॥ Amlaki Ekadashi Puja Vidhi ॥
- On the day of Amlaki Ekadashi, after getting up in Brahma Muhurta and taking bath, take a vow of fasting in front of Lord Vishnu.
- Install the picture of Lord Vishnu on a pedestal under the Amla tree and worship him duly.
- Offer roli, sandalwood, akshat, flowers, incense and naivedya to Lord Vishnu. Light a ghee lamp.
- After this, offer amla to Lord Vishnu.
- After this, read or listen to Amla Ekadashi Vrat Katha and perform Aarti.
- On Dwadashi, after bathing and worship, feed a Brahmin and donate to him according to your capacity.
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॥Amalaki Ekadashi Vrat Katha॥
There was a city named Vaidish in which all the four castes, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras lived happily. The sound of Vedas always resonated in that city and there was no sinner, wicked or atheist in that city. A Chandravanshi king named Chaitrath ruled in that city. He was very learned and religious. No one in that city was poor or miserly. All the citizens were devotees of Vishnu and men and women, young and old, used to observe Ekadashi fast.
Once Amalaki Ekadashi of the Shukla Paksha of Phalgun month came. On that day, the king, subjects, children and old, all observed the fast happily. The king went to the temple with his subjects and set up a full pot and started worshipping Dhatri / Amla with incense, lamp, offerings, Panchratna etc. and started praising in this way.
O Dhatri! You are the form of Brahma, you are born from Brahma, and you are the destroyer of all sins, salutations to you. Now accept my offer. You are respected by Shri Ram Chandra, I pray to you, so you destroy all my sins. Everyone in that temple kept a night vigil.
At night a hunter came there, who was a very sinful and wicked man. He used to support his family by killing living beings. Extremely troubled by hunger and thirst, that hunter sat in a corner of the temple to see this vigil and started listening to the story of Lord Vishnu and Ekadashi Mahatmya. In this way, like other people, he also spent the whole night awake.
In the morning, everyone went to their homes, then the hunter also went to his home. He ate food after going home. After some time, that hunter died. But due to the fast and vigil of that Amalaki Ekadashi, he was born in the house of King Viduratha and was named Vasuratha. When he became young, he started ruling 10,000 villages with a four-fold army and wealth and grains.
He was like the Sun in brilliance, like the Moon in lustre, like Lord Vishnu in bravery and like the Earth in forgiveness. He was very religious, truthful, a brave man and a devotee of Vishnu. He looked after his subjects with equal feelings. Giving donations was his daily duty.
One day the king went hunting. By chance he lost his way and due to lack of direction, he slept under a tree in the same forest. After a while, the mountain mlecchas came there and seeing the king alone, they ran towards him shouting “kill me, kill me”. The mlecchas started saying that this evil king has killed many of our relatives like our mother, father, son, grandson etc. and has expelled them from the country, so he must be killed.
Saying this, the mlechha ran to kill the king and threw many types of weapons at him. All those weapons would get destroyed as soon as they fell on the king’s body and their attack would look like a flower. Now the weapons of those mlechha started attacking them instead, due to which they fell unconscious. At the same time, a divine woman was born from the king’s body. That woman, though very beautiful, had a crooked eyebrow, red fire was coming out of her eyes, due to which she appeared like another death.
That woman ran to kill the mlechha and in a short time she sent all the mlechha to the jaws of death. When the king woke up, he saw the mlechha dead and asked who killed these enemies? Who is my well-wisher in this forest? He was thinking this when a voice from the sky said: O king! Who can help you in this world other than Lord Vishnu? Hearing this voice from the sky, the king came back to his kingdom and started ruling happily.
Maharishi Vasishtha said, “O King! This was the impact of fasting on Amalaki Ekadashi. People who observe fast on this Amalaki Ekadashi are successful in every task and finally go to Vishnulok.”
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