Mokshada Ekadashi is the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, the same day as Gita Jayanti, and its katha is about King Vaikhanasa, who saw his late father suffering in a dream. A sage told him the cause, and the son's fast on this day gave his father moksha, freedom, which is what Mokshada means.
The coming Ekadashis, with Smarta and Vaishnava days, are on the Ekadashi dates page; open this day there for its parana window in your city. The festival of the Gita on the same day has its own Gita Jayanti page.
The katha
Yudhishthira said, "Lord of the worlds, I bow to you. Tell me about the Ekadashi in the bright half of Margashirsha. What is its name, who is worshipped, and how is it kept?"
Krishna said, "You ask well. It is called Mokshada, and it is like the wish-fulfilling gem: it gives freedom to those who have gone and peace to those who remain. On it Damodara is worshipped with incense, lamps and tulsi. Listen to an old story."
In the lovely city of Champaka, full of devout people, ruled a king named Vaikhanasa. He cared for his people like his own children, and the brahmins of his city were learned in the Vedas.
One night the king had a dream that shook him. He saw his father, who had died some years before, in a dark and painful place among the lower worlds, calling out to him, "My son, help me. Get me out of here."
The king woke in the middle of the night and could not sleep again. In the morning he called the brahmins and told them everything. "I have no peace," he said. "My kingdom, my horses and elephants, my treasury, my queens, none of them mean anything to me now. What good is a son who cannot help his own father? Tell me what to do."
The brahmins said, "King, not far from here is the ashram of the sage Parvata. He knows the past and the future. Go to him; he will tell you."
Vaikhanasa went at once with a few brahmins. The ashram was peaceful, filled with sages chanting the Vedas, and Parvata sat among them like a second Brahma. The king bowed and stood with folded hands. The sage asked after the welfare of his kingdom, and the king answered, "Everything is well, great sage, except one thing," and told him the dream.
Parvata closed his eyes and sat in meditation for a long time. Then he said, "King, I have seen your father's past. He had two wives. In his life he favoured one of them and was unjust to the other, turning her away when she came to him with her rightful wish. That wrong, done out of desire and pride, is what holds him now."
The king asked, "Is there anything I can do for him?"
"There is," said the sage. "Keep the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha, which is called Mokshada. Keep it with your whole household, and offer its merit to your father. That merit will release him."
The king returned home and, when the day came, kept Mokshada Ekadashi with his queens, his sons and his whole household. On Dwadashi he offered the merit of the fast to his father. At that moment flowers fell from the sky. His father, released, was seen rising to heaven, and as he went he said, "My son, may all be well with you," and blessed him.
Krishna said, "Whoever keeps this Ekadashi is freed from their faults and, at the end, reaches liberation. There is no fast that gives freedom greater than this one. Whoever hears or reads this story receives the merit of a great sacrifice."
Reading the story calmly
The katha speaks of a father in distress in the lower worlds, and of a wrong done to a wife. These are told in the Purana's own language. What the story asks of its listener is not fear but care: a son who cannot rest while his father is unhappy, and who does something about it. It is also, quietly, a story that takes the hurt of a neglected wife seriously.
What the day is kept for
Mokshada is kept for freedom in the widest sense: for departed parents and grandparents, and for one's own release from the knots that bind a life. The text calls it the giver of moksha; families take that as the hope at the heart of the day.
How it is kept
On this day many households read the Bhagavad Gita, the whole of it or a chapter, and some temples hold continuous readings. Vishnu is worshipped as Damodara or as Krishna the teacher, with tulsi and a lamp. In the South, when it is Vaikuntha Ekadashi, devotees queue through the night to pass through the northern gate of temples such as Srirangam and Tirumala. How to keep the fast, step by step, is on the Ekadashi puja vidhi page.
Neighbouring Ekadashis
Before Mokshada come Rama Ekadashi, Dev Uthani and Utpanna; after it comes Saphala Ekadashi, in the cold of Pausha. For the auspicious hours of any day in your city, see the choghadiya.