they live.

Yudhishthira wondered at this. How could people once seen as sinners be free while still living, and be like Vishnu himself? Krishna answered that there is no vow like the Ekadashi. It removes all sins and gives people all they wish for. Whoever keeps it with faith gains what he longs for, in this world and the next. It is pure, it makes pure, and it gives both joy and freedom. Those who worship Vishnu with devotion on this day are freed from all sins and reach the highest place. Even telling or hearing of this vow brings the merit of giving a thousand cows.

Another story

Sri Krishna told Yudhishthira what he had heard from the sage Kaundinya in the city of Kampilya. In Kampilya lived a pious brahmana named Sumedha with his wife Pavitra. Because of a sin from a past life they were very poor. Whenever a guest came, Pavitra gave away her own food and went hungry, yet she never complained to her husband. When Sumedha wished to go to a distant land to earn wealth, she gently persuaded him to stay. One day Kaundinya came to their home. They welcomed him and fed him as well as they could, and Pavitra asked how their poverty might end. The sage told them of Parama Ekadashi, in the dark fortnight of the extra month. By its power Kubera was made lord of wealth by Shiva, and King Harishchandra won back his wife and son. Sumedha and Pavitra did all that the sage taught. Soon a prince, sent by Brahma, came from the palace and gave them a fine house and a village to live on, and they lived happily, free from want.