Sri Rama Ekadashiरमा एकादशी

Maharaja Yudhishthira once asked Lord Sri Krishna about the Ekadashi falling in the dark fortnight of Kartik. The Lord said: "This day is famous as Rama Ekadashi — Rama being one of the lovely names of Lakshmi-devi, the eternal consort of Sri Narayana. To impress its power upon you, listen to the story of the brahmana Muchukunda and his daughter Chandrabhaga."

King Muchukunda was a great devotee of Lord Sri Vishnu. His kingdom was famous for the purity of its dharma and the splendour of its temples. He had a beautiful and pious daughter named Chandrabhaga, named after the holy river of Vraja. From early childhood Chandrabhaga had vowed to observe every Ekadashi of the year with the strictest devotion, and her parents fully encouraged her vow. In due course she was married to Shobhana, the son of King Chandrabhanu, a noble and dharmic prince.

A short time after the marriage, Shobhana came to live with Chandrabhaga at her father's palace. The bright fortnight of Kartik approached, and with it the famous Rama Ekadashi. Chandrabhaga, as always, prepared to fast. But Shobhana — although noble — was physically unable to bear hunger and thirst even for a single day. On the night of Dashami he went to his wife in distress and said: "O beloved, I cannot fast tomorrow. Tell me what to do. If I do not fast, I will fail in dharma; if I do fast, I fear I shall not survive the day."

Chandrabhaga, with great love and equal firmness, replied: "My dear, in this kingdom of my father not even the cows, elephants and dogs eat on Ekadashi; everyone fasts. How can you, the son-in-law of the king, take food on the Lord's most sacred day? Better to die on Ekadashi serving the Lord than to live a hundred years breaking His vow. Take courage; chant the holy names; the Lord will Himself sustain you."

Shobhana accepted his wife's words. He observed Rama Ekadashi with full sincerity, fasting from food and water and chanting throughout the day and night. But the austerity proved too much for his constitution. On Dvadashi, after the Parana, he passed away. Chandrabhaga, although heart-broken, performed his last rites with the same faith with which she had inspired his fast — for, she said, no soul who dies in the act of an Ekadashi vrata is ever lost.

Indeed it was so. By the merit of his sincere observance, Shobhana was instantly carried by celestial messengers to a magnificent celestial city on the slopes of Mandara Mountain, where he reigned as a divine king. Some time later, a brahmana from Chandrabhanu's kingdom, while travelling through the Mandara forests, came upon this celestial city and saw a king who exactly resembled the departed Shobhana. The king recognised him, embraced him, and revealed his identity. He told the brahmana: "All this opulence has come to me by the mercy of Rama Ekadashi observed under my wife's instruction. But this is only a temporary celestial kingdom. Please tell Chandrabhaga that if she renews her vow and offers its merit in my name, my position will become eternal in Vaikuntha."

When Chandrabhaga heard the message, she was overjoyed. She at once observed another Rama Ekadashi with intensified devotion and offered its full merit at the feet of Sri Lakshmi-Narayana for her husband's eternal welfare. From that very moment Shobhana's celestial kingdom transformed into the eternal abode of Sri Vishnu, and at the end of her life Chandrabhaga herself joined her husband there as their eternal companion.

Lord Krishna concluded: "O Yudhishthira, Rama Ekadashi destroys even the gravest sins — even the killing of a brahmana — and bestows opulence in this world and Vaikuntha hereafter. Husband and wife who together observe this fast are united eternally in My abode."