गीता जयंती और मोक्षदा एकादशी व्रत कथा

Two armies stood facing each other at Kurukshetra. Arjuna asked his charioteer to take the chariot to the middle, and there he saw his own teachers, grandfather, kinsmen and friends across the field. His mind shook, his hands went slack, and he asked what a kingdom was worth if it came by killing these people. He put down his bow and sat. His charioteer was Krishna himself.

Krishna then began to explain. He said that a person has a right to action but not to its fruit; that the body changes while the self within does not; that keeping the mind even in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, is itself yoga; and that doing one's own duty, without anxiety for the result and with devotion, is a path to freedom. The conversation is gathered in eighteen chapters.

By the end Arjuna's confusion had lifted and he stood up for his duty. The tradition ties this teaching to Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi, which is why the day is called Gita Jayanti. It is a book spoken on a battlefield, yet meant for anyone who stands at a hard choice in life.

This happened long ago. In the city of Champaknagar there lived a king named Vaikhanasa, devoted to dharma. His people were content and his brahmins honoured. One night the king saw his father in a dream, in distress, lying in some hard realm, and the father begged his son to bring him out.

The king's sleep broke. In the morning he called learned brahmins and told them the dream. They said the answer lay at the hermitage of the sage Parvata, who knew past, present and future. The king went there, bowed, and told his trouble.

The sage sat in meditation, looked, and said that a fault from an earlier birth had brought the king's father to this state. He also gave the remedy: keep the fast of Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi, called Mokshada, with full discipline, and dedicate its merit to the father.

The king went back and kept the vrat properly with his family, offering the fruit to his father. It is said that the same night the father appeared to him and blessed him, saying he was now free of the suffering and going to a better state. Since then this Ekadashi has been called Mokshada, the one that grants release. The message of the katha is that a child's faith and discipline in a vrat also fulfils a duty to the forebears.

On the evening of Dashami eat a light, sattvic meal without rice or lentils. On Ekadashi rise before sunrise, bathe, wear clean clothes, light a lamp before Vishnu or Krishna and take the sankalpa to keep the fast.

In the puja offer tulsi leaves, yellow flowers, fruit, a lamp and incense. No grain is taken on Ekadashi: rice, wheat and lentils are all set aside. Phalahar such as fruit, milk, nuts, or buckwheat and water-chestnut flour is allowed. Those who cannot go without food for reasons of health should take light phalahar as suits them; the vrat is of the mind and not a show. Through the day keep away from anger, backbiting and untruth.

Reading the Gita is held especially fitting on this day. If the whole book is too much, read one chapter; the twelfth (Bhakti Yoga) and the fifteenth (Purushottama Yoga) are commonly chosen as approachable. Or let the family read a few pages in turn. Read from a printed edition. In the evening hear or read this katha and resolve to dedicate the merit to your forebears.

The paran is done on Dwadashi after sunrise, once Hari Vasara has passed. Its time depends on the panchang and shifts with your city; the details box on this page shows the paran time for you, so follow that. At paran take a little tulsi water and prasad first, then sattvic grain.