Apara Ekadashi

Yudhishthira said, “O Lord! What is the name of Jyeshtha Krishna Ekadashi and what is its significance? Please tell me.”

Lord Krishna said, O King! This Ekadashi is known by two names, Achala and Apara. According to the Puranas, the Ekadashi of Jyeshtha Krishna Paksha is Apara Ekadashi because it gives immense wealth. People who observe this fast become famous in the world.

Lord Trivikram is worshipped on this day. All sins like killing a brahmin, being born as a ghost, criticizing others etc. are eradicated by the effect of observing the fast of Apara Ekadashi. By observing this fast, all the sins like adultery, giving false testimony, telling lies, reading or writing false scriptures, becoming a false astrologer and becoming a false doctor etc. are destroyed.

Those Kshatriyas who run away from the war go to hell, but by observing the fast of Apara Ekadashi, they also attain heaven. Those disciples who receive education from their Guru and then criticize him, definitely go to hell. But by observing the fast of Apara Ekadashi, they also become free from this sin.

The fruit which is obtained by taking bath in the three Pushkars on Kartik Purnima or by offering Pinddaan to ancestors on the banks of Ganga, the same is obtained by observing a fast on Apara Ekadashi. The result obtained by taking bath in Prayagraj during Sun in Capricorn, by fasting on Shivaratri, by taking bath in Gomti river during Jupiter in Leo, by visiting Kedarnath or Badrinath during Kumbha, by taking bath in Kurukshetra during solar eclipse, by donating gold or by donating a half-lactating cow,The same fruit is obtained by observing the fast of Apara Ekadashi.
This fast is like an axe to cut the tree of sins. It is like fire to burn the fuel of sins, like the sun to destroy the darkness of sins, like a lion to kill deer. Therefore, a person must observe this fast fearing his sins. By observing the fast of Apara Ekadashi and worshipping God, a person is freed from all sins and goes to Vishnu Loka.

According to its popular story, in ancient times there was a pious king named Mahidhwaj. His younger brother Vajradhwaj was very cruel, irreligious and unjust. He hated his elder brother. One night that sinner killed his elder brother and buried his body under a wild Peepal tree.

Due to this untimely death, the king started living on the same Peepal tree in the form of a ghost and started causing many troubles.

One day suddenly a sage named Dhoumya passed by there. He saw the ghost and came to know about his past with the power of meditation. With the power of meditation, he understood the reason behind the ghost’s mischief. The Rishi was pleased and brought the ghost down from the Peepal tree and taught him the knowledge of the other world.
The kind Rishi himself observed the Apara (Achala) Ekadashi fast to free the king from the ghostly form and offered his merits to the ghost to free him from the misery.

Due to the effect of this virtue, the king was freed from the ghost world. Thanking the sage, he assumed a divine body and went to heaven in the Pushpak plane.

O King! I have narrated this story of Apara Ekadashi for the welfare of the people. By reading or listening to it, a person is freed from all sins.