Fasting on Ekadasi

Fasting on Ekadasi

Ekadasi is a well known fasting day. This blog is about the reason behind what is so special about ekadasi to fast.

What is Ekadasi?

Ekadasi is eleventh day of the moon 15 day cycle i.e. 11th from full moon or no moon .

Why Fasting on Ekadasi?

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2016/press-release/

Autophagy means -- "Eating Thyself". Autophagy earned nobel prize in 2015. It is concerned as one of the revolutionary discovery in the medical science.  Brain biopsy will tell exact nature of the problem, we tend to accumulate junk in our brain and it absolutely have no space to breath and grow in the right way. Samething is applicable through out our body. Fasting induce this autophagy, which is nothing but cleaning the unused debris within our body. As there are zero calories going inside the body our body would start consuming this unused cells and cleans itself.
Note: This process is very very different from general dieting . Dieting concentrates of reduced intake where as autophagy is talking about "zero calories" for certain period.   It reduces risk of many diseases like cancer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDzIbkyr5QQ

It is also proved that it is more important to understand "When to eat" than "What to eat"
All the while we the western concept "focus on more exercise and less calories" is not very effective.  Eating all day is going to overload our organs like pancreas. Hence it is incorrect to eat smaller quantities all day long. Intermittent can also help in weight loss. it is about absence of food during the prescribed times.  When we fast we can tap into the fat that is stored in the body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Dkt7zyImk

Based on the above nobel prize winning research it is clear that fasting is important and it can potentially clean your body. Based on above of above research it is also clear that on a general note couple of times a month or once in a month might be enough to cleanse (Though this depends on the ability of person and his body).

Now comes to the question why on Ekadasi, Can it be some other day. Technically it can be on any day but Ekadasi suits better for the following reason

https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/09/the-full-moons-effects-on-your-health-its-no-coincidence-its-science/

Simple concept is, Everyone one of us is aware of tidal waves during full moon. Even our body is 80% of water, moon might have similar effect on body hence our emotions would be having impact on full moon day. By large whatever is our natural instinct, it might get emphasized more on those days. e. An overgrowth of gut bacteria and/or yeast such as Candida can also have similar effects during a full moon. The most common parasite usually found is Blastocystis Hominis (Blasto). Blasto can be persistent; it’s commonly correlated with autoimmune issues and likes to hang out with another bacterial gut offender known as H. Pylori.

https://instituteforrestorativehealth.com/2019/08/16/the-full-moon-and-weird-symptoms/

We are also very aware of mental patients experiencing fluctuations during the full moon and no moon days. There is even a theory of "Moon Sickness". Bio-magnetic fields, barometric pressure fluctuations, as well as exposures to heavy metals and parasites influence patients who are struggling with chronic conditions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect#Human_behavior

So based on above theory Full Moon and No Moon days are the most effected dates for stomach and also body. So why not autophagy triggered before these days and prepare the body well before moon effect. Hence 4 days before full moon or no moon is the best day to do the fasting.

That is the reason is behind fasting on Ekadasi.

How fasting is observed

Fasting is observed from sunrise to sunrise i.e. for one complete day. There are six levels of fasting  i.e.

Level 0: Three Day Fasting
Level 1: Full fasting on Ekadasi i.e. not even water
Level 2: Only Water No food on Ekadasi
Level 3: Only Fruits and Milk on Ekadasi
Level 4: Non Grain Foods only once in a day
Level 5: Non Grain Foods all the three times

Level 0 -- Three day Fasting -- Ideal Procedure

Ekadashi vrat is a 3-day (“dina-traya” ) vrat and not one day. It starts on the 10th lunar day and concludes on the 12th lunar day.  On both Dashami and Dwadashi we should eat only twice (assuming the norm as eating thrice a day). Every meal irrespective of type is counted i.e. breakfast, lunch, dinner etc). That means, food intake at night / in the evening should be skipped. On Ekadashi, we should NOT eat ANYTHING. As far as liquid is concerned, we are allowed to drink water twice a day which will typically be after Sandhyavandana.