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Vrat · Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi

Mokshada Ekadashi 2026

मोक्षदा एकादशी

Sunday 20 December 2026 · in 50 days

VishnuVratAll India

Mokshada Ekadashi is a day of three names: Mokshada in the North, Gita Jayanti for the day the Gita was spoken, and in many southern temples, Vaikuntha Ekadashi.

Parana muhurat7:09 AM to 9:13 AM

On 21 December, after sunrise and Hari Vasara, before Dwadashi ends. Ekadashi runs from 10:10 PM on 19 Dec to 8:15 PM on 20 Dec.

Delhi · times in IST

Pujas for Mokshada Ekadashi, in order

Vishnu Puja

विष्णु पूजाMorning, after bath

Vishnu is worshipped as the one who keeps the world in order, with tulsi and yellow flowers.

You will need
  • Vishnu idol or Shaligram
  • Tulsi leaves
  • Yellow flowers
  • Panchamrit
  • Ghee diya
  • Incense
Steps
  1. Bathe the idol or Shaligram with panchamrit.
  2. Offer tulsi leaves and yellow flowers.
  3. Chant the mantra 108 times.
  4. Sing the aarti.
Mantraॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवायom namo bhagavate vasudevaya
Aarti: Om Jai Jagdish Hare

ॐ जय जगदीश हरे, स्वामी जय जगदीश हरे।
भक्त जनों के संकट, दास जनों के संकट, क्षण में दूर करे॥

जो ध्यावे फल पावे, दुःख बिनसे मन का, स्वामी दुःख बिनसे मन का।
सुख सम्पत्ति घर आवे, कष्ट मिटे तन का॥

मात पिता तुम मेरे, शरण गहूं मैं किसकी, स्वामी शरण गहूं मैं किसकी।
तुम बिन और न दूजा, आस करूं मैं जिसकी॥

तुम पूरण परमात्मा, तुम अन्तर्यामी, स्वामी तुम अन्तर्यामी।
पारब्रह्म परमेश्वर, तुम सब के स्वामी॥

तुम करुणा के सागर, तुम पालनकर्ता, स्वामी तुम पालनकर्ता।
मैं सेवक तुम स्वामी, कृपा करो भर्ता॥

तुम हो एक अगोचर, सबके प्राणपति, स्वामी सबके प्राणपति।
किस विधि मिलूं दयामय, तुमको मैं कुमति॥

दीन बन्धु दुःख हर्ता, ठाकुर तुम मेरे, स्वामी रक्षक तुम मेरे।
अपने हाथ उठाओ, अपने शरण लगाओ, द्वार पड़ा तेरे॥

विषय विकार मिटाओ, पाप हरो देवा, स्वामी पाप हरो देवा।
श्रद्धा भक्ति बढ़ाओ, सन्तन की सेवा॥

Add your own deity

Many families also worship their own deity on a festival day. Each one opens a full guide with steps, mantra and aarti.

Vishnu Puja

विष्णु पूजाMorning, after bath

Vishnu is worshipped as the one who keeps the world in order, with tulsi and yellow flowers.

You will need
  • Vishnu idol or Shaligram
  • Tulsi leaves
  • Yellow flowers
  • Panchamrit
  • Ghee diya
  • Incense
Steps
  1. Bathe the idol or Shaligram with panchamrit.
  2. Offer tulsi leaves and yellow flowers.
  3. Chant the mantra 108 times.
  4. Sing the aarti.
Mantraॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवायom namo bhagavate vasudevaya
Aarti: Om Jai Jagdish Hare

ॐ जय जगदीश हरे, स्वामी जय जगदीश हरे।
भक्त जनों के संकट, दास जनों के संकट, क्षण में दूर करे॥

जो ध्यावे फल पावे, दुःख बिनसे मन का, स्वामी दुःख बिनसे मन का।
सुख सम्पत्ति घर आवे, कष्ट मिटे तन का॥

मात पिता तुम मेरे, शरण गहूं मैं किसकी, स्वामी शरण गहूं मैं किसकी।
तुम बिन और न दूजा, आस करूं मैं जिसकी॥

