Putradā Ekādaśī

Please check the date and time for Ekādaśī in your area using below sites.

https://www.vaisnavacalendar.info/

https://vaishnavacalendar.org/

https://www.drikpanchang.com/iskcon/iskcon-ekadashi-list.html

How to perform Ekādaśī

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 12

Observe fasting on Ekādaśī day (this occurs on the eleventh day after the full moon and the eleventh day after the new moon). On such days no grains, cereals or beans are eaten; simply vegetables and milk are moderately taken, and the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa and reading of scriptures are increased.

Srila Prabhupada letter to Madhusudana, Feb. 1, 1968

Ekādaśī is observed for increasing the strength of devotion.

Meditations on this auspicious day

Excerpt from a lecture by Guru Maharaj; Bhakti Affirmation #0 Plant and Nourish the Bhakti Seed 17 January 2022

Every month there's an opportunity to give full attention to Krishna, what is that day? Ekādaśī! Ekādaśī is a special day. It's the mother of devotion for those who respect her. You should look forward to Ekādaśī, you should mark your calendar and you should get ready and do something special for Ekādaśī. One thing you can do is fast. Fasting is good. Actually, I'll tell you a secret about fasting. That it's easier than eating. Because eating takes a lot of work. It really does. You got to buy the food, you got to cook the food. Plus, you got to pay for it! Then you got to clean all the pots, and then you got to digest it, then you got to eliminate it. And then you get all drowsy. And it takes a lot of time to eat three times a day, sitting around eating and people talk to you. And there's all kinds of wasted time when you eat. But when you just fast, you don't have to do any of that. Imagine how much free time you have when you just fast. And you know what, the body really appreciates it. When you fast, you're not going to die, actually, you're going to get healthier, because all the natural systems in your body have a chance to take a break and actually produce the kinds of hormones they need to up your immune system. You'll feel lighter, you'll feel great and that night when you're fasting, you'll sleep very deeply. You'll wake up with a spring in your step. And because you're doing it for Kṛṣṇa, as Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā 9.27, [yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam], all that you do, all that you eat, all austerities that you do, do it for me. So, this is a chance to do all this. And, you know, it's a fact we all get to suffer or enjoy a certain quota in this lifetime. And you can't get any more and you can't get any less. So, fasting for Ekādaśī twice a month, you'll take your quota of voluntary suffering, and then you don't have to get sick, because that's your other quota and you can voluntarily say, ‘I'll take controlled suffering by fasting which is no suffering at all.’

Story of Putradā Ekādaśī

Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-Khaṇḍa, Chapter 41

Yudhiṣṭhira said, ‘O Kṛṣṇa, favor me and tell me about the one that would fall in the bright fortnight (of the month of Pauṣa). What is its name? What is the manner of it to be observed? Which is the deity that is propitiated on that day? With whom are you, Puruṣottama himself, pleased?’

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said, ‘O king, listen, I shall tell (you about) the one that would fall in the bright half (of Pauṣa). O great king, with a desire for the good of the people, I shall tell about it. O king, it is to be carefully observed in the manner (as told) before. Its name is Putradā. It is great and removes all sins. Its superintending deity is Viṣṇu. He gives desired objects and all prosperity. No greater vow than this exists in the three worlds with the mobile and the immobile. Viṣṇu makes a man possessed with knowledge and makes him successful. O king, listen. I shall tell you an auspicious tale that removes sins. Formerly there lived king Suketumat in the city of Bhadrāvatī. His queen was Campakā by name. The king did not obtain a son who would continue his line. Then the king thought of righteous deeds for a long time. ‘What should I do? Where should I go? How can I have a son?’ King Suketumat did not derive pleasure from his kingdom or his city. Every day, along with his chaste wife, he became unhappy. The couple was always full of anxiety and grief.

