So, I decided to observe a fast this Ekadashi, my first ever fast done religiously. It is the Shukla Paksha Ekadashi of Ashadha month today. Started by having only one meal yesterday (Dashmi) which looked something like this.
It was one of the tastiest meals I have had (Sabudana Khichadi, Salad and Rajgira Alu Paratha).
If there is one thing I learnt, it is the fact that some of these fasts have an important basis of existence.
Not eating made me feel very good and the more I dwell into this subject, the more I realize how we become what we eat or how food controls our mind. I have had beautiful memories of my childhood surfacing in my mind since I gave food a break, my nose has been capturing beautiful smells since yesterday. Memories that were almost lost and buried away somewhere under the activities of my overzealous mind.
I don’t know how many years was I just singularly focused on the matters of the world outside me. Thinking of myself as a child, I recall how my mother made our life interesting. But she is also only human, so every time I think of her as not entirely perfect, I realize how I may have failed her. Yet I don’t dwell into guilt (I am also only human), the past is behind us and only exists as a memory to serve as a lesson. Our mind is a very efficient computer that way, it needs less energy to be effective and only stores the important information, unless you load it up with more energy and work (or karma) than the required. That is where it starts creating problems for you to remind you that the ‘Earth has enough for everybody’s need but not for everybody’s greed’.
The more I dwell into this subject, the more I learn about the beautiful people who bought me into this world and shaped my thinking. I can understand why my mother always insisted we eat homemade food. Because it is the different energies within our foods that affect us more than the chemical nature of the ingredients. This energy can come from anywhere and reside within our food and ultimately build our thoughts based on the impressions in the mind, even from the person preparing our food be it negative or positive. So, cooking your own food is very important.
And a little bit of fasting is great for the mind and body but that doesn’t imply more is better. Religious Fasts are fine but it is ‘fasting religiously’ that makes us more conscious of our body’s energy demands.
Fasting on the day of Ekadashi in particular is said to have many benefits. Why so?
According to the legend, Devashayani Ekadashi Tithi is the time of the year when Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the Universe goes to sleep so some devotees fast to please the lord while the others fast to protect themselves by remembering him.
Devshayani Ekadashi is also known as Ashadi Ekadashi and Hari Shayani Ekadashi. While Hari is the name for the lord, Ashad is the month in which it occurs. Now, according to the same legend, Lord Vishnu wakes up after four months (the holy chaturmass) on Prabodhini Ekadashi.
The other name for this tithi is Padma Ekadashi, Padma means Lotus which is the symbol of purity. It said that fasting on this day, purifies one’s sins.
Dependent on who you talk to, you will learn of different benefits and stories behind fasting on this day. Some devotees fast on this day to please Lord Vishnu, some also fast to know the lord, so the real reason for observing a fast on Ekadasi is to minimize the demands of the body and to engage our time in either the service of the Lord or to attain the Lord’s wisdom.
Some also fast just to prepare their bodies for a change in the natural environment. The Ekadashi falls on the 11th day of the Full moon and New moon.
I chose to spend my time reading the Bhagwat Geeta while fasting. Why Bhagwat Geeta?
To understand this, we need to understand the concept of Energies and Gunas as discussed in Sankhya Philosophy.
As our physical constitution is characterized by different proportions of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha energies, we also have a mental constitution determined by the sattva, rajas, and tamas gunas of the energies. These three qualities are universal and equally necessary to maintain our psychological balance. How we respond to events and circumstances depends on the specific balance of sattva, rajas and tamas in our mind. The basic nature of the mind is creative or sattvic, with just enough rajas and tamas to bring desires to fruition. Again, this does not imply that Sattva is better than Rajas and Tamas. It only implies that a good balance is more important than any one guna dominating the mind.
Lord Krishna, the narrator of the Bhagwat Geeta is believed to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu who represents ‘Sattva’ guna in the trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh). Satva guna is the particular characteristic of the universal energy that represents purity and thus maintains everything (the universe as well as the human body) as against Rajas and Tamas Guna which represent the creative and destructive characteristics of energy.
On new moon day, when the non-illuminated, or dark side of the Moon faces the Earth, Raja-Tama energies dominate the environment as darkness gives out more Tamasic frequencies and hence the Tama properties in all beings tends to increase at this time.
On a full moon night, as the illuminated side of the moon faces Earth, minimal Raja-Tama energy is available.
I am sure if I research a little about Lunar Agriculture, I will find more connections to the importance of fasting on Ekadashi or abstaining from grains and pulses but let us keep that for another time.
There are also some very interesting mythological stories about how Ekadashi came to become an important day for religious fasting by the Vaishnavas (or Vishnu followers).
You can read it here and here.
Remember the stories may be a myth but the reasons behind the practice of fasting need not be so.
