MantraOnNet.com: Akhanda-Dvadashi-Vratam
Brahma Said:-
Now I shall describe the mode of practising the
Akhanda-Dvadashi-Vratam, the merit attending it performance enables the votary to enjoy divine beatitude in life. The votary shall take nothing but the
Panchagavyam (the five kinds of articles obtained
from a cow such as, milk, etc.,) on the day previous, and fast on the twelfth day of the moon’s increase in the month of Margas’ irsha, spending it
entirely in the worship of the god Vishnu. Five metal
vessels filled with Vrihi corn, should be gifted away
to the Brahmanas each day for the four successive
months commencing from the date.
The votary shall
pray as follows:-“May the merit of all good and
pious acts done by me in my seven prior incarnations continue one and indivisible, 0 lord. May all
my pieties continue whole and undivided as the universe
is, and just as thou art the one and indivisible spirit
which runs through all.” Vessels filled with powders
of freed barley corns, should be gifted away by him
in the month of Chaitra; and bowls filled with clarified butter, in the month of Shravana. Earthly bliss
and the pleasures of fatherhood are the rewards of
the vow in this life, and an elevated status in heaven,
in the next.