Apara Ekadashi
What it is
Apara Ekadashi comes on the eleventh tithi of the dark fortnight of Vaishakh by the Gujarati reckoning (Jyeshtha Krishna Paksha in the North Indian calendar), as summer deepens toward Nirjala Ekadashi a fortnight later. 'Apara' means boundless — a vrat whose punya, the Puranas say, cannot be measured. It is also called Achala Ekadashi, the unshakeable.
Its katha is unlike any other. The righteous King Mahidhwaj was secretly murdered by his jealous younger brother Vajradhwaj and buried beneath a peepal tree in the forest. Dying so violently and unjustly, the king's soul found no rest; it lingered as a preta in that tree, frightening all who passed. One day the great sage Dhaumya came that way. His divine sight recognised the suffering spirit for the good king he had been. Moved with compassion, Dhaumya himself observed the Apara Ekadashi vrat and offered its entire punya to the departed soul. In that instant the king was freed from the preta form, received a divine body, and rose to the abode of Shri Hari.
The tithi thus commemorates both the boundless mercy of Prabhu and the power of merit given away in love.
Why we observe it
Every other Ekadashi katha tells of someone keeping the vrat for themselves; Apara's hero keeps it for someone else. Dhaumya rishi had no sins to wash and nothing to gain — he fasted purely so that another soul might be free. That is why this Ekadashi is beloved: it teaches that punya is at its purest the moment we stop holding on to it.
For a Pushtimarg Vaishnav this rings true to the very heart of the path. In seva nothing is done for one's own phal; every offering, every kirtan, every vrat is for the sukh and prasannata of Shri Thakorji, and what He does with it is His leela. To keep Apara Ekadashi in that bhav — 'this day, this hunger, this smaran, all is Yours; use it where You will' — is samarpan itself.
There is comfort in the katha too: no past, however dark or unjust, is beyond Prabhu's reach. The king trapped in the tree was not forgotten. On this Ekadashi we remember departed souls with love, entrust old wounds and old karma to Prabhu, and fill the day with His name — boundless grace answering boundless need.