Ekadasi

My mom has always been keen on observing the Ekadasi fast and I always pondered on why this was observed. So here is my quest. 

Lets get into the etymology of it first. The word Ekadasi means "Eleven" in sanskrit. It generally falls on the 11th day after the full moon day or the 11th day after the new moon day. There are 24 Ekadasis in a year. Each of the Ekadasi has a story behind it. 

Ekadasi is a time allotted to perform our sadhana to grow spiritually. The physical fasting just facilitates the detoxification process of the mind and body. Thus enabling us to have a clear and calm mind to contemplate and grow intellectually. 

In this post we will just look though the basic concepts and what the rules are while observing the fast. Then I will discuss about each Ekadasi in detail in a series of blogposts in future. In this post, we will just look through the basic concepts.

How is the fasting done? 

All Vedic scriptures strongly recommend observing complete fast on the day of Ekadasi (Nirjala Upavasa - Complete fast thereby not even consuming water ). Every one from the age of eight to eighty, irrespective of varna-ashram, gender, or any material consideration is recommended to fast on this day to make spiritual progress.
For those who cannot undertake the austerity of complete fasting, it is recommended that one can follow Ekadasi by eating once a day at midday, or eating once a day in the evening. However it is recommended that under no conditions should one eat grains in any form on this day. Our scriptures always instructs us to treat the body as a temple. So people who are challenged medically, are precluded from complete fasting and are just advised to indulge in activities promoting spiritual growth and to consume sattvik food.

Also Aandal in Thiruppavai quotes the same


 "...vaayinaal paadi manaththinaal sindhikkap.0 *
pOya pizhaiyum pukutharuvaan ninRanavum *
thIyinil thUcaakum ceppu ElOr empaavaay."

Meaning :-  sing HIS glory while thinking about one's Redemption, just love HIM with all your heart and mind. Never let any ill thought cross your mind . Let it be burnt by Devotion unto HIM. 

What can I eat? 


Consuming Sattvic food is advocated. Sattvic food includes fresh fruit and vegetables and freshly cooked food. I.e; Food prepared with natural ingredients in such a way that the natural nutrients are not lost. Basically this kind of diet detoxifies our body and thus the body is rejuvenated.

According to your health, there are 4 ways of Upvasa one can undertake. 


1. Health permitting, the strictest means is not to consume anything including water.
2. That not  being the case, one can restrict to the intake of water
3. If one cannot keep up with just water, phal aahara (fresh fruit diet) can be taken.
4. The least you can do is to stick to one light meal for the day which can include only the      following:  Water, milk products, cooked vegetables (no onions or garlic), nuts, sugar. Restrictions include all grains, spinach, eggplant, asafetida, and sea salt. 

The 1st step to contemplation is cleansing of the body which shall be achieved through this diet.  Then follows the cleansing of the mind and then the intellect eventually.

Anything consumed is a prasad from HIM. So offer it to HIM and then consume.


Also as I understand, it also gives the women folk, time off from the household to devote time for their spiritual growth. 

When does Ekadasi come ?

The basic understanding is thus. The actual calculation is quite complicated for me. So I will not get into more deeper than i've explained.

The lunar months are split into two pakshas of 15 days each. The waxing paksha is called shukla paksha, light half, and the waning paksha the krishna paksha, dark half.  A month has a Krishna and Sukla Paksha. 

Shukla paksha is first half of the month,  it starts with a new moon (Ammavasya) and ends with a full moon (Pournami)  

Krishna paksha is the second half of the month, it starts with a full moon (Pournami) and ends with a new moon  (Ammavasya) 

We get an ammavasya (new moon) and a pournami (full moon) in a month. So the day next to them is the 11th day observed as Ekadasi.  

With this I end this post. But I shall post the story and significance of each of the Ekadasis in more posts to come.

Lets dwell In Krishna Smriti.

Festival of Karthigai

Why is Karthigai celebrated by Vaishnavites?

This had been a doubt I always had. Mostly we see that in tamil Nadu, it is associated with the Thiruvannamalai Deepam. This is the latest discovery I made thanks to my Father-in-law. Thanks to Santhanam, I was able to explain more about Adhyayana Utsavam.

• Karthigai day is the day when Namperumal (Lord Sri Ranganatha of Thiruvarangam/Srirangam) orders His sri padam thangigal to go and bring Nammazhvar to Srirangam for conducting adhyayana utsavam.(Explained below)

• It is the birth date (tirunakshatram)of Tirumangai Azhvar

• It is the day when we burn the bad behaviors symbolized by chokka panai (I've explained about this below)

• It is the day when we light lamps symbolising blossoming knowledge

What is this Adhyayana Utsavam?

Adhyayanam means to memorise and recite correctly, with proper accents.

Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam was actually started by Sri Thirumangai Azhwar himself. It was said that, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar used to go from Sri Rangam to Azhwar Thirunagari and bring Swami Nammazhwar's Thirumeni to Sri Rangam. The day Swami Nammazhwar arrives at Sri Rangam was always the Sukla Paksha Ekadasi (Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi).

On this auspicious day, Swami Nammazhwar was adorned with Muthangi and Namperumal with Rathnangi. Starting from Ekadasi, next nine days, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar arranged to recite Swami Nammazhwar's prabhandhams in front of Namperumal.  After the days of Sri Thirumangai Azhwar, the practice was slowly stopped.

