Pashankusha Ekadasi

he glories of Pasankusa Ekadashi  which occures during the waxing moon in the month of September/October is described in Brahmavaivartha Purana in the conversation between Lord Krishna and Maharaj Yudhisthira.

Maharaj Yudhisthira said O Madhusudan what is the name of the Ekadashi that occures during the waxing moon in the month of September/October.  Please be kind and explain this to me .

Lord Krishna replied, O best of the Kings! The name of this Ekadashi is Pasankusa Ekadashi .  Now please hear from me the glories of this Ekadashi which distroyes all ones sins.  Some people also call this Ekadashi as Papankusa Ekadashi.  One should specially worship lord Padmanabha on the day of this Ekadashi.  This Ekadashi awards a person the heavenly pleasures liberation and his desired results.  Just by chanting the holy names of Lord Vishnu one can attain all the peity of visiting all the holy places on the earth.  If a conditioned soul inspite of indulging in various sinful activities due to illusion takes shelter and offers obeisances at the lotus feet of  Lord Hari who is expert in delivering the fallen souls then such a person does not have to go to hell.

Those Vaishnavas who criticise Lord Shiva and those Saivaites who criticise lord Vishnu are both undoubtedly go to hell.  The result one obtains by performing one thousand horse sacrifices or by performing one hundred Rajasuya sacrifices can not be equal to the one sixteenth portion of peity one obtains by following this Ekadashi.  There is no peity in this world which is equal to the peity earned by observing the Ekadashi.  Therefore there is no other day as santified as this day of Ekadashi which is very dear to Lord Padmanabha.

O King!  As soon as a person fails to observe Ekadashis the sins begin to reside in his body.  This Ekadashi awards its follower the heavenly pleasure ,liberation , freed from deceased condition, beautiful women, wealth and food grains.  O maintainer of the earth! If one observes this Ekadashi and remains awake on  that night easily goes to the abode of Lord Vishnu.

Lord Krishna continued  O best of the Kings!  By observing the vow of this Ekadashi one can deliver ten generations from his mothers family , ten generations from his fathers family and ten generations from his wifes family.  If a person observes this Ekadashi either in his chilhood or youthhood or in his oldage he does not suffer the miseries of the material existence.  One who strictly observes this Pasankusa or Papankusa Ekadashi then all his sinful reactions are eradicated and at the end of his life he reaturns to the abode of Lord Vishnu. If a person gives away gold, sesame seeds, land,cow, food grains,water, umbrella or shoes in charity then such a person does not have to goo to the abode of Yamaraj.   Any one who spents his day wiuthout engaging in pious activities he is like a dead man although he is breathing.  His breathing is compared to the bellows of the blacksmith.

O best of the Kings! A person who digs well and lakes for the benefit of others, donates land and houses and perform other pious activities such as performing sacrifices is not subjected to the punishment of Yamaraja.  As a result of peity only people live long lives, become rich, take birth in highclass families and become deseaseless.  The purport is that the direct result of observing Ekadashi is to attain devotional service to Krishna and the indirect result is to attain the temporary material benefits.