ekadasi

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On 31 May 2000, at 18:43, PVKL Narayana Rao wrote:

 

Gauranga Das wrote: > JAYA JAGANNATHA!> > Dear Gurudeva and members,> > In connection with Ekadasi I have a question: what is the> difference betweek suddha Ekadasi and Mishra Ekadasi?> > Yours, Gauranga das ekadasi = eleventh day (eka + dasa) suddha or sukla stands for the fortnight where moon is increasing. krishna or bahula stands for the fortnight where moon is decreasing. Typically Moon is supposed to be good /benific in sukla/suddha paksham (paksham = fortnight) I do not know what is Mishra ekadasi. Regards, Vijay. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

From the doc-vcal.txt that goes with vcal program that is used for making calendars for ISKCON:

 

 

b. When to observe Ekadasi

---------------------------

 

Ekadasi, the eleventh tithi, has special importance. In the

scripture Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya-lila, chapter 24), Lord

Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructs Sanatana Gosvami regarding the

Vaisnava regulative principles. In text 342 Lord Caitanya says:

 

"You should recommend the avoidance of mixed [viddha] Ekadasi

and the performance of pure Ekadasi. You should also describe

the fault in not observing this. One should be very careful as

far as these items are concerned. If one is not careful, one

will be negligent in executing devotional service."

 

As described in the book Hari Bhakti Vilasa, viddha (mixed)

Ekadasi takes place when the eleventh tithi starts before

sunrise but the tenth tithi still presides at the beginning of

brahma muhurta (the auspicious period that starts an hour and a

half before sunrise).

 

On Ekadasi it is traditional to fast. But under certain

conditions, called mahadvadasi, one fasts not on the Ekadasi but

on the next day, the dvadasi, even though the Ekadasi is suddha,

or pure, and not viddha, or mixed. There are eight mahadvadasis.

 

The calendars produced by this program make it easy to see when

to observe Ekadasi. The Ekadasi fast should be observed on the

day called suddha (pure) Ekadasi, or alternatively on

Mahadvadasi, even if the previous day is called Ekadasi. All

this is clarified by the asterisk (*), which indicates a fast,

at the right margin of the calendar.

 

 

c. "Break fast 05:18 - 09:34" and "Daylight-savings not considered"

-

 

To complete the proper observance of Ekadasi, the next morning

one should end the fast after the first time given in the

calendar and before the second time. The calendar gives these

times according to the standard time of the place for which the

calendar is made.

 

During the summer, many locations do not follow standard time,

but instead move their clocks an hour ahead (or sometimes more)

to make more use of the hours of daylight. So, for example, 5

o'clock in the morning becomes 6 o'clock instead. The Vedic

Calendar program does not take such daylight-saving time into

account. So for days when your location uses daylight-saving

time, you must adjust the times given by the calendar.

Generally, this means that when daylight-saving time is in

effect you should add an hour to the times given.

 

 

d. Double or no tithi

---------------------

 

When studying the calendar, you may find that sometimes a tithi

is skipped and sometimes one tithi comes on two consecutive

days. There is nothing wrong with this. For each day, the

calendar just shows which tithi (moon phase) prevails at the

time of sunrise. Sometimes a given lunar phase may begin after

one sunrise and end before the next, and therefore on the

calendar that tithi appears missing. Or sometimes one lunar

phase extends throughout two sunrises in a row, and therefore

that tithi appears twice.

 

A person's birthday is determined by the tithi prevailing at

the moment the person was born. Every year thereafter, the day

to celebrate as the birthday should be the day whose sunrise

occurs during that same tithi. If the tithi prevails on two

consecutive sunrises, the sunrise that has the same naksatra as

at birth will be the proper day for celebration. If neither

sunrise occurs with that naksatra, then the latter of the two

days should be chosen. If there is no day whose sunrise occurs

during that particular tithi, then the day within which the

tithi falls should be chosen as the day of celebration.

 

Suppose, for example, that a person's appearance day should be

celebrated on dvitiya tithi in the month of Kesava and that for

the month of Kesava the calendar lists two dvitiya tithis, one

after another. And suppose that the naksatra that prevailed at

birth is not present. Then the second dvitiya should be chosen

as the day of celebration. If the calendar shows no dvitiya at

all, then the appearance day should be celebrated on the day

listed as pratipat, because the dvitiya phase of the moon will

occur during that day.