Saphala Ekadashi 2028: Date, Parana Time & Vrat Vidhi

Parana (breaking the fast) is on Wednesday, 13 December 2028, from 7:05 AM to 9:09 AM (New Delhi).

Break with water and tulsi, then fruit, then a light non-grain meal; a full meal after.

It is the grain-free Ekadashi fast (the fasting and parana rules are on the Ekadashi page), kept so that effort long without result may bear fruit.

By its mahatmya a single keeping outweighs years of ordinary austerity, and it turns the heart even of one who kept it without meaning to.

The Katyayana samhita, cited in the Bhavishyottara Purana, tells of Lumpaka, wicked eldest son of King Mahishmata of Champavati, exiled to the forest. Starving under an old pipal by a Vishnu shrine, with only windfall fruit, he gathered it and offered it to Vishnu through the night — it was Saphala Ekadashi — and the unintended fast turned his heart. He was recalled, given the kingdom, and in old age attained Vishnu.

Source: Bhavishyottara Purana — the Saphala Ekadashi mahatmya (the Lumpaka narrative)

The Saphala Ekadashi mahatmya is given in the Bhavishyottara Purana; the day-rule, parana and vrat vidhi are those of every Ekadashi (see the Ekadashi page). It falls in the dark fortnight of Pausha, near the winter solstice and the year's shortest days.

• Bhavishyottara Purana — the Saphala Ekadashi mahatmya (the Lumpaka narrative)
• Padma Purana — the Ekadashi mahatmyas

1. Vishnu is worshipped with seasonal fruits (the name means 'fruitful'), lamps, incense and tulsi.
2. The katha tells of Lumpaka, a prince turned out for his misdeeds, who fasted unknowingly through a cold night and was restored by the day's merit.
3. Lamps are lit through the night, especially in Vishnu temples, and the fast is broken at the Dwadashi parana.

• Pan-Indian (Vaishnava). Kept so that long fruitless effort may bear fruit, with a night-long Vishnu puja and the offering of fruit.

• Fruit offering — Oranges, guava, amla and ber are offered and later eaten as phalahar.
• Parana — Broken with tulsi water and one of the offered fruits.

Saphala Ekadashi is kept on the day when Ekadashi of Pausha Krishna paksha prevails at sunrise. That day is Tuesday, 12 December 2028. Ekadashi holds at sunrise only on this day.

at sunrise

Saphala Ekadashi is the Krishna Ekadashi of Pausha — the Moon 120°–132° behind the Sun (sidereal, Lahiri), with the Sun in sidereal Dhanu. See the Ekadashi page for the day-rule and the Smarta / Vaishnava difference; the Gregorian date drifts about 11 days earlier each year.

A lunar date: Ekadashi of the dark half of Pausha drifts about 11 days earlier each solar year, then jumps back ~19 days when a leap (Adhika) month is inserted.