परमा एकादशी व्रत कथा (मलमासीय-कृष्णपक्षः)

In the Skanda Purana and Padma Purana, King Yudhishthira asks Lord Sri Krishna:

Bhagwan Sri Krishna replied:

For readers who wish to consult the text: in the Uttara-Khanda (the concluding section) of the Padma Purana, as numbered in N. A. Deshpande's English translation, this Ekadashi is told in Chapter 62, where the intercalary Purushottama month and its Kamala Ekadashi are described. That chapter does not tell the Sumedha and Pavitra account given below, which comes from popular Adhik Maas retellings and is not located in it. Chapter numbers differ between editions and translations, so treat this as a guide to that translation.

In the ancient city of Kampilya, lived a pious and deeply learned Brahmin named Sumedha and his virtuous, chaste wife Pavitra.

Due to past planetary karma, Sumedha was struck with extreme, agonizing poverty. Often, they had neither food nor clothes to wear.

Yet, whenever a guest (Atithi) arrived at their humble hut, Queen Pavitra would joyfully give away her own share of food to feed the guest, choosing to remain hungry herself for days without complaint.

One day, seeing his wife suffering in hunger, Sumedha said:

Pavitra smiled gently with tearful eyes and replied:

Shortly after, the omniscient Sage Kaundinya arrived at their humble hut.

Sumedha and Pavitra welcomed the great sage with utmost devotion, washed his feet with water, and offered whatever little roots and wild herbs they had gathered.

Pavitra bowed low and asked:

Sage Kaundinya looked upon the noble couple with deep compassion and said:

Sumedha and Pavitra followed Sage Kaundinya's instructions with exact devotion. On Adhik Maas Krishna Parama Ekadashi, they observed a strict fast, worshipping Lord Vishnu with incense, lamps, and Tulsi leaves.

On the morning following the fast, as Sumedha stepped outside his humble hut, a miraculous sight unfolded!

A royal prince from a nearby kingdom arrived with royal chariots, loaded with golden ornaments, fine silk clothes, food grains, and fertile lands, gifting everything to Sumedha in honor of his supreme piety.

Sumedha and Pavitra lived in boundless comfort and wealth, performed continuous charity, and at the end of their lives, ascended to the supreme spiritual realm of Vaikuntha.

1. 1.Eradication of Poverty (Daridrya Nashana): Highly auspicious for freedom from debt, financial hardship, and career stagnation.
2. 2.Worship of Lord Vishnu as Purushottama: Offer fragrant sandalwood, lamps, and seasonal fruits to Lord Vishnu.
3. 3.Pancharatra Vow: Some devotees observe a continuous 5-day vow from Parama Ekadashi to Amavasya with milk or fruit.
4. 4.Dvadashi Parana: Conclude the fast early on Dvadashi morning after feeding Brahmins.

Sage Kaundinya's instruction to Sumedha and Pavitra, like every Ekadashi vrata, begins with the Sankalpa: a vow taken at dawn before Lord Vishnu, naming Parama Ekadashi and resolving to carry both the fast and its Parana through to completion. Krishna tells Yudhishthira that Pavitra's quiet contentment through years of hunger was itself a kind of unspoken Sankalpa, a resolve to trust Lord Hari before any fast was even prescribed to her, which is why the formal vow, once taken, bore fruit so swiftly.

The Parama Ekadashi fast is unusual among the twenty-four in being extended, for those who are able, into the five-day Pancharatra vow that runs from Ekadashi to Amavasya, taking only fruit or milk through that period. Worship of Lord Vishnu in his form as Purushottama is offered in the morning and at dusk with sandalwood, lamps, Tulsi, and seasonal fruit, a discipline that Lord Kubera himself is said to have kept on his way to becoming the treasurer of the heavens.

The fast concludes with the Parana on Dvadashi morning, within the window the Panchanga sets for that year, after the household has fed Brahmins and given what charity it can. Sumedha and Pavitra, who had nothing to give when the fast began, broke it in the same spirit of generosity, and found by the very next morning that generosity itself had returned to them many times over.

Parama Ekadashi's teaching is addressed less to the ambitious than to the already exhausted: Sumedha was ready to abandon his home and beg in a foreign land before Pavitra reminded him that fortune follows what was given in a past life, not where one happens to travel. Krishna tells Yudhishthira that this fast exists for exactly that moment of exhaustion, offering not a scheme for wealth but a discipline that restores faith first and lets prosperity, when it is due, find the devotee wherever they have chosen to stay.