Dev Uthani Ekadashi 2025: When and why is Dev Uthani Ekadashi celebrated? Learn its religious significance here.:

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Kartik month is called Prabodhini or Devotthan Ekadashi. It is associated with the awakening of Lord Vishnu. It is well known in the Puranas that Lord Vishnu goes to sleep on the Ekadashi of the bright fortnight of Ashadha month and awakens on Prabodhini Ekadashi after sleeping for four months.

Although Lord Vishnu does not sleep or wake, devotees believe that the four months from the time the Sun, embodied in Vishnu, is covered by clouds during the rainy season until he is freed from the clouds are considered the Lord's sleep. This is also known as the Chaturmasya fast. It is also a time to awaken the divinity within us.

While observing the Prabodhini Ekadashi fast with devotion, Lord Vishnu is awakened from his sleep at night by reciting hymns, reciting stories from the Puranas, and singing hymns while playing the conch, drum, nagada, mridanga, veena, and other instruments. While meditating on him, one can awaken him by chanting this mantra:

Uttisthottistha Govind Tyaj Nidram Jagatpate.

Tvayi supte jagannath jagat suptam bhavedidam.

Utthite cheshtate sarvamuttishthottishtha madhav.

Gata Megha Viyachchaiva Nirmalan Nirmaladishah.

Shardani Cha Pushpani Grihaan Mam Keshav.

O Lord of the universe, abandon your slumber and awaken. If you continue to sleep, this world will also continue to sleep… Thus, this festival marks the awakening of God as well as the awakening of the entire world. In this, God sends a message to the world that the night of inaction has passed and the sun of action is about to rise. We must also awaken to our respective duties.

On the night of Ekadashi, one should stay awake as per one's capacity. Leaving laziness aside, one should enthusiastically perform puja, pradakshina, prayer, flower offering, aarti etc. One should recite Vishnu Sahasranama Stotra, Bhagavad Gita, chant the eight-letter and twelve-letter mantras of the Lord. On this day, one should refrain from frequent drinking, excessive fruit consumption, impurity, false speech, consumption of betel leaves, sleeping during the day or sexual intercourse. Some people also perform Tulsi Vivah after the Lord wakes up.

Who is eligible to observe the Prabodhini Ekadashi fast? The scriptures state that anyone who practices the conduct and thoughts of their respective castes, who is selfless, truthful, and seeks the welfare of all, whether Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, Antyaj, man or woman, is eligible to observe this fast.

According to Padmapuran Uttarkhand, Naradapuran and Brahmavaivartapuran, Ekadashi fast is like that boat, taking shelter of which the soul crosses the ocean of life. According to Mahabharata, in Kaliyuga, the soul resides in food, hence, since it is very difficult to observe other fasts with devotion, Prabodhini Ekadashi fast is less difficult but gives more results. Because the essence of Puranas is that if it is not possible to give up food on Prabodhini Ekadashi, then one should give up only rice. This fast of Kartik month is the best.

In the 28th chapter of the tenth canto of the Srimad Bhagavata Purana, it is described that Nanda Baba fasted on Prabodhini Ekadashi, remaining without food. This fast grants salvation to those who observe it. In the Uttarakhanda of the Padma Purana, Dharmaraja Yudhishthira asked Lord Krishna about the significance of Prabodhini Ekadashi.

He said that Brahma, while describing its glory to Narada, said that the greatness of Prabodhini destroys sin and disease, increases virtue, and bestows salvation on those with superior intellect. All pilgrimage sites, from the sea to the lake, rejoice in their glory until the arrival of Lord Vishnu's Prabodhini Tithi in the month of Kartik.

By simply observing the Prabodhini fast, one attains the fruits of one thousand Ashwamedha and one hundred Rajasuya sacrifices. If someone desires an extremely rare object and faithfully observes the Devotthani fast, he or she is sure to obtain it.

According to the Puranas, faithfully observing the Prabodhini or Devuthani Ekadashi fast yields the same benefits as all pilgrimages and sacrifices like the Ashwamedha. Those who observe this fast, while regularly staying awake all night, attain the ultimate goal of salvation. Their lives are blessed with happiness, prosperity, children and grandsons, and at the end of their lives, they attain the highest realm or one of the four liberations.