jaya ekādaśi

King yudhiṣṭhira said, "O Lord śrīkṛṣṇa! You have explained us about ṣaṭ-tila ekādaśi. We are enthralled by the virtues of ṣaṭ-tila ekādaśi. You are The Master of the universe. You alone are the source of the four types of living entities "an̆ḍaja" (Those born from eggs), 'svedaja’ (those born from perspiration), ‘udbhija’ (Those born from seeds) and 'jarāyuja’ (those born from embryos). You alone are the root cause of all. O Lord! You are the creator, maintainer and destroyer of all four kinds of life forms. My Lord, now please tell us about the ekādaśi that occurs in the śukla pakṣaṃ of māgha māsaṃ. By what name is it known, and what is the procedure for observing it? Who is the presiding Deity of this sublime ekādaśi? Lord śrīkṛṣṇa replied, "Oh yudhiṣṭhira! The ekādaśi falling in the śuklapakṣaṃ(bright fortnight) of māgha māsaṃ is known as jaya ekādaśi. jaya ekādaśi obliterates all kinds of sinful acts even as heinous as the sin of killing of a Brahman (brahma hatya). The observer attains the mokṣa in his afterlife.  The devotee is also freed from taking rebirth in lowly ghostly forms like bhūta,preta,piśāca. There for one should observe this ekādaśi carefully with proper procedure. Now I will tell you a story about this ekādaśi, mentioned in holy padma purāṇaṃ. Long ago in the celestial realms, Lord iṃdra ruled happily in his kingdom of heaven. All Devas living there were very happy and content. Once iṃdra was enjoying a musical concert in naṃdana Forest, which was beautifully graced with pārijāta Flowers (Night-flowering jasmine). The celestial singers called ‘gaṃdharva’s’ were singing. gaṃdharva puṣpadaṃta was present there with his daughter puṣpāvati. Another gaṃdharva citrāsana was accompanied by his wife mālini and their sons puṣpa vāna and mālyāvāna. puṣpāvati was extremely beautiful celestial maiden. puṣpāvati and mālyavāna saw each other and were instantly enamoured by each other. puṣpāvati, being exceptionally beautiful too, attracted malyāvāna in no time, with her charm and grace.  mālyāvāna & puṣpavati couldn't foresee that they would be cursed in indra’s court. Blissfully unaware by their surroundings and completely enamoured by each other's charms they were stealing glances. O King!  Then joined other performers to please Lord indra by singing and dancing, but since they had become so enamoured of each other, their intellect failed them midway and their rhythm broke down. Music lovers took offence of this mistake. Music is considered as way to please Goddess sarasvatī-Goddess of art and knowledge. That's why it is considered an offence. Lord indra understood the cause of the errors immediately. Offended at the discord in the musical performance, he was enraged and screamed, "You useless fools! You pretend to sing for me while you are in a state of stupor because of infatuation with each other! You are mocking me! I curse you both to suffer henceforth as piśāca. As husband and wife, go to the earthly regions and reap the reactions of your offenses. You have broken the code of conduct to maintain dignified behaviour in elder's presence. Therefore you cannot remain in celestial realms now. You must live life of piśāca, an unrestrained and undignified life. You are fit to carry on yourself only on filthy water and filthy food.” Dumb struck by these harsh words, mālyāvāna and puṣpāvati, instantly became disconsolate and fell from the beautiful naṃdana Forest of heaven, to a Himalayan peak on Earth. They started living there. If they would have gone to sinful lands, they would have got plenty of food and resources to survive, but then the riddance from curse would not have been easier. Hence they lived in holy land of badarikāśramaṃ. They lost their sense of taste, smell, and even their sense of touch. It was extremely cold and miserable conditions on high altitudes of the himālaya. There were living in a region which was full of snow and ice and extremely hostile conditions. They were suffering immeasurable hardships. One should maintain good code of conduct in elder's presence and should not malign their notions during the performing the art of music-These thought constantly bothered them. With their clumsy faces of Pishachas, they ate filthy food and wondered in deep forests. It was very cold in himālayan region. Even if they stayed in cave, because of the snowfall and cold their teeth chattered ceaselessly, and their hair stood on ends because of fright and bewilderment. They were lamenting for their mistakes but had nobody to console them. In this, utterly desperate situation, mālyāvāna said to puṣpāvati, “How henious would have been the sin because of which we are suffering in these piśāca bodies, in this impossible environment. This is absolutely hellish! Though hell is very ferocious, the suffering we are undergoing here is even more wretched. Therefore it is abundantly conspicuous that one should never commit sins." However, by their great good fortune, greatly auspicious māgha śukla jaya ekādaśi(jaya ekādaśi of bright fortnight) befell during that time only. They were greatly distressed and had lost all hopes, so they did not eat anything since morning and neither committed any sin of hunting etc. They spent their day by just surviving on whatever fruit etc they found. By the evening they came and sat under a rāvi vṛkṣaṃ(Peepal tree) with heavy hearts full of sadness and remorse. Sun was setting at that time.  