There is a wonderful shloka in the Bhagawat Geeta. Chpt 4, verse 33: śreyān dravya-mayād yajñāj jñāna-yajñaḥ paran-tapa sarvaḿ karmākhilaḿ pārtha jñāne parisamāpyate it translates to: Greater than the nonpermanent material possessions which are sacrificed is the knowledge gained off the act of sacrifice oh chastiser of enemies For all activities in totality culminate to knowledge in the end. What it simply states is that knowledge is the apogee (or ultimate aim?) of all activities - sarvaḿ karmākhilaḿ jñāne parisamāpyate. In other words, all that you gain or lose on the material platform is nothing compared to what you learn because of your actions. This one sentence sums up everything I ever try to tell you in all that I do, talk, say, write when I talk about fasting. So, Prabhodhini Ekadashi or Devuttana Ekadashi is here and this Ekadashi preceeds Dev Diwali the way Rama Ekadashi preceeds the other Diwali. I am fasting today but rather than talking about the vrat ...