Ekadasi

[Guest guest]

Amma Renu,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

Though you asked the importance of a specific Ekadasi (i.e.,

Sravana), I am hereunder reproducing the article on Ekadasi authored

by Sri Swami Krishnananda. It is a very good article, though a bit

lengthy. I am sure, you and everyone in TBP, who is interested in

Ekasri vratams, will be benefited by it.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

=====

 

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.

 

Fast and meditation! What connection have they? There is really

no intrinsic connection between fast and meditation, but there is

some advantage in keeping the body light and the stomach free from

excessive metabolic function. When the stomach is given the duty of

digestion, doctors will tell you, the blood circulation is

accelerated towards the digestive organs, on account of which blood

circulation to the head gets decreased after food is taken and so

you feel sleepy and the thinking faculty practically ceases to

function. Hence, there is no advantage in giving the physical

system work on days you want to do Yogic practice. Thus, Ekadasi

has also a spiritual significance.

 

The energy of the whole system gets distributed equally if a

particular limb is not given any inordinate work. If any part is

given heavy work, there is a dislocation of the working of the body.

So, in fasting the energy is equally distributed as the digestive

function is not there. But, there should be no overdoing in fast.

Fast is supposed to cause buoyancy of feeling and not fatigue. So

people who are sick and cannot observe a total fast take milk and

fruits, etc. People who are perfectly healthy and are confident,

observe a complete fast. This helps in control of mind and will.

 

Apart from all these, there is a necessity to give the

physiological system some rest once a while. It may be over-worked

due to a little over-eating or indiscrimination in diet. These

irregularities unconsciously done during the fourteen days get

rectified in one day. Thus the observance of Ekadasi has many

advantages—physical, astral, spiritual—and because this day has

connection with the relation of the mind with its abode together

with the moon, you feel mysteriously helped in your meditation and

contemplation,—mysteriously because you cannot know this

consciously. But you can feel this for yourself by observing it. In

India everything is interpreted spiritually. Every river is a

deity. Every mountain is a god. Everything is holy, dedicated to

the Divine. Everything is presided over by a particular god,

Gramadevata, Grihadevata; etc. Everywhere is God. The idea behind

all this is that we have to feel the presence of God in everything

and everywhere. In space and in time, in everything, there is God.

Time is God. Directions are God. Thus the very objects become

embodiments of God. This is India's religious sidelight, which is

profoundly meaningful in life.

 

, " renugroups "

<renugroups wrote:

>

> Hi Evaryone,

>

> Please could any one share the ekadasi vratham in sravana masam.

> I have just known that sravana masam ekadasi has peculiar

> importance ,if anyone has infomation ,please share with the group.

>

> Thank You

> Renu

>