Vaikuntha Ekadasi 2247

Long ago, after the great deluge, Lord Vishnu wished to bring the world into being again, and He created Brahma, the four-faced creator. Then two asuras, Madhu and Kaitabha, rose up to destroy Brahma. When Vishnu stood in their way, they turned and fought against Him, and He destroyed them.

After this the two asuras gained true understanding. They prayed to the Lord: by Your grace, let us reach fulfilment and live in Sri Vaikuntha. Vishnu accepted their prayer. On the Ekadashi of the bright half of the month of Margazhi, He opened the northern entrance of His divine city and sent them through it to Paramapada, the highest abode, beyond Satyaloka.

The two brothers did not want this blessing for themselves alone. They wished that the good fortune they had received should reach everyone in the world. So they made one more request. Let the day of the heavenly gate that You opened for us, on Margazhi Shukla Ekadashi, be kept as a great festival on earth. On that day, when You come out through the northern gate in Your temple form, at Srirangam and in Your temples, may all who see You and follow You be freed from their sins, those done knowingly and those done unknowingly, and be granted liberation.

The Lord blessed them and said it would be so. That is why, on Vaikuntha Ekadashi, the northern gate of Vishnu temples, called the Sorgavasal or Paramapada Vasal, is opened, and the Lord comes out through it for His devotees. Because He subdued Madhu and Kaitabha, Vishnu is also called Madhusudana.

The same day is also believed to be the day on which Sri Krishna taught the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna at the start of the Kurukshetra war.

The blessing: keeping this one Ekadashi is believed to bring the merit of keeping every Ekadashi of the year. Those who keep the day and see the opening of the Sorgavasal are said to be freed of their sins and to receive every good thing.