Significance and legend
Mokshada means the giver of liberation. Krishna tells Yudhishthira the story of King Vaikhanasa, who ruled the city of Champaka with justice and devotion. One night he dreamed that his late father was suffering in a hellish realm and was calling to him for release. Deeply troubled, the king consulted the learned Brahmins of his court, who advised him to seek the sage Parvata, a seer who knew past, present and future.
The sage revealed through meditation that the king's father, in his lifetime, had neglected one of his wives and caused her distress during her rightful time, and that this deed had led to his suffering. He advised Vaikhanasa to observe the Ekadashi of the bright half of Margashirsha with his family and to offer its merit to his father. The king did so, and his father, freed from suffering, blessed his son and ascended to the heavens. This Ekadashi is also celebrated as Gita Jayanti, since tradition holds that Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on this tithi at Kurukshetra.
How Mokshada Ekadashi is observed
Devotees fast and worship Vishnu as Damodara or Krishna with tulsi, flowers and lamps, and recite or study the Bhagavad Gita, often reading all eighteen chapters. Many temples and organisations hold Gita recitations and discourses, and Kurukshetra hosts a large festival. Offering the merit of the fast to departed ancestors is customary. In some years this Ekadashi is also observed as Vaikunta Ekadashi. The fast is broken on Dwadashi after sunrise within the parana window.