Pavitra Ekadasi 1949

King Yudhishthira asked Sri Krishna the name of the Ekadashi of the bright half of Shravana. Sri Krishna said, "Listen to this great story that removes sin. Hearing it brings the fruit of the Vajapeya sacrifice."

At the beginning of the Dvapara age a king named Mahijit ruled in the city of Mahishmati. He had no son, and so his kingdom gave him no happiness, for a man without a son has no happiness in this world or the next. He waited a long time, but no son came. When he saw that he was growing old, he became anxious.

One day he spoke to his people in the assembly. "In this life I have done no sin. I have never taken unjust wealth. I have cared for my people like my own sons and won my land by right. Learned brahmanas, think why no son is born in my house."

The brahmanas, the people and the family priest took counsel and went into a dense forest. There they saw many hermitages, and at last they found the great sage Lomasha. He was ancient, alone in hard penance, and like Brahma himself. With each kalpa that passed, one hair fell from his body, and so he was called Lomasha. Seeing him, they were glad. They bowed before him.

"Why have you come?" asked Lomasha. "Tell me, and I will do what is good for you. People like me live to help others."

They said, "Our king Mahijit has no son. He cares for us like his own children, and his grief is our grief. Tell us how the king may have a son."

The sage sat in meditation for a while and saw the king's former birth. Then he said, "In his previous life he was a poor vaishya who did wrong deeds and went from village to village trading. Once, on the tenth day of the bright half of Jyeshtha, at noon, he came to a pond at the edge of a village. Just as he was about to drink, a cow came with her calf, faint with thirst and heat, and began to drink. He drove her away and drank himself. Because of that sin the king has no son."

"Sin is destroyed by merit," the people said. "Tell us the merit that will destroy it, so that by your grace the king may have a son."

Lomasha said, "Keep the Ekadashi of the bright half of Shravana, called Putrada, which grants what one desires."

They bowed to the sage and went back to the city. They kept the vow faithfully, watching through the night, and gave its pure merit to the king. When the merit was given, the queen conceived, and in time she gave birth to a radiant son.

Sri Krishna said that whoever hears the greatness of this vow is freed from sins, has the joy of a son in this world and goes to heaven afterwards.

The Padma Purana also tells that on the next day, Dvadashi, devotees offer Lord Vasudeva a pavitraka, a sacred thread or ring of gold, silver, silk, kusha grass or cotton, and from this the day is called Pavitra Ekadashi.