Paran

[Guest guest]

Dear devotees, Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories

to Srila Prabhupada!

 

There were some requests for specifics on how the timings for breaking of

ekadasi fasts were calculated. Here is a faq that deals with the subject.

Comments are welcome.

 

Your servant, Bhaktarupa Das

 

FAQ

 

Q: When should I break fast after the ekadasi day?

 

A: Usually, the fast should be broken only after sunrise of the next day,

but before one-third of the daylight hours of the next day have passed. In

other words, if on the day after ekadasi the sun rises at 6:00 AM and sets

at 6:00 PM, then there will be exactly 12 hours of daylight. Thus the fast

should be broken within the four hour period beginning at sunrise (one-third

of 12 hours is 4 hours). The "paran timings" will be 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

 

Q: But sometimes the time allowed for breaking the fast is much shorter than

that, why?

 

A: Yes, there are other rules that sometimes reduce this time period. One of

those rules states that if a fast is observed on a suddha ekadasi then it

should be broken while the dwadasi tithi is present. (And, similarly, if a

fast is observed on a dvadasi, such as a mahadvadasi, then it should be

broken while the trayodasi tithi is present.) In the above example, if after

a suddha ekadasi the dvadasi tithi ends at 6:30 AM, then the "paran timings"

would be 6:00 AM to 6:30 AM.

 

Q: There must be other rules also, since sometimes I have to wait until

almost 10:00 AM to break my fast?

 

A: Yes, another rule in Hari Bhakti Vilas states that the fast observed on a

suddha ekadasi should not be broken until at least 25% of the dvadasi tithi

has passed. So if the dvadasi tithi begins at 4:00 AM on the day after the

suddha ekadasi and ends the following morning at 2:00 AM, then we must wait

25% of 22 hours, or 5.5 hours after 4:00 AM, that is, until 9:30 AM, to

break the fast. Thus the "paran timings" will be 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM.

 

Q: But what if the dvadasi tithi ends before sunrise on the next day, or 25%

of the dvadasi tithi extends past one-third of the daylight hours on the

next day? It would seem there would be no time left during which we should

break the fast. What do we do then?

 

A: Then just go back to the first rule: Break the fast between sunrise and

within one-third of the daylight hours on the next day.

 

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