It was really cold at that night. Rather, the night was even colder and more miserable than the other days. They shivered in the frigid snowfall as their teeth chattered in unison, and when they became numb, they embraced each other, just to keep warm. Locked in each other’s arms, they could enjoy neither sleep nor sex. They kept on remembering God, asking for forgiveness during the day and remained awake remembering Lord at night also. Lord Krishna said, “O yudhiṣṭhira! Since, it was the day of jaya ekādaśi on that day fortuitously. Fasting during the day and remembering of Lord during the night &staying awake became cause of great ‘puṇyaṃ’ (Good deed-Merits) by them unknowingly. This became a vrataṃ for them. The very next day, they left their ghostly piśāca forms because of merits attained from jaya ekādaśi fast & night vigil. mālyāvāna and puṣpāvati once again became beautiful heavenly selves, gaṃdharva and apsarasa, adorned with lustrous ornaments and exquisite garments. They proceeded to celestial city of heaven-amarāvati, in a celestial plane, arrived on the spot for them. A choir of heavenly denizens, demi Gods and gaṃdharvā’s sang their praises. Soon mālyāvāna and puṣpāvati arrived at Lord indra’s capital city, amarāvati. There they went before Lord indra first and offered him their cheerful obeisance. Lord indra and all other devatā’s were astonished to see them. They had been transformed, restored to their original status in such a short time. Lord indra asked, “How did you get rid of your ghostly piśāca forms so soon.” mālyāvāna replied, 'O Lord! It was by the extreme mercy of the Lord śrīmahā viṣṇu and the powerful merit of the jaya ekādaśi, that we were released from our suffering condition of piśāca forms.” indradeva was extremely pleased with this answer. He said, “O Noble mālyāvana! Not only you have got rid of pisāca forms and you were absolved all of your sins but you have become venerable even by me and other Gods as well, because you served the Supreme Lord śrīmahā viṣṇu by observing ekādaśī vrataṃ. Whosoever engages in devotional service to Lord śrīhari or Lord śiva becomes praiseworthy and worshippable even by me. This goes without saying. Therefore praises for you. Now you can go with puṣpāvati and enjoy each other’s company and roam about this heavenly planet, as you wish.” puṣpāvati said, “O Lord indra! Your curse became a boon for us." Lord śrīkṛṣṇa said, “O dharmarāja yudhiṣṭhira! A person can get rid of all lowly forms by observing jaya ekādaśi vrataṃ. Even person stuck in the most fallen form of ghostly piśāca also gets rid of his lowly form with powerful influence of jaya ekādaśi. A great soul who observes this fast with full faith and devotion has in effect given all kinds of charity, performed all kinds of sacrifices (yajñaṃ),Chantings (japaṃ) and bathed in all the Holy pilgrimages. ekādaśī vrataṃ is more fruitful and powerful than all kinds of japa, charity and yajñaṃ. People, who observe jaya ekādaśi, reside in heaven for at least a thousand years. jaya ekādaśi vrataṃ Procedure: One should worship Lord mahā viṣṇu on jaya ekādaśi day. People who want to keep fast they should eat once on a day before (On daśami day). And the food has to be sātvika (Pure vegetarian food, easygoing with palate, like milk, fruit, vegetable, grains, pulses etc). On ekādaśi day the person should not eat anything, if not possible then he can take fruit and milk without salt. STRICTLY no grains, rice or non-vegetarian food on ekādaśi day. Devotee should take saṃkalpaṃ (an oath to observe the fast) in morning remembering Lord śrī mahāviṣṇu. They he should do  ṣoḍaṣopacāra pūjā or at least offer dhūpa (Incense), depa (Lamp) , caṃdana (Sandal past), Fruit, Sesame (Til) and naivedyaṃ & offer bath with paṃcāmṛta (milk, ghee-clarified butter, sugar, curd, honey, sandal & water). Make sure to recite the story of jaya ekādaśi mentioned above after pūjā in morning. Devotee should keep fast during the day and if possible at night also or can eat fruit at night. I they are old, weak or child. vrataṃ observer should stay awake at night chanting holy name of Lord, singing devotional songs or remembering Lord with full faith and devotion. On the next day of dvādaśi, he should feed Brahmans and gift them yajñopavītaṃ, beetle leaves nut and dakṣiṇa (Some money in running currency; dakṣiṇa must have some coins) and then devotee should take food himself. If the person observes the fast with full procedure and faith if is definitely freed even from most lowly and ghostly form of piśāca as well.