Vaikuntha Ekadashi वैकुण्ठ एकादशी
Vishnu · Full-day vrat
Vaikuntha Ekadashi falls on the Shukla Paksha Ekadashi of the Margashirsha or Pausha month and is considered the most powerful Ekadashi of the entire year. According to the Padma Purana, on this day Lord Vishnu opens the Vaikuntha Dwaram, the celestial gateway to his supreme abode, and souls who fast and worship sincerely are granted liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The festival is observed with particular grandeur at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Tirumala Tirupati, and Vaishnava centers across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala, where devotees walk through specially decorated Vaikuntha Dwaram corridors. In North India it is observed as Mukkoti Ekadashi or Putrada Ekadashi of Pausha. Devotees from all Vaishnava sampradayas, including Sri Vaishnavas, Madhvas, and Gaudiyas, treat this day as the spiritual zenith of the year, combining strict fasting with night-long Vishnu sahasranama chanting and Tiruppavai recitation.
Rituals (vidhi)
- 1.Wake before brahma muhurta, take a sacred bath, and wear clean yellow or white garments.
- 2.Take the Ekadashi sankalpa before a Vishnu idol or Salagrama and observe strict nirjala or phalahar fast.
- 3.Walk through the Vaikuntha Dwaram (northern gate) of a Vishnu temple at sunrise after Vishnu darshan.
- 4.Chant the Vishnu Sahasranama, Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15, and Tiruppavai throughout the day.
- 5.Perform Tulsi archana with 108 names of Lord Vishnu and offer panchamrita abhishekam.
- 6.Stay awake the entire night (jagaran) singing bhajans, kirtans, and Divya Prabandham verses.
- 7.Break the fast on Dwadashi morning after Surya darshan and feeding Brahmins or the needy.
Significance
The Padma Purana and Garuda Purana declare that observing Vaikuntha Ekadashi with sincere fasting and Vishnu worship grants moksha equivalent to performing one thousand Ashwamedha yajnas. Lord Krishna himself tells Yudhishthira in the Bhavishyottara Purana that souls who pass through the Vaikuntha Dwaram on this day attain his eternal abode without further rebirth. The phala-shruti promises liberation for ancestors up to twenty-one generations, dissolution of brahma-hatya and other grave sins, and direct elevation to Vaikuntha at the time of death. For householders it bestows progeny, prosperity, marital harmony, and protection from untimely death, while for sadhakas it accelerates jnana, bhakti, and vairagya.
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