Varuthini Ekadasi 2216

King Yudhishthira bowed to Sri Krishna and asked Him the name and the greatness of the Ekadashi of the dark half of Vaishakha (Purnimanta; Chaitra in Amanta). The Padma Purana gives no tale of a person for this day. Sri Krishna answered with praise of the day itself.

He said that it is called Varuthini, and that it brings greatness in this world and the next. Through it happiness always comes, sins are destroyed and good fortune is won. Even a woman whose fortune has been poor becomes fortunate by it. It gives joy in this life and liberation at the end, it takes away all the sins of people, and it ends the cycle of being born again.

Sri Krishna named those who had gained by it. By this vow King Mandhata went to heaven, and so did Dhundhumara and many other kings. By it even Lord Shiva was freed from the sin of breaking off Brahma's head. One who keeps Varuthini with faith gains the same fruit as one who gives a great weight of gold at Kurukshetra at a holy time, and gains what he wishes for in this world and the next.

To show how great this merit is, Sri Krishna set the gifts of the world one above another. A gift of elephants is greater than a gift of horses, and a gift of land is greater than elephants. Sesame is greater than land, and gold is greater than sesame. Greater than gold is the gift of food, for there never was and never will be a greater gift than food. By food the ancestors, the gods and men are all satisfied. The wise say that giving a daughter in marriage is like it, and the Lord Himself said that the gift of a cow is equal to it. But of all gifts, the gift of knowledge is the best. Keeping Varuthini, said Sri Krishna, brings a fruit equal to that.

He spoke again of the gift of a daughter. Even Chitragupta, who keeps the account of every deed, cannot measure the merit of one who gives his daughter in marriage well adorned, as far as he is able. The one who keeps Varuthini gains a fruit equal to that. But those who, blinded by greed, live on money taken for a daughter's marriage lose their merit and go to a hell full of torment.

Those who keep Varuthini, He said, are freed from all their sins and reach an undecaying place in the end. Those who stay awake through its night and worship Vishnu reach the highest place. So all who fear sin should hold to this day.

Sri Krishna ended by saying that whoever tells or hears of Varuthini gains the merit of a gift of a thousand cows, is freed from every sin and is honoured in the world of Vishnu.