Parama Ekadashi 1977

This Ekadashi falls in the dark fortnight of the Adhika or Purushottama masa, the extra lunar month. Sri Krishna told Yudhishthira of a poor but pious brahmana, Sumedha, who lived in the city of Kampilya with his devoted wife Pavitra.

Because of some past karma they had almost nothing, yet Pavitra served her husband faithfully and gave her own food to guests. One day the sage Kaundinya came to their home. They honoured him and asked how they might be freed from poverty. The sage told them of the Parama Ekadashi of the extra month, which removes all sins and the sorrow of poverty, and said that Kubera and King Harishchandra had been blessed by keeping it.

Sumedha and Pavitra kept the Ekadashi and a further five day fast that follows it. Soon a prince, guided in a dream, gave them a home, cattle and a village. They lived in comfort and devotion and at last reached the Lord's abode.