Festivals - Vaikuntha Ekadashi

Date: January

Legend: Narada once asked Vishnu "Swami, I keep visiting you wherever I am, but tell me your head office address, is it Kailasa or Vaikuntha or Swarga that I should search for you when I need you urgently". To this Lord Vishnu replied "Neither of the above is my headquarters. They are only branch offices. I install myself wherever my glory is sung".

Ekadashi is a day of ritual fasting undertaken as a spiritual and mental cleansing.

"Vaikuntha means, without any trace of grief or pain; the Place where perfect