Yogini Ekadashi is the dark-fortnight Ekadashi that comes just before the rains in many parts of the country. It is the last Ekadashi before the four months of Chaturmas begin. The name is the feminine of yogi, a practitioner of yoga, and it is also a word for a class of goddesses in Tantric tradition; the katha itself is about a gardener.
Yogini Ekadashi falls in the Krishna paksha, the waning fortnight, of Jyeshtha in the amanta calendar (months that end at the new Moon). In the purnimanta calendar of north India, where the month ends at the full Moon, the same fortnight belongs to Ashadha.
The katha
For Yogini Ekadashi, as for the other named Ekadashis, the tradition points to the Padma Purana and the Bhavishyottara Purana, in which a teacher answers a king or a sage in turn, and printed versions differ in small details. The katha tells of a gardener and a lapse of duty.
In the city of Alakapuri, where the god of wealth Kubera lived, a man named Hemamali was in charge of the royal garden. Every day he had to bring fresh flowers for Kubera’s worship of Shiva. Hemamali was married to the beautiful Vishalakshi and loved her deeply, and one day he stayed at home with her and forgot to bring the flowers.
Kubera, waiting for the flowers at the time of worship, grew angry when he learned the reason, and said that for neglecting a sacred duty Hemamali would be separated from his wife and would suffer a painful skin disease. Hemamali was cast out of Alakapuri and wandered in discomfort through the mountains.
At last he came to the hermitage of the sage Markandeya, who, seeing his distress and hearing his story, told him to keep the Yogini Ekadashi of the dark half of Ashadha (in the north Indian reckoning). Hemamali kept the fast and, the story says, recovered, returned to his original state and was reunited with his wife. The story is told to say that attention to duty matters, and that sincere repentance and a vrat can set things right.
How the fast is kept
The vrat is the usual one: fasting from grain, worship of Vishnu, and quiet time with the katha. Because it falls before Chaturmas, many families use it as a gentle start to the season of restraint, deciding on a small practice for the four months, such as a simple diet or daily reading.
The tradition also links the day with healing and with care for the body. If you are unwell, please see a doctor, and keep the vrat only in a way that does not trouble your health.
The dates for Yogini Ekadashi below come from the Smarta rule, the sunrise test. Your sampradaya may ask for a different day, since Vaishnava calendars decline an Ekadashi that is mixed with Dashami before dawn, and in that case follow them. The fast of Yogini Ekadashi is opened on the following morning, in the parana window given in the Timing column, which lies after sunrise and inside Dwadashi and skips Hari Vasara. Fasting on Yogini Ekadashi is a personal discipline, not a test. If you are pregnant, nursing, elderly, diabetic or on regular medicine, ask your doctor what is safe, and know that a light fast of fruit and milk, or a day simply kept in prayer, is a full observance.
Where it sits in the year
In the round of the year, Nirjala Ekadashi comes before Yogini Ekadashi and Devshayani Ekadashi after it. The Ekadashi page lists all the named Ekadashis. For Yogini Ekadashi the practical steps are in the Ekadashi vrat vidhi, and the meaning of the tithi is on the Ekadashi tithi page.