Today in this article we will discuss about What is the Ideal procedure for Ekadashi fasting? And What can you eat for ekadashi? So, let's us starts with what is meaning of What is Upavasam?
What is Upavasam?
Firstly, we have to understand why we do “Upavasam” before deciding what we should eat or what we shouldn’t eat. Some think, Fasting that is Upavasam, that is not true.
Upavasam means Fasting + Devotion. That day and night should be dedicated to God, that’s it! The objective of upavasam is easy. Each and Every human being has two things “Jeevam” (life) and “Deham” (Soul). Death is the time where the “Jeevam” leaves “Deham” forcefully and painfully. It is painful due to Life never wants to leave Soul. Nobody enjoys death and nobody will eat the food they like or luxuries they have, during the time of death.
What is the Ideal procedure for Ekadashi fasting?
Ekadashi fast is a 3-day (i.e. dina-traya in Samskritham). The fast begins on the Dashami (10th lunar) day and concludes on the Dwadashi (12th lunar) day. Puranas shows that the % of “Punya” associated with the three days as 25%, 50% and 25% respectively.
On Dashami and Dwadashi we should eat only twice (assuming the norm as eating thrice a day). Strictly speaking, there is no concept of different types of meal such as breakfast, lunch, dinner etc. Food is food, meal is meal. In simple word, food consuming at night or in the evening should be skipped.
On Ekadashi, we should not eat anything, time. No excuses, no exceptions of any type. As far as liquid is concerned, we are allowed to drink water and “Theertha” (water based) twice a day which will typically be after Sandhyavandana or Prayer. On Nirjala Ekadashi, even the drinking of water should be avoided, so only Theertha (twice) is allowed. It is strict one.
All these 3 days we should keep “Mahavishnu” or any of His manifestations for example Krishna at the top of the list in our prayers and chant His name, think or talk about His glory. Pleasurable activities of body and mind should only aims on Maha Vishnu that means abstinence from all other kinds of pleasurable activities.
The Parana or breaking the fast should be done within the Parana time on Dwadashi). Whether it is in the morning or in the afternoon, it should be followed. Few times it is not simple when the parana time is in the afternoon of Dwadashi.
It is perfectly fine for few to eat or drink (known as light food like fruits, nuts, juices etc). If one cannot fast due to illness or old age but that is not counted as Ekadashi fast. They can think of it as a respect to Ekadashi vrat which they probably did some other Ekadashi days the actual vrat when they were young.
The process for food or liquid consuming is the same for Krishna Janmashtami, Rama Navami, Shivaratri and any other vrat.
According to my experience, fasting on Ekadashi is much simple than fasting on any other day (as few argue scientific reason is just to cleanse the digestive system removing dangerous elements). Of course Ekadashi is a way of cleansing the digestive system but it is not just that. It is beyond what we can understand with science. One who has done the specific Ekadashi fasting knows the physical difference, specifically the difference in tenderness of the skin that can be experienced when the face is washed first in the morning on Dwadashi and also the difference in the stool. Differences other than physical are beyond any experiments which science can calculate or saw. The Benefits of course cannot be described in words. It would be something like asking a self realized soul to explain in words how it feels.
What can you eat for ekadashi?
People do strict fasting, but do all other daily activities normally, that is watching movies or TV programs, chatting with everyone like how we normally speak, playing etc. with the element of Daiva Aradhana completely missing. It is not true Upavasam.
While fasting, they begins with taking coffee, tea, fruits, nuts, uncooked food etc. and say they are okay to be eating and only avoiding rice dishes. It is totally against to essence of Upavasam. Any food item is against to fasting. In fact Coffee, tea are “Tamas” foods because they are “Stimulants and Addictive” and also foreign brought foods, they should be avoided any day.
Do fasting to an extent where the body cannot withstand and totally getting fainted. If we are doing that it is a sin forget about Daiva Anugraham. Fasting can be complete only to the extend your body can withstand. A normal healthy people with good eating habits and life style can do whole Ekadshi thidhi fasting twice in a month. If some one is not capable to do that, it means they are either children or old aged or it may be ill or with unhealthy life style and therefore they can break the fasting at the point where they can feel their body can’t fast further. But this shouldn’t be an excuse where each time we are hungry, we eat and say that body is not withstanding.
Upavasam is not done on weekly basis. People say Tuesday upavasam, Sunday upavasam etc. in the name of God, which is actually not as per scriptures. Our scriptures say upavasam is done only on Ekadashi thidhi and during few special Naimithika thidhis and also during many special functions like Pattabhishekam, Marriage etc. The good example is sage Vashista asked Sri Rama and Sita Amma to do upavasam on the night before the Sri Rama pattabhishekam day proposed by King Dasaradha. Those slokas will tell how Sri Rama and Sita Amma did upavasam.