The king did not find pleasure in his kinsmen, allies, ministers, friends, so also elephants, horses and foot-soldiers. Despondency always prevailed in the king’s mind. ‘A man who is without a son does not get the fruit of his existence. The house of a sonless person is always desolate. His heart is always unhappy. Without a son freedom from the debt of ancestors, deities and men is not possible. Therefore, with all efforts a man should produce a son. Those with religious merit, in whose house a son would be born, get success in this world, and an auspicious position in the next world. In the house of those men who practice righteous deeds long life, health, and wealth prevail. O king, (these) cannot be had without religious merit and devotion to Viṣṇu.’

Thinking like this the king did not get happiness. King Suketumat thought like this in the early morning and at night. The king mounted upon a horse, went to a dense forest. The family-priest and others did not know that the king had gone. In the dense forest resorted to by beasts and birds, the king roamed, observing the forest-trees like vaṭa, aśvattha, bilva, kharjūra, and panasa, so also bakula, saptaparṇa, tinduka, and tila. The king also saw (trees like) śāla, tamāla and sarala. (He also saw) trees like iṅgudī, kakubha, śleṣmātaka, sallaka, karamarda, pāṭala and badara also. He also saw aśoka (trees), palāśa (trees), wolves, hares, wild cats, buffaloes, porcupines and camara (deer). The king saw serpents that had half come out from the ant-hills, and wild intoxicated elephants with their young ones. He saw lords of herds having four tusks and accompanied by the female elephants and herds. Seeing the elephants of him, the king thought: ‘The lord moving among them obtained great beauty.’ The king observed the forest full of great wonders. Hearing on his way the cries of jackals and of owls, and seeing various bears and deer, he roamed in the forest.

In this way the king saw the forest. When the sun had gone to the middle of the sky, he being oppressed with hunger and thirst, ran here and there. The king with his throat and neck dry thought: ‘What deed have I done by which I have met with such grief? With sacrifices and worships I have pleased the deities. I have pleased brāhmaṇas with gifts and desired meals. I have always greatly looked after my subjects like my own. Due to what have I met with this great, terrible distress?’ The king who was thinking like this, went ahead in the forest.

By the efficacy of his good deeds, he saw an excellent lake. It looked very beautiful due to lotuses. It also looked beautiful with ducks, ruddy geese, and royal swans. It was full of many alligators, fishes, and other aquatic animals. The fortunate king saw many hermitages of sages near the lake, along with many omens suggesting auspiciousness. His right eye throbbed. So also, his right hand, indicating auspicious fruit, throbbed. Seeing on its lake sages muttering Vedic prayers in an undertone, the king stood in front of the sages. The king saluted separately the sages of praise-worthy vows by joining the palms of his hands and repeatedly prostrating before them in the manner of a staff. The sages said to him: “O king, we are pleased with you.”

The king said, ‘Who are you here? Tell me what your names are. Why have you assembled here? Tell the truth to me.’

The sages said, ‘O king, we are Viśvedevāḥ. We have come here for a bath. Māgha has come near and will commence on the fifth day from today. O king, today is Ekādaśi called Putradā. Viṣṇu gives a son to those who observe this Ekādaśī, O king.

The king said, ‘I have a great uncertainty about producing a son. If you are pleased, then give me a son.’

The sages said, ‘O king, today only it is the Ekādaśī called Putradā. Do this well-known vow, which is the best. O lord of kings, after ablution and by the favor of us and of Viṣṇu, you will certainly have a son.

By these words of them, and the advice of the sages, the king observed the excellent vow which is Putradā, according to the proper rules. Having broken his fast on Dvādaśī the king came home. Then the queen conceived. At the time of her delivery a bright son was born. By means of his righteous deeds he pleased his father. He became a king later. Therefore, O king, the excellent vow of Putradā should be observed. I told it to you for the good of the people. Those who, with a concentrated mind, observe this Putradā vow, obtain sons in this world and after death go to heaven. O king, by reciting and listening to it, a man would obtain the fruit of having performed the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice.