Skandapurana 2.4.32

The Vālakhilyas said:

Having bathed properly in the bright fortnight of Kārtika, restrained in observance,

one should undertake on the eleventh day the vow lasting five days.

By the great-souled Bhīṣma, who was lying on the bed of arrows,

the duties of kings, the duties leading to liberation, and after that the duties of giving

were spoken of to the sons of Pāṇḍu, and were also heard then by Kṛṣṇa.

Then, with a pleased mind, Vāsudeva spoke:

"Blessed, blessed are you, O Bhīṣma! The dharmas have been recited by you.

And on the eleventh day of Kārtika, water was requested by you;

the water of the Gaṅgā was brought by Arjuna through the swift force of his arrow.

Your limbs were satisfied; therefore, from this day onward

until the full moon, let all people propitiate you through the offering of arghya.

Therefore, with every effort, causing my satisfaction,

let them observe this vow designated as the Bhīṣmapañcaka.

If, having performed the Kārtika vow, one does not perform the Bhīṣmapañcaka,

his entire Kārtika observance will be in vain.

If a man is powerless and incapable throughout Kārtika,

by performing Bhīṣma's five-day rite, he shall obtain the fruit of Kārtika.

'To the one of true vows, to the pure one, to the son of Gaṅgā, the great-souled,

to Bhīṣma, celibate from birth, I offer this arghya.'

With the sacred thread over the left shoulder, using this mantra, the libation is meant for all classes.

As an auxiliary to the vow, an effigy of the 'sinful person' should be given away on the full moon day.

The Bhīṣmapañcaka should by all means be performed by a childless man.

Whoever, along with his wife, performs the Bhīṣmapañcaka vow for the sake of a son,

having given away the effigy of the sinful person, obtains a son within a year.

Therefore, Bhīṣma's five-day rite must certainly be performed.

Bhīṣma's five-day rite has been declared by me to be pleasing to Viṣṇu."

Sūta said:

"Let all the seers hear the special instruction concerning the Bhīṣmapañcaka,

as it was declared formerly in detail by Rudra to Kārtikeya."

Īśvara said:

"I shall declare the highly meritorious vow, O best of vow-observers!

Since this five-day vow was obtained by Bhīṣma

from the presence of Vāsudeva, it is called the Bhīṣmapañcaka.

Who is capable of describing the virtues of this vow, except Keśava?

Hear the ancient dharma in the bright fortnight of Kārtika,

practised in the Kṛtayuga and other ages by Vasiṣṭha, Bhṛgu, Garga, and others,

practised in the Tretāyuga and other ages by Ambarīṣa with pleasures and other means,

by brahmins through celibacy, recitation of mantras, fire-offerings, and other rituals,

and likewise by kṣatriyas and vaiśyas dedicated to truth and purification."

It is difficult to perform for those lacking truth, impossible for the childish-minded. (19)

They say it is hard to perform, [named] Bhīṣma; it cannot be done by ordinary men.

Because he does it, O best of brahmins, by that everything has been accomplished. (20)

And this observance is of great religious merit, destroying great sins.

Therefore, the Bhīṣmapañcaka should be performed by men with diligence. (21)

In the bright fortnight of Kārttika, having bathed properly according to the rule,

one should undertake the five-day observance on the eleventh lunar day. (22)

Having bathed particularly in the morning and likewise at noon, the observer of vows,

in a river or in the water of a mountain stream, having smeared [himself] with cow dung,

should properly satisfy the ancestors in order with barley, rice grains, and sesame. (23)

Having bathed, keeping silence, wearing washed garments, firm in his vow,

a man should diligently offer water and arghya to Bhīṣma.

Worship of Bhīṣma must be performed, and he should diligently give a gift. (25)

Having especially given the five jewels with effort to a brahmin,

Vāsudeva also, the Lord, ever accompanied by Lakṣmī, is to be worshipped. (26)

Having worshipped [him] during the five-day period, he rejoices for ten million births. (27)

Whatever a mortal gives made of the five metals,

he obtains the entire fruit of the observances of a year. (28)

Having given the water-offering and likewise presented the arghya,

the man who does so with this mantra becomes a participant in liberation: (29)

"To him of the Vaiyāghrapāda lineage, having the Sāṅkṛtya ancestry,

to the childless Bhīṣma, Bhīṣmavarman, [I offer] water. (30)

To the incarnation of the Vasus, and the son of Śaṃtanu,

I give this arghya to Bhīṣma, a lifelong celibate." (31)

Thus the arghya mantra.

One who completes the five-day period according to this rule,

attains religious merit equal to a horse sacrifice; there is no doubt in this. (32)

A restriction must also be observed with diligence for the five days;

one endowed with fine qualities must not be without a restrictive rule during this [observance]. (33)

Hari granted to Bhīṣma, who was lacking the northern solstice—

well-pleased, [he granted] an auspicious planetary conjunction even in the absence of the northern solstice. (34)

Then one should worship the god Hari, the remover of all sins.

