Ekadasi and the Vaisnava Calendar

Devotees live by the Vaisnava calendar, a lunar calendar of fasting days and festivals. The two observances every new devotee should learn first are Ekadasi, which comes twice a month, and the appearance days of the Lord and Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada kept these observances simple and practical, and he expected his followers to keep them.

Ekadasi

Ekadasi is the eleventh day after each full moon and each new moon, so it falls about every two weeks. It is the day of Lord Hari. On Ekadasi, devotees fast from all grains and beans, spend more time chanting and hearing, and, if they are able, chant extra rounds. Srila Prabhupada wrote that the real purpose of Ekadasi is not the fast itself but to reduce the demands of the body so that one can increase remembrance of Krishna.

What is not eaten on Ekadasi

• All grains: rice, wheat, barley, corn, oats, millet, and anything made from them, including bread, pasta, chapatis, and flour products.
• All beans, lentils, and peas, including dal, chickpeas, soy products, and peanuts.
• Mustard seed and its oil, sesame oil and sesame seed (except on certain Ekadasis), and asafetida made with wheat.

What is eaten

Fruits, nuts other than peanuts, milk and milk products, most vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, amaranth, tapioca, and sugar. Rock salt is traditional. Everything is, as always, offered to Krishna first. Many devotees make a simple meal of fruit, yogurt, and fried potatoes, or a buckwheat kichari. Those who can fast completely, or on water alone, are encouraged to do so, but Srila Prabhupada did not require it, and he said that a person with a job or with children should eat enough Ekadasi prasadam to do their duties properly.

Breaking the fast

The fast is broken the next morning, Dvadasi, with grains, within a specific window of time after sunrise. The Vaisnava calendar gives the exact time for your city. Breaking the fast on time is considered as important as keeping it.

The main festivals

These are observed with fasting until the appointed time, usually noon or moonrise, followed by a feast, kirtana, and reading about the personality whose day it is.

• Gaura Purnima (February or March). The appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, on the full moon of Phalguna. Fast until moonrise.
• Rama Navami (March or April). The appearance of Lord Ramacandra. Fast until sunset.
• Nrsimha Caturdasi (April or May). The appearance of Lord Nrsimhadeva. Fast until dusk.
• Sri Krishna Janmastami (August or September). The appearance of Lord Krishna. Fast until midnight, with kirtana and reading of Krishna's pastimes all evening. The greatest festival of the year.
• Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja (the day after Janmastami). The appearance day of our spiritual master. Fast until noon, then offer a feast and read or write offerings of gratitude to him.
• Radhastami (August or September). The appearance of Srimati Radharani. Fast until noon.
• Govardhana Puja (October or November). Krishna's lifting of Govardhana Hill, celebrated with a hill of prasadam offered to the Lord.
• Srila Prabhupada's disappearance day (October or November). Observed with fasting until noon, remembrance, and reading from his books.
• The month of Damodara (Kartika) (October to November). Each evening devotees offer a lamp to Lord Damodara and sing the Damodarastaka.

Dates shift every year because the calendar is lunar. Use a Vaisnava calendar calculated for your own city so that Ekadasi and the fast-breaking times are correct where you live. Calendars are published by the Prabhupada-only temples and by several websites; if you cannot find one, write to info@harekrishnatemple.com.

Keeping it simple

Srila Prabhupada did not want his followers burdened by ritual for its own sake. Fast from grains on Ekadasi, observe the four or five great appearance days, honor Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja, and chant your rounds every day. That is the standard. Everything else in the calendar can be added gradually as your family's practice deepens.