It was Swami Ramanujar, who started the practice again. (Some also say Sri Nathamunigal actually restarted this again.) Anyway, it was felt that bringing Swami Nammazhwar's Thirumeni from Azhwar Thirunagari was difficult and hence was decided to install a Thirumeni of Swami Nammazhwar at the Sri Rangam temple. Sri Ramanujar also added ten days before the Ira Paththu and called them Pagal Paththu, and arranged that during these ten days prabhandhams of other Azhwars should be recited. Because, Sri Thirumangai Azhwar started it, the day before the Pagal Paththu Uthsavam first day, Namperumal listens to ThiruNedunthandagam of Sri Thirumangai Azhwar. So, originally started as ten days festival by Sri Thirumangai Azhwar and was later modified as Twenty one day (+one day for ThiruNedunthandagam) by Swami Emberumanar.

Now come to the question, why we are not reciting Pranbhandhams during these days?

One of the reasons was during this time, Swami Nammazhwar was on transit from Azhwar Thirunagari to Sri Rangam. Therefore, our Poorvacharyas might thought, it was not appropriate for us to recite, as the entire 4000 Pranbhandhams was considered as the Pranbhandhams of Swami Nammazhwar (Nathnakku Nalayiramum uraithan vazhiye).

Second thing, Nalayiram is considered as The Dravida Vedam. For the Vedas, there is a specific period (during a year) called Adhyayana kalam and there is a time when you should not recite Vedas (Anadhyayana kalam). To give that samyam (equality), our Acharyas might have decided to have this Adhyayana and Anadhyayana kalams.

What is Chokka Panai?

During karthigai deepam mostly this chokka panai will be performed. The palmirah tree trunk will be made hollow and stuffed with charkol, umi, etc. and lit fire. the fire will spread in charkol and umi . that will be tied in a rope and swung around when the fire apark will fly in the air and give a garland look, sparks and a grand look

Why Sri Jayanthi, Krishna Jayanthi, Gokulastami on different dates

We all have heard stories about why we celebrate Krishna Janmastami. I am here to just delve a bit into the diffrence in dates in celebrating Sri Jayanthi, Krishna Jayani, Gokulastami.

There are two main vaishnava temple agama methods. One is Vaikanasam. The other one is Pancharathram.

Vaikanasam: Brahma's son Vikanasar was born as a Munivar in the earth and he was worshipping Lord Narayana. To this Muni, Sriman Narayanan himself explained the sasthram (Rules) on temple-building, procedures of installation of idol for worship etc. Vikanasa Muni conveyed these sastras to his disciples Athri, Marisi, Kasyapar and others. Since Vikanasa Munivar was first to establish this agamam, it came to be called "Vaikanasa Agamam". This agama sasthram was brought into print form in the 3rd century A.D.

            The principles under Vaikanasam are: 

                 Lord Vishnu is Aadhi Purushan. From Him, evolved the other forms of the Lord viz., Sathyan, Achuthan, Aniruthan. Vakanasa temples will be normally built inside towns and not permitted to be constructed on hills. Also, Lakshmi is inseparable from Narayanan. She is the embodiment in five bhoothas, five states of Lord Vishnu (Para, vyuga, Vibhava, Andharyami  and Archa). And, chit, Achit and Iswara are always sathyam. Worshipping can be done only to Lord Narayana with Lakshmi and to none other. So under Vaikanasa sastra, even Azhvars and Acharyans are not worshipped and so there won't be idols of Azhvar, Acharyars in temples. Even the tamil 4000 divya prabhandams are not recited in vaikanasa temples. Ahobhilam, Oppiliappan, Srivilliputhur temples are examples of Vaikanasa agamam. (Tirupathi, though installed on hill, is an exception for observing Vaikanasam)

Pancharathram: It is connected with the purusha sukhtham found in Rig Veda. At several places in Mahabharatham, Vasudevan is extoled as principal Lord as per Pancharathra agama principal. Originally, worshipping was through conducting Yagas and Yagnas. Only Pancharathra Agama set forth ways for building temples for worhip by installing vigrahas, conducting uthsavas and arranging veedhi ula of the deity. Pancharathra agama is appreciated in Mahabharatham, Srimad Bhagavatham, Vishnupuranam, Padhma puranam,Garuda puranam, Naratheeyam and Varaga Puranam. There are 108 samhithais in Pancharathram.

There are quite different schools of thought for fixing the name Panchrathram. One explanation is that originally this sasthram was followed in five paruvas of the year and five specific rathris were selected for the culminating the rituals. By another explanation, Ananthan, Garudan, Viswakshwnar, Kapali and Brahma got the upadeasam directly from Lord Narayana in five days.

Under Pancharathram, temples are constructed away from towns, on hills and on river banks. There is no caste difference observed under Pancharathram, All who get dheekshai are equal. Andal is worshipped equal to Lakshmi. Azhwars are also installed in temples and worshipped. The same five states of Sriman Narayanan are worshipped in Pancharathram as in Vaikansam.                                                                                                                                    Srirangam, Kanchi, Melakkottai, Tiruvallur etc are pancharathra temples.

Now regarding Sri Jayanthi. Smarthas observe only ashtami thithi in Sravana month. Vaishnavas observe Ashtami merging with Rohini star in pathrabha month (next to sravana month). Here again, in temples, vaikanasas observe the evening - night time for the thithi and star combination. Pancharathra temples observe the combination at day time. 

In the case of Munithraya anushtanam, which is common for Ashramam and Madam, the choice of the combination of thithi and nakshthra with timing of the day is decided by individual Acharyan. And, the sishyas have to blindly follow the instructions of their individual Acharyas.