निर्जला एकादशी व्रत कथा-इस एकादशी पर पानी पीना सख्त मना है इसलिए एकादशी को निर्जला एकादशी कहा जाता है। निर्जला एकादशी को भीमसेनी एकादशी के नाम से भी जाना जाता है।
॥ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय नमः॥
Drinking water on Ekadashi is strictly prohibited. This is the reason that Ekadashi is called Nirjala Ekadashi. One of the episodes of Nirjala Ekadashi is also known as Bhimseni Ekadashi due to its association with Bhima, the brother of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata. There are two Ekadashi fasts in every month. This is the Ekadashi before the full moon. One who observes a fast on this day does not drink water from sunrise to sunrise the next day. It is said that drinking water breaks the fast.
Once Bhimsen started saying to Vyas ji that O father! Brother Yudhishthira, Mother Kunti, Draupadi, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva etc. all ask to observe fast on Ekadashi, but Maharaj, I can do devotion, worship etc. to God, I can also give charity but cannot live without food.
On this Vyasji said: O Bhimsen! If you consider hell to be bad and heaven to be good, then do not eat food on both the Ekadashis of each month. On this Bhima said, O father! I have already said that I cannot bear hunger. If there is only one fast in a year, then I can keep it, because there is a fire called Vrika in my stomach, due to which I cannot live without eating. Eating food keeps her calm, so is it difficult for me to stay without food even for a single time if the complete fast is there.
