Sri Kamika Ekadashiकामिका एकादशी

Once Maharaja Yudhishthira inquired from Lord Sri Krishna about the Ekadashi falling in the dark fortnight of the holy month of Shravana. The Lord replied that long ago Lord Brahma had revealed its glories to his son, the sage Narada Muni, and that He would now repeat the same to him. This Ekadashi is famous as Kamika — the giver of righteous desires.

In ages past there lived in a certain village a hot-tempered kshatriya. Though born in a noble family, he was prone to violence, and one day in the heat of a quarrel he killed a learned brahmana. Filled with remorse the moment the deed was done, he approached the relatives of the deceased and begged them to accept whatever atonement might purify him of the sin of brahma-hatya. The relatives, still grieving, refused to perform any rite for him and declared him an outcaste. Despised by his community, the kshatriya wandered to the ashrama of a great sage and fell at his feet, begging for any path of expiation that would free him from the most terrible of all sins.

The sage, moved by his sincere repentance, said: "O kshatriya, there is one infallible remedy. In the dark fortnight of Shravana there comes an Ekadashi called Kamika. Observe this Ekadashi with full faith. Worship Lord Sri Vishnu as Sri Dharma — the form of all righteousness — with tulasi leaves, water and lamps of pure ghee. Stay awake the night in kirtan. By this single fast you will be cleansed of even the sin of killing a brahmana."

The kshatriya took the vow at once. He bathed, observed strict fasting from grains, offered tulasi to Lord Vishnu, lit a clay lamp before the deity through the night, and spent the entire Ekadashi in chanting the holy names. At the moment of Dvadashi-parana, the Lord Himself, pleased by the offering of tulasi and the devotee's contrition, sent his deliverance: the burden of brahma-hatya fell from him, his body became radiant, and he attained liberation at the end of life.

Lord Brahma then declared the full glories of this Ekadashi to Narada. "Offering even a single tulasi leaf to Lord Hari on Kamika Ekadashi pleases Him more than donating mountains of gold or thousands of cows. The merit of bathing in Kashi, the Ganga and Kurukshetra combined cannot equal one Kamika Ekadashi observed with devotion. Lighting a single lamp of pure ghee before Lord Vishnu on this night frees one from sins of countless lifetimes, and on the day of death, that devotee is carried to Vaikuntha on a celestial vimana by the messengers of the Lord."

Concluding the narration, Lord Krishna assured Yudhishthira: "O great king, this Kamika Ekadashi is the destroyer of all manner of sin — even brahma-hatya — and the bestower of every righteous desire. One who simply hears this katha with faith receives the merit of performing a Vajapeya yajna and at the end of life enters the abode of the Lord."