[Rajarajeshwari_Kalpataru] The Significance of Ekadasi

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> http://www.dlshq.org/religions/ekadasi.htm

>

> THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EKADASI

> By

> Sri Swami Krishnananda

> Ekadasi is a Sanskrit word, which means 'the

> eleventh'. It refers to the eleventh day of a

> fortnight belonging to a lunar month. There are two

> fortnights in a lunar month—the bright and the dark.

> So, Ekadasi occurs twice in a month, in the bright

> fortnight and the dark fortnight. The special

> feature of Ekadasi, as most people know it, is a

> fast, abstinence from diet. This is how it is

> usually understood. 'We do not eat on Ekadasi', is

> what people understand. In this country (India) it

> has become a routine to be abstemious, if not

> observe a complete fast on this day. The

> significance of this particular observance is not

> merely constituted of a fast, physically, though it

> is also an essential element; it has other deeper

> aspects. In fact, the fast is only a practical

> expression and a symbol of something else that we

> are expected to do, which is of special significance

> to our personality. Those who know astronomy as

> something which tells about the inter-relation of

> the planetary

> system, the stellar world, would be aware that we

> form a part of this planetary or solar system. By a

> system we mean an organism or organisation which is

> methodically arranged. When we know that we belong

> to the system of planetary motions, we understand

> thereby that we are an inseparable part of the

> system. We are not unrelated bodies on the surface

> of the earth, like a cart on the road which has no

> organic link. We belong to the solar system—a huge

> family of which the sun is the head and the planets

> are the members. The sun guides the activities of

> this family and we, being contents of this system,

> cannot be out of the influence of the sun. We are

> involved in the laws operating in this system. This

> has led to the discovery of astrology. Astronomy

> studies the movements of planets and stars, and

> astrology the effects they produce on the contents

> of the system. The Ekadasi observance is an

> astrological phenomenon and it is observed due to

> this relation we have with some of the

> planets in the system. The entire personality of

> ours is tremendously influenced by the movement of

> planets. There is no use imagining that the planets

> are above our heads. They are everywhere. There is a

> relative movement of planets among which the earth

> is one. The movement of one thing in relation to

> another is a relative movement. There is no planet

> which is static. Even the sun is not ultimately

> static. The whole solar system is moving and rushing

> towards some huge star, which is eighty million

> times larger and brighter than the sun, whose light

> has not yet reached us, as astronomers tell us. We

> have to understand that there is relative motion

> amongst planets and we are relatively influenced by

> the planets., Each planet tells upon our system and

> we cannot get rid of the influence of theirs as long

> as we are in this planet, of which we are a part.

> The gravitational pull of planets has an influence

> on us.

>

> The sun is said to influence the centre of our

> personality; hence the sun is called Atmakaraka. He

> is the soul-influencer of the human body. In the

> Rig-veda, the sun is identified with the soul of the

> universe as well as the soul of the individual. The

> different limbs of our body and different parts of

> our system are supposed to be influenced by

> different planets. The sun is capable of influencing

> the entire being. He is, thus, the Atmakaraka.

> Karaka is doer, manipulator, director. If there is

> no sun, we know what difference it makes for us; our

> digestion becomes sluggish on days when there is no

> sun. So important is the sun.

>

> The moon is supposed to influence the mind. The

> mind is also made up of material substance. The mind

> is not spiritual but material. How is mind matter?

> This can be known if we know how, in Homeopathy, the

> medicine is manufactured. In Allopathy, they give

> the crude base of a medicine, which Homeopathy calls

> mother tincture. In Homeopathy, one drop of mother

> tincture is mixed with hundred drops of rectified

> spirit and shaken with a tremendous force. That

> mixture is one potency of medicine. One drop of that

> is mixed in hundred drops of spirit again. It

> becomes 2 potency medicine. Likewise, they have

> larger potencies. So, you can imagine what happens

> to the medicine when it reaches the higher potency.

> There is no medicine at all. So, Homeopathy says,

> they give no medicine, but a vibration,—vibration of

> the original base-material. It is a subtle aromatic

> vibration, aromatic in the sense of the subtle

> residium of the original medicine; and what will

> create a circumstance in Allopathy

> will remove that very circumstance in Homeopathy.