तुम पूरण परमात्मा, तुम अन्तर्यामी, स्वामी तुम अन्तर्यामी।
पारब्रह्म परमेश्वर, तुम सब के स्वामी॥

तुम करुणा के सागर, तुम पालनकर्ता, स्वामी तुम पालनकर्ता।
मैं सेवक तुम स्वामी, कृपा करो भर्ता॥

तुम हो एक अगोचर, सबके प्राणपति, स्वामी सबके प्राणपति।
किस विधि मिलूं दयामय, तुमको मैं कुमति॥

दीन बन्धु दुःख हर्ता, ठाकुर तुम मेरे, स्वामी रक्षक तुम मेरे।
अपने हाथ उठाओ, अपने शरण लगाओ, द्वार पड़ा तेरे॥

विषय विकार मिटाओ, पाप हरो देवा, स्वामी पाप हरो देवा।
श्रद्धा भक्ति बढ़ाओ, सन्तन की सेवा॥

Add your own deity

Many families also worship their own deity on a festival day. Each one opens a full guide with steps, mantra and aarti.

Other mantras for the day

  • ॐ क्ष्रौं नमो नरसिंहाय om kshraum namo narasimhaya

Mokshada Ekadashi 2026: date and timings

Date
Sunday 20 December 2026
Tithi
Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi
Ekadashi begins
10:10 PM, 19 December
Ekadashi ends
8:15 PM, 20 December
Parana (breaking the fast)
7:09 AM to 9:13 AM (21 December)
Sunrise
7:08 AM
Sunset
5:28 PM

Times for New Delhi (IST). Use the city button above for your own city.

Other years

Mokshada Ekadashi 2027: date and timings

Date
Thursday 9 December 2027
Tithi
Margashirsha Shukla Ekadashi
Ekadashi begins
3:00 AM, 9 December
Ekadashi ends
3:21 AM, 10 December
Parana (breaking the fast)
9:14 AM to 11:11 AM (10 December)
Sunrise
7:01 AM
Sunset
5:24 PM

How to observe

  1. Eat a light meal before sunset on Dashami.
  2. Keep Ekadashi without grains or rice, taking fruit and milk or keeping it nirjala. People with health conditions, pregnant women, the elderly and children can keep it with fruit and water instead.
  3. Worship Vishnu with tulsi, and read or listen to a chapter of the Gita.
  4. Many offer the day's prayer in memory of parents and ancestors.
  5. Break the fast on Dwadashi morning within the parana time shown.

For your chart

Add your birth details to see whether Mokshada Ekadashi lines up with your birth nakshatra or tithi.

Coming up after Mokshada Ekadashi

About Mokshada Ekadashi

Mokshada Ekadashi falls on the eleventh day of the bright half of Margashirsha. Its name means 'the giver of liberation', and it is kept as a day for remembering those who have gone before us as much as for one's own prayer. The same day is Gita Jayanti, remembered as the day Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra, so many people read or listen to a chapter of the Gita alongside the fast.

The story, as Krishna tells it to Yudhishthira, is about King Vaikhanasa of the city of Champaka. One night he dreamt that his late father was not at peace. Troubled, he asked the learned people of his court, and they sent him to the sage Parvata. The sage told him to keep Mokshada Ekadashi and offer its merit to his father. The king did so with his family, and the story says his father found peace and blessed him. It is told as a story of a child's love reaching a parent beyond this life.

In South India this Ekadashi, or in some years the one a month later, is Vaikuntha Ekadashi. In Vishnu temples such as Srirangam and Tirupati, the northern gate, Vaikuntha Dwaram, is opened before dawn, and devotees walk through it in long, patient queues. Passing through the gate is felt as a symbolic step towards Vishnu's own abode, and the temples stay full through the night.

The fast is kept the usual way: a light meal on Dashami evening, no grains or rice on Ekadashi, fruit and milk, or nirjala by choice, Vishnu puja with tulsi, and a night of bhajan or reading. It is broken the next morning on Dwadashi, after Hari Vasara, within the parana time shown above.

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