Dhanapala of Bhadravati
On the western bank of the Saraswati, in the ancient town of Bhadravati, lived a wealthy Vaishya named Dhanapala. His storerooms overflowed; his daan-shala fed a thousand Brahmins every day; his home was famous through Bharatavarsha for atithi-satkar. He had five sons — the four elder devoted to dharma, the youngest, Dhrishtabuddhi, the son of his old age and secretly his favourite.
The wasted youth
Dhrishtabuddhi, spoiled from childhood, grew addicted to every vice the shastras name — mada-pana, dyuta, women of ill repute, quarrels in the market. He struck his own mother when refused money for drink. He sold the family gold to pay his debts. When Dhanapala saw the family reputation dissolving in shame, he did what no father wishes to do: he drove Dhrishtabuddhi from the house with only the cloth he was wearing.
The years of wandering
For many years Dhrishtabuddhi wandered starving through forests and river-beds. His friends of drinking days abandoned him; the very dogs of villages snapped at his heels. One day, hunted by such dogs and half-dead of thirst, he stumbled into the ashram of Rishi Kaundinya upon the Saraswati bank. Falling at the rishi's feet he wept and asked: 'Maharaj, how does one atone for a life wasted so utterly?'
The vrat of Mohini
Rishi Kaundinya lifted his chin and spoke: 'Beta, do not despair. The Vaishakha Shukla Ekadashi that approaches is Mohini — named for that Mohini rupa of Vishnu which drew the amrit out of the asuras' hands. Just as she bewildered them then, so her vrat now cuts through every moha that binds you — the moha of the tongue, of the eye, of the wine-cup. Fast on Ekadashi, keep jagran with Vishnu Sahasranama, take only tulsi-jal at Dwadashi parana.'
The turning of a life
Dhrishtabuddhi observed the vrat with a torrent of tears such as the ashram had never seen. As Dwadashi dawned every papa dissolved like mist under the rising sun. He returned to his father's house, fell at Dhanapala's feet, and asked for the pettiest work — the sweeping of the daan-shala. Slowly he was restored to the family business; slowly the elder brothers welcomed him back. His last twenty years he spent in Vishnu-bhakti at the same Saraswati ghat, and left the world with the naam upon his tongue.
"Removes attachment to lower pursuits and grants clarity of viveka. Especially prescribed for those recovering from any addiction — of substance, of desire, of anger. Its Mohini rupa cuts what other vratas cannot."