Mokṣadā Ekādaśī 2169

Sri Krishna told Yudhishthira of King Vaikhanasa of Champaka, who ruled his people like a father. One night he dreamed that his late father was suffering in a hellish realm and begging to be rescued.

Troubled, the king asked his brahmanas for help, and they sent him to the sage Parvata, who could see past, present and future. Parvata revealed that in his last life the father had wronged his wife, and that this sin had bound him. The remedy was to observe the Mokshada Ekadashi of Margashirsha Shukla and give its merit to the father.

Vaikhanasa kept the fast with his whole household and offered the merit. Flowers rained from the sky, and his father, freed, blessed him from the heavens. Mokshada means the giver of liberation. This day is also celebrated as Gita Jayanti, the day Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna.