Saphala Ekadasi occurs during the waning moon in the month of December/January. The fame of this ekadashi is described in the «Brahmanada Purana» in the conversation between Lord Krishna and Maharaja Yudhishthira.
The story of Saphal Ekadashi begins with Yudhishthira king Sri Krishna's questions about how to satisfy God on this day. The answer was: «O is the best of kings, since you want to listen, I will fully describe to you the glory of Saphal Ekadashi. I am not as happy with sacrifices or donations as I am with keeping full fasting on this day. Therefore, to the best of your ability, you need to fast on Ekadashi, the day of Lord Hari...».
To please God, you need to offer Him fresh fruits according to place, time and circumstances, worshiping Him in His form of Lord Narayana and meditating on Him as an all-good Supreme Personality. In honor of the celebration of Saphal Ekadashi, people try to stay awake all night.
A narrative of the glory of Saphal Ekadashi, taken from Bhavishya Uttar Purana, has survived. This happened in the city of Champavati, which was ruled by the holy king Mahishmata. He had four sons. The eldest of them, Lumpaka, was very sinful: he squandered his father's wealth and stooped to criticizing religious and holy people. Eventually, King Mahishmata banished him to the forest. Lumpaka lived in the forest: during the day he killed a huge number of animals, and at night he went to the city to rob its inhabitants. He was arrested several times, but remembering that his father was the – king, they left him alone, deciding that the prince, due to the sins of his previous births, had lost his royal virtues and therefore was acting so shamefully.
One day (it was just in Saphala Ekadashi) he spent the night under a banyan tree, which is very dear to Lord Vasudeva. The day before, due to the cold, he spent the whole night without sleep. When the sun rose, he banged his teeth and was almost in a comatose state. All morning he could not get out of his stupor, and in the afternoon he somehow went to look for food for himself. Lumpaka was so weak that he could not kill a single animal that day, but by sunset he still collected some fruits, placing them near the roots of the banyan tree.
Lumpaka wailed: «Woe to me! What happened to me? Oh Lord Sri Hari!». Unconsciously, he was forced to spend the whole night again without sleep and in full fasting. When the sun rose, Lumpaka, through the observance of Saphal Ekadashi, seemed to be reborn: now he realized not only his mistakes, but also the greatness of God. Returning home, he repented and, forgiven, was even more inspired to live in accordance with the instructions of his father, the holy and sacred scriptures. Subsequently, he received the kingdom, and in his old age he devoted himself entirely to serving God.