Haribol!
I wasnt' sure where to post this, but I thought others may enjoy these stories about the significance of each ekadasi day taken from different puranas, etc. I get them emailed to me on each ekadasi. So I just thought that I would post them for others to read.
Since today is Varuthini Ekadasi, I'll start here...
Varuthini Ekadasi
from Bhavisya-uttara Purana
Sri Yudhisthira Maharaj said, "Oh Vasudeva, I offer my most humble
obeisances unto You. Please now describe to me the EkAdasii of the dark
fortnight (krishna paksha) of the month of VaisAkha (April-May), including
its specific merits and influence."
Lord Sri Krishna replied, "Oh King, in this world and the next, the most
auspicious and magnanimous EkAdasii is VarUthinii EkAdasii, which occurs
during the dark fortnight of the month of VaisAkha.
Whosoever observes a complete fast on this sacred day has his sins
completely removed, obtains continuous happiness, and achieves all good
fortune.
Fasting on VarUthinii EkAdasii makes even an unfortunate woman fortunate.
Upon anyone who observes it, this EkAdasii bestows material enjoyment in
this life and liberation after the death of this present body. It destroys
the sins of all and saves people from the miseries of repeated rebirth.
"By observing this EkAdasii properly, King MAndhAtA was liberated. Many
other kings also benefited from observing it - kings such as MahArAja
DhundhumAra, in the IkshvAku dynasty, who became free from leprosy resulting
from the curse that Lord Shiva had imposed upon him as a punishment.
Whatever merit one obtains by performing austerities and penances for ten
thousand years is achieved by a person who observes VarUthinii EkAdasii.
The merit one achieves by donating a great amount of gold during a solar
eclipse at Kurukshetra is gained by one who observes this one EkAdasii with
love and devotion, and certainly attains his goals in this life and the
next. In short, this EkAdasii is pure and very enlivening and the destroyer
of all sins.
"Better than giving horses in charity is giving elephants, and better than
giving elephants is giving land. But better still than giving land is the
giving of sesame seeds, and better than that is giving of gold. Still better
than giving gold is giving food grains - for all the forefathers, demigods
(devas), and human beings become satisfied by eating grains. Thus there is
no better gift of charity than this in the past, present or future."
NOTE: "Yet learned scholars have declared that giving away a young maiden in
marriage to a worthy person is equal to giving away food grains in charity.
Moreover, Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has said
that giving cows in charity is equal to giving food grains. Still better
than all these charities is teaching spiritual knowledge to the ignorant.
Yet all the merits one can attain by performing all these acts of charity
are attained by one who fasts on the VarUthinii Ekadasi."
"One who lives off the wealth of his daughters suffers a hellish condition
until the inundation of the entire universe, Oh BhArata. Therefore one
should be especially careful not to use the wealth of his daughter. Oh best
of kings, any householder who takes his daughter's wealth out of greed, who
tries to sell his daughter, or who takes money from the man to whom he has
given his daughter in marriage - such a householder becomes a lowly cat in
his next life. Therefore it is said that whoever, as a sacred act of
charity, gives away in marriage a maiden decorated with various ornaments,
and who also gives a dowry with her, obtains merit that cannot be described
even by Chitragupta, the chief secretary of YamarAja in the heavenly
planets. That very same merit, however, can be easily achieved by one who
fasts on the VarUthinii EkAdasii.
"The following things should be given up on the Dashami, (the tenth phase of
the Moon), the day before the EkAdasii: eating on bell-metal plates, eating
any kind of urad-dahl, eating red-lentils, eating chick-peas, eating kondo
(a grain that is primarily eaten by poor people and that resembles poppy
seeds or agarpanthas seeds), eating spinach, eating honey, eating in another
person's house/home, eating more than once, and participating in sex of any
kind.
"On the Ekadasi itself one should give up the following: gambling, sports,
sleeping during the daytime, betal nuts and its leaf, brushing one's teeth,
spreading rumours, faultfinding, talking to the spiritually fallen, anger,
and lying.
"On the DwAdasii the day after EkAdasii (the twelfth phase of the Moon), one
should give up the following: eating on bell-metal plates, eating urad-dahl,
red-lentils, or honey, lying, strenuous exercise or labour, eating more than
once, any sexual activity, shaving the body, face or head, smearing oils on
one's body, and eating in another's home."
Lord Sri Krishna continued, "Whoever observes the VarUthinii EkAdasii in
this way becomes free from all sinful reactions and returns to the eternal,
spiritual abode. One who worships Lord JanArdana (Krishna) on this EkAdasii
by staying awake throughout the entire night, also becomes free from all his
previous sins and attains to the spiritual abode. Therefore, Oh king, he who
is frightened of his accumulated sins and their attendant reactions, and
thus of death itself, must observe VarUthinii EkAdasii by fasting very
strictly.
"Finally, Oh noble Yudhisthira, he who hears or reads this glorification of
the sacred VarUthinii EkAdasii obtains the merit earned by donating one
thousand cows in charity, and at last he returns home, to the Supreme abode
of Lord Vishnu in the Vaikunthas."