Here’s another view of Ekadashi and Fasting.
It was one of the tastiest meals I have had (Sabudana Khichadi, Salad and Rajgira Alu Paratha).
Followed by only fruits and almond milk on the day of Ekadashi. And the next morning after sunrise, I had Sago khichadi again for breakfast. Looking forward to where to go from here.
Not eating made me feel very good and the more I dwell into this subject, the more I realize how we become what we eat or how food controls our mind. I have had beautiful memories of my childhood surfacing in my mind since I gave food a break, my nose has been capturing beautiful smells since yesterday. Memories that were almost lost and buried away somewhere under the activities of my overzealous mind.
I don’t know how many years was I just singularly focused on the matters of the world outside me. Thinking of myself as a child, I recall how my mother made our life interesting. But she is also only human, so every time I think of her as not entirely perfect, I realize how I may have failed her. Yet I don’t dwell into guilt (I am also only human), the past is behind us and only exists as a memory to serve as a lesson. Our mind is a very efficient computer that way, it needs less energy to be effective and only stores the important information, unless you load it up with more energy and work (or karma) than the required. That is where it starts creating problems for you to remind you that the ‘Earth has enough for everybody’s need but not for everybody’s greed’.
The more I dwell into this subject, the more I learn about the beautiful people who bought me into this world and shaped my thinking. I can understand why my mother always insisted we eat homemade food. Because it is the different energies within our foods that affect us more than the chemical nature of the ingredients. This energy can come from anywhere and reside within our food and ultimately build our thoughts based on the impressions in the mind, even from the person preparing our food be it negative or positive. So, cooking your own food is very important.
And a little bit of fasting is great for the mind and body but that doesn’t imply more is better. Religious Fasts are fine but it is ‘fasting religiously’ that makes us more conscious of our body’s energy demands.
Fasting on the day of Ekadashi in particular is said to have many benefits. Why so?
According to the legend, Devashayani Ekadashi Tithi is the time of the year when Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the Universe goes to sleep so some devotees fast to please the lord while the others fast to protect themselves by remembering him.
Devshayani Ekadashi is also known as Ashadi Ekadashi and Hari Shayani Ekadashi. While Hari is the name for the lord, Ashad is the month in which it occurs. Now, according to the same legend, Lord Vishnu wakes up after four months (the holy chaturmass) on Prabodhini Ekadashi.
The other name for this tithi is Padma Ekadashi, Padma means Lotus which is the symbol of purity. It said that fasting on this day, purifies one’s sins.
Dependent on who you talk to, you will learn of different benefits and stories behind fasting on this day. Some devotees fast on this day to please Lord Vishnu, some also fast to know the lord, so the real reason for observing a fast on Ekadasi is to minimize the demands of the body and to engage our time in either the service of the Lord or to attain the Lord’s wisdom.
Some also fast just to prepare their bodies for a change in the natural environment. The Ekadashi falls on the 11th day of the Full moon and New moon.
I chose to spend my time reading the Bhagwat Geeta while fasting. Why Bhagwat Geeta?
To understand this, we need to understand the concept of Energies and Gunas as discussed in Sankhya Philosophy.
As our physical constitution is characterized by different proportions of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha energies, we also have a mental constitution determined by the sattva, rajas, and tamas gunas of the energies. These three qualities are universal and equally necessary to maintain our psychological balance. How we respond to events and circumstances depends on the specific balance of sattva, rajas and tamas in our mind. The basic nature of the mind is creative or sattvic, with just enough rajas and tamas to bring desires to fruition. Again, this does not imply that Sattva is better than Rajas and Tamas. It only implies that a good balance is more important than any one guna dominating the mind.
Lord Krishna, the narrator of the Bhagwat Geeta is believed to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu who represents ‘Sattva’ guna in the trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh). Satva guna is the particular characteristic of the universal energy that represents purity and thus maintains everything (the universe as well as the human body) as against Rajas and Tamas Guna which represent the creative and destructive characteristics of energy.
On new moon day, when the non-illuminated, or dark side of the Moon faces the Earth, Raja-Tama energies dominate the environment as darkness gives out more Tamasic frequencies and hence the Tama properties in all beings tends to increase at this time.
On a full moon night, as the illuminated side of the moon faces Earth, minimal Raja-Tama energy is available.
I am sure if I research a little about Lunar Agriculture, I will find more connections to the importance of fasting on Ekadashi or abstaining from grains and pulses but let us keep that for another time.
There are also some very interesting mythological stories about how Ekadashi came to become an important day for religious fasting by the Vaishnavas (or Vishnu followers).
You can read it here and here.
Remember the stories may be a myth but the reasons behind the practice of fasting need not be so.
Here’s another view of Ekadashi and Fasting.
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