Immediately after, the Bhīṣmapañcaka should be performed with diligence. (35)

He should bathe [him] with devotion using waters, and honey, milk, and clarified butter,

and likewise with the five products of the cow, and with water scented with sandalwood. (36)

Then Keśava, with fragrant sandalwood and with saffron,

mixed with camphor and uśīra, he should anoint the Garuḍa-bannered [god]. (37)

He should worship him with lovely flowers accompanied by perfume and incense;

the devout one should offer bdellium combined with clarified butter to Kṛṣṇa. (38)

He should provide a lamp day and night for the five days;

he should present sweet milk-rice as a food offering to the god of gods. (39)

Thus he should worship the god, remembering and bowing [to him],

and he should recite one hundred and eight times: "Oṃ namo Vāsudevāya." (40)

And he should offer oblations with sesame, rice grains, barley, and the like smeared with clarified butter,

with the six-syllable mantra accompanied by the exclamation 'svāhā'. (41)

Having attended to the evening twilight, having bowed to the Garuḍa-bannered [god],

and having recited the mantra as before, he should always sleep on the ground. (42)

All this procedure should be performed for five days.

Listen to the special feature that is not deficient in this observance: (43)

On the first day, the observer of the vow should worship the feet of Hari with lotuses;

on the second, he should worship the knee region with a bilva leaf. (44)

Then afterwards he should worship the head of the discus-wielder

with mālatī jasmine on the full moon of Kārttika, with devotion, his mind fixed on that god of gods. (45)

Having worshipped that Hṛṣīkeśa on the eleventh [day] briefly,

having fully consumed cow dung, he should fast on the eleventh [day]. (46)

On the twelfth, the observer of the vow should sip cow urine on the ground with a mantra;

and milk on the thirteenth, and likewise curd on the fourteenth. (47)

Having consumed [these] for purification of the body, having fasted for four days,

having bathed on the fifth day and worshipped Keśava according to the rule,

he should feed brahmins with devotion and give them a priestly gift. (48)

Abandoning sinful thoughts, an intelligent man, observing celibacy,

must abandon liquor, meat, and sexual intercourse, which cause sin.

Subsisting on vegetables and the food of sages, a man devoted to the worship of Kṛṣṇa,

should then eat at night, preceded by [drinking] the five products of the cow.

In this way it should be properly completed, and he will obtain the stated reward.

Even a drunkard who drinks wine from birth until his death,

by observing this Bhīṣma vow, attains the supreme state.

It should also be observed by women with the consent of their husbands, to increase virtue,

and by widows, for the great enhancement of the bliss of liberation.

Formerly, in Ayodhyā, a king named Atithi,

having observed this very rare vow on the instruction of Vasiṣṭha,

enjoyed all pleasures here [on earth] and in the end went to the city of Viṣṇu.

Thus one should regularly perform the five-day observance called the Bhīṣmapañcaka,

with restriction, by fasting, or else with the five products of the cow,

subsisting on milk, roots, fruits, or sacrificial food, wholly intent upon the vow.

When the day of the full moon arrives, having performed worship as before,

he should feed brahmins with devotion and give a cow together with its calf.

This celebrated Bhīṣmapañcaka on earth, commencing on the eleventh day and terminating on the fifteenth—

it is said that for one who eats, there is no prohibition then; in that vow Viṣṇu bestows auspicious reward.

Thus ends the thirty-second chapter, named 'Description of the Greatness of the Bhīṣmapañcaka Vow', in the Māhātmya of the Month of Kārtika, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a Mahāpurāṇa of eighty-one thousand verses.

Other passages concerning the Prabodhinī Ekādaśī:

Garuḍa 1.123 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: instruction on the Bhīṣmapañcaka vow; the conjunction of ekādaśī, dvādaśī, and trayodaśī is auspicious, and the conjunction of ekādaśī and daśamī is stated to be demonic);
Nārada 1.19 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: flag-raising vow); Padma 6.30.91 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: year-lamp vow, remembrance of past birth by a king and queen in a temple at Puṣkara), 6.61 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: māhātmya of the ekādaśī named Prabodhinī), 6.90.19 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: awakening of the sleeping Vedas and Viṣṇu in the ocean), 6.124 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: the name Prabodhinī, māhātmya, commencement of the Bhīṣmapañcaka vow); Skanda 6.190 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: commencement of the Pañcarātra, concluding with the ritual post-sacrifice ablution, etc.), 6.231 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: Viṣṇu rising from atop a wolf and proceeding to the milk ocean, the Aśūnyaśayana vow), 7.3.13 (Kārtika bright ekādaśī: worship of Hṛṣīkeśa by Ambarīṣa, reception of teachings on jñānayoga and kriyāyoga); Lakṣmīnārāyaṇa 1.261 (Māhātmya of the Kārtika bright Prabodhinī Ekādaśī vow: liberation of an outcaste-acting brahmin and a rākṣasa).

Note on Ekādaśī: