Ekadashi 2013- Fasting Dates

Details: Category: Indian Festivals; Written by Super User

Ekadashi Upvaas, Vrata or Fasting is considered very important & beneficial for all householders. "Upvaas" means Up - Vaas i.e., to stay close to God. The purpose of fasting is to experience peace & bliss. Eating less enables the mind & body to function more effectively. This article describes the importance and significance of Ekadashi, Rules for keeping Ekdashi Fasts and Ekadashi Dates Calendar 2011.

What is Ekadashi?

Ekadashi is basically, the 11th day of each waxing (Shukla Paksha ) and waning moon (Krishna Paksha).

Ekadashi is the Hindi word for "eleventh." Hindus observe 24 11th-day fasts during the course of the Hindu year, although some are more important than others. Each Ekadashi is held in honor of a different Hindu legend and has specific religious duties associated with it. Eating rice, however, is prohibited on all Ekadashi. According to legend, a demon was born of the sweat that fell from Brahma's head on this day, and Brahma instructed it to inhabit the rice grains eaten by people on Ekadashi and to turn into worms in their stomachs.

Rules for keeping Ekadashi Upvaas:

One should not eat any cereals ("Ann" in hindi) like rice, pulses, wheat etc. & salt.
If possible, one should stay on water-Drinking luke warm water or lemon-mishri (crystalized sugar) water is very good as it cleanses the hidden undigested food in the body.
If one feels hungry, then one can take milk or fruit.
Fruit should not be eaten with milk (therefore no strawberry shake, mango shake, chickoo shake etc.).
One should not eat food like "sabudana", potato chips, fried food, etc. Also Banana is not recommended on this day since it is heavy to digest.
One should think that he/she is keeping this vrat to please God & to progress further in "sadhana".
One should observe self-control.
One should do more of maun-japa (repeating the name of God in mind) in the day time.
One should do more of Dhyan & Bhajan by keeping awake for a longer time in the night.