BREAKING THE FAST ON NEXT DAY.

Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja said, “O Janārdana, protector of all living entities, please tell me the name of the Ekādaśī that occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of Bhādrapada. [August-September]

The Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, replied, “O king, hear me attentively. The name of this sin-removing, sacred Ekādaśī is Ajā. Any person who fasts completely on this day and worships Hṛṣikeśa, the master of the senses, becomes free of all reactions to his sins. Even one who simply hears about this Ekādaśī is freed from his past sins. O king, there is no better day than this in all the earthly and heavenly worlds. This is true without a doubt.

“There once lived a famous king named Hariścandra, who was the emperor of the world and a person of great truth and integrity. His wife’s name was Candramatī, and he had a son named Lohitāśva. By the force of destiny, however, Hariścandra lost his great kingdom and sold his wife and son. The pious king himself became a menial servant of a dog-eater, who made him guard a crematorium. Yet even while doing such menial service, he did not forsake his truthfulness and good character, just as soma-rasa, even when mixed with some other liquid, does not lose its ability to bestow immortality.

“The king passed many years in this condition. Then one day he sadly thought, `What shall I do? Where should I go? How can I be delivered from this plight?’ In this way he drowned in an ocean of anxiety and sorrow.

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