> Nevertheless this potency is material in the sense

> that it is formed of matter. So is the mind. It is

> the subtle portion of the material substance of our

> food. The subtle essence of the food, not only

> directly taken through the mouth but through all

> senses, contribute to the make up of the mind or the

> mind-stuff. Mind is material in a subtle sense, like

> a mirror which is made of earth-material only,

> though it shines. Only the mirror is able to reflect

> light, and not the brick, though it is also made of

> the earth material. Mind is material in this sense.

> It is very, very subtle and is made up of everything

> that we take. So, matter influences matter. Planets

> are not spiritual bodies, and yet they influence the

> mind. The mind's presiding deity is moon. Ekadasi is

> particularly relevant to this relation of moon and

> mind. You will find that, when you go deep into the

> study of astronomy, you have nothing in your body

> except some planetary

> influences! We are made up of planetary forces and

> there is nothing independent to call our own. One

> part belongs to one planet and another part to

> another planet. If each planet claims its part, you

> will disintegrate. The moon influences the mind in

> its orbital relative movement with reference to

> other planets and us.

>

> How, is Ekadasi related to the movement of moon

> and mind? We have certain centres called Chakras in

> the body. The Chakras are nothing but energy-centres

> which whirl in some direction as water whirls in a

> river. Chakra is a wheel or circular motion. They

> move in a spiral shape. They are not physical; but

> psycho-physical and psychological. These Chakras are

> neither in the mind nor in the body; they are in the

> astral body. The moon's influence physically on the

> body has an influence on the Chakras, which tells

> upon the mind ultimately. The mind moves through

> these Chakras. The passage of the mind is through

> these Chakras, up and down. When this operation

> takes place consciously, it is called Yoga; When

> done unconsciously by the mind, it is just

> influence. When the moon waxes or wanes, the mind is

> vehemently influenced. So people who are not normal

> in their minds become very bad on the full-moon and

> new-moon days. You cannot see the moon's influence

> on the earth because it is solid,

> but it can be seen on the ocean which is liquid.

> The moon influences the whole earth, but its

> influence is visible on the large body of waters in

> the sea. This happens due to the twofold pressure of

> the relation of the earth and moon. The sun

> influences the moon and the moon influences the

> earth. When the influence occurs automatically, we

> are instruments in the hands of Nature. When it is

> done consciously, we are said to practise Yoga. We

> can be involuntarily dragged from place to place, or

> we can walk voluntarily. The difference is obvious.

> The moon's movement tells upon the movement of the

> mind through the Chakras.

>

> Another important aspect is the seat of the mind

> which is also twofold. You may be living in many

> houses, of which one or two are your own. Svasthana

> means 'One's own place.' The mind has several abodes

> or centres of energy called Chakras, of which two

> are its own. The seats of the mind in this

> personality of ours are: 1. the subtle spot in the

> astral body corresponding to the centre of the two

> eye-brows, in waking, and 2. the heart, in the state

> of deep sleep. If it is in the brain, it is active

> and you, then, do not get sleep, because it refuses

> to go down. If the mind is midway between the centre

> of the eye-brows and the heart, it is dream state.

> So, there is a twofold centre of the mind,—the

> Ajna-Chakra, or the centre between the eye-brows,

> and the Anahata Chakra, or the heart. In both these

> centres, the mind feels at home and is at ease,

> because it is nearer to itself. In other centres it

> is extrovert. In the Ajna and the Anahata Chakras it

> finds itself at home. In the two

> fortnights, in its movement, it finds itself at the

> Ajna Chakra and the Anahata Chakra on the eleventh

> day. Since these two Chakras are its own abode, the

> mind is at home here, i.e., it gets concentrated and

> collected easily. This has been the experience given

> out by our ancients, and this has to be taken

> advantage of by Sadhakas. You are capable of

> concentration when the mind is naturally in its

> home. The mind cannot be concentrated when it is out

> of tune, but when it is in its location it is easy

> of contemplation. So, the Ekadasi day in both

> fortnights is the occasion when the mind finds

> itself in its place—in the bright fortnight in the

> Ajna Chakra, and in dark fortnight in the Anahata

> Chakra. Seekers and Yogis take advantage of these

> two days and try to practise deep meditation.

> Vaishnavas treat Ekadasi as a very holy day and also

> observe a fast on that day.

>

>

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