एकादशी

Each lunar month has two fortnights, the waxing Shukla Paksha and the waning Krishna Paksha. The eleventh day of each fortnight is Ekadashi, from the Sanskrit word for eleven. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is observed by devotees with fasting, prayer and a quieter way of living. A full year holds twenty-four Ekadashis. In a year with an intercalary month, called Adhik Maas, two more are added, making twenty-six.

This article is an overview of the day and its meaning. The detailed rules of the fast, the sixteen offerings and the timing of the Parana are set out in the companion article on the significance of Ekadashi Vrat, and each named Ekadashi has its own vrat katha.

In Indian spiritual psychology the self meets the world through eleven faculties. Five are organs of perception, which are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. Five are organs of action, which are the hands, feet, speech and the organs of elimination and reproduction. The eleventh is the mind, which coordinates and drives the rest. The Bhagavad Gita counts them in the same way in verse 13.5, which speaks of the ten senses and the one, the mind.

On Ekadashi the devotee draws all eleven inward and offers them to the all-pervading Lord. Fasting is only the outer sign of this turning. The deeper practice is to speak truthfully, to avoid anger and to keep the mind on the divine names.

The Padma Purana, in its Uttara Khanda, tells the origin of the fast, and the Bhavishyottara Purana tells it too. Krishna recounts it to Yudhishthira. In the Satya Yuga the demon Mura conquered the heavens and drove out Indra and the gods. They took refuge with Vishnu, who fought Mura for a very long time. Vishnu then withdrew to rest in a cave called Himavati, near Badrikashrama.

When Mura raised his sword against the sleeping Lord, a radiant maiden came forth from Vishnu and defeated him. Vishnu named her Ekadashi and granted her a boon. Those who fast on her day, with a purified body and mind, would be freed from their sins and would reach his abode. The day on which she appeared is the Krishna Ekadashi of Margashirsha, now known as Utpanna Ekadashi.

Each Ekadashi has its own name and its own story, and the cycle follows the turning of the seasons. Devshayani Ekadashi in Ashadha marks the beginning of the four months when Vishnu is said to rest. Devutthana Ekadashi in Kartik marks his awakening. Nirjala Ekadashi in Jyeshtha is the most austere, kept without even water, and tradition holds that its merit equals that of all the other Ekadashis. Mokshada Ekadashi in Margashirsha is also remembered as Gita Jayanti, the day Krishna spoke the Gita to Arjuna. In an Adhik Maas year the extra two are Padmini and Parama.

Ekadashi is guided by devotion rather than rigid rule, so a devotee chooses the level of fast that suits their strength. The strictest is the Nirjala fast, taken without food or water from sunrise to sunrise. A gentler form is the Sajala fast, which allows water, herbal tea or lemon water. The most widely kept is Phalahar, a diet of fruit, milk, nuts and grain-free preparations made from buckwheat, water chestnut flour or amaranth.

Elders, children, pregnant women and those with medical conditions are never required to fast strictly. The Bhagavad Gita itself, in verse 6.16, says that yoga is not for one who eats too much or for one who does not eat at all. Anyone with a health condition should take medical advice before fasting. For them, mental purity, truthfulness and chanting the divine names are held to be the highest form of the vrat.

Tradition asks devotees to set aside rice and heavy grains on Ekadashi. The Padma Purana tradition explains this through the story of the Papapurusha. When Ekadashi was honoured, the personified sins asked where they might dwell, and they were told that on this day they would take shelter in grains. The Ayurvedic reading adds that heavy food brings drowsiness and restlessness, which work against prayer and meditation. A lighter diet gives the digestive fire a rest. Traditional authors also link the lunar phase with the body's water, though modern science does not confirm this claim. The reverent reason, in the end, is simple. A lighter body helps a quieter mind.

The fast is completed on the morning of Dwadashi, the twelfth day, within a window called Parana time. The first part of Dwadashi, known as Hari Vasara, the period still considered to belong to Vishnu's day, is avoided for breaking the fast. The devotee bathes, worships Vishnu, gives food or other necessities to those in need, and takes a simple meal with a leaf of tulsi. Breaking the fast on time, with gratitude and generosity, is held to complete the observance.