Saphala Ekadashi

In the Padma Purana, Lord Krishna tells Yudhishthira that the royal sage Mahishmat of the city of Champavati had five sons. The eldest was always given to sin, squandered his father's wealth on misdeeds and reviled the gods, brahmins and Vaishnavas. So the king named him Lumpak, and his father and brothers together drove him out of the kingdom.

Lumpak lived in the forest, looting the city's wealth and living on meat and the fruit of trees. His resting place was beside a very old pipal tree that was held to be a great deity in that forest. On Paush Krishna Dashami he ate fruit and, having no clothes, shivered in the cold all night. On Ekadashi he lay senseless until midday, then staggered into the forest for fruit and came back with it just as the sun set.

He laid all the fruit at the pipal's roots, saying, 'May Lord Vishnu, husband of Lakshmi, be pleased with these fruits,' and stayed awake all night. In this way, without intending it, he kept the fast and vigil of Saphala Ekadashi. A voice from the sky declared that by Saphala's grace he would gain a kingdom and a son. His form became divine, he ruled without a rival for fifteen years, then handed the kingdom to his son and went to Lord Krishna's abode.

Devotees bathe in the morning and take the vow, observing a fruit-based fast through the day. Lord Vishnu is worshipped, and the legend of Saphala Ekadashi is heard.

The night is spent in vigil with bhajan-kirtan, and there is a tradition of offering ber (jujube), coconut, betel nut, and other fruits to Lord Vishnu. The fast is broken the next day, on Dwadashi, within the scripturally prescribed Parana muhurat.

This vow is observed especially with the wish for success in beginning new endeavors, progress in business, or an important effort, and the legend of Prince Lumpak is regarded as symbolizing how an effort made with an underlying reverence succeeds even unknowingly.