Mokshada Ekadashi, the bright-fortnight Ekadashi of Margashirsha, is the one that tradition connects with the Bhagavad Gita. In the north, it is observed as Gita Jayanti, the day on which Krishna is said to have spoken the Gita to Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra. In the south, the Vaikuntha Ekadashi, with its opening of the north door of Vishnu temples, is set by the Sun’s Dhanur month, and it falls on Mokshada in some years and on Pausha Putrada in others.
Mokshada Ekadashi falls in the Shukla paksha, the waxing fortnight, of Margashirsha. Both the amanta and the purnimanta reckoning give the bright half the same month name, so Mokshada Ekadashi has one label wherever you live.
The katha
Stories of the kind told for Mokshada Ekadashi are attributed by the tradition to the Padma Purana and the Bhavishyottara Purana, usually as a talk between Krishna and Yudhishthira, though the speakers vary by telling. The katha tells of a king and his dream of his father.
King Vaikhanasa ruled the city of Champaka, a city of learned and virtuous people. One night he dreamed that his father was suffering in a dark realm of Yama and was calling out to him for help. The king woke in distress, and went to the sage Parvata, who knew the past and the future.
Parvata, using his inner sight, confirmed that the king’s father had done a wrong in a former life and that his suffering could be eased. He told Vaikhanasa to keep the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, called Mokshada, with his family, and give the merit to his father.
The king followed the instruction faithfully, with his queen, children and ministers. The tradition says that his father was released and rose to a higher world, and told his son in a blessing that he was at peace. The story is the reason this Ekadashi is kept for ancestors, and the reason it carries the name that it does.
How the fast is kept
The day is kept with worship of Vishnu, a lamp and tulsi, and with reading from the Bhagavad Gita. In many places the Gita is recited in full, or a chapter is read in the family, and temples hold discourses on it. This is a good day to begin reading the Gita if you have meant to.
In Tamil Nadu and the south, the Vaikuntha Ekadashi is marked in Vishnu temples by the opening of the Vaikuntha Dwara, a special door that is open only on that day, and devotees pass through it for a darshan. Many keep a night vigil.
Mokshada Ekadashi is dated here by the Smarta sunrise test. A Vaishnava household may be given another day, since that rule sets aside an Ekadashi that Dashami touches at dawn, so use the calendar your family trusts. After Mokshada Ekadashi the fast is opened the next morning, inside the parana window listed for your city, which starts after sunrise, ends with Dwadashi and avoids Hari Vasara. Please keep the Mokshada Ekadashi fast at a level that suits your body. Anyone pregnant, nursing, unwell or elderly can take fruit and milk or only pray on Mokshada Ekadashi, and should consult a doctor about any change in eating or medicine.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Utpanna Ekadashi comes before Mokshada Ekadashi and Saphala Ekadashi after it. To see the whole round, open the Ekadashi page. The Ekadashi vrat vidhi gives the order of worship for Mokshada Ekadashi, and the Ekadashi tithi page explains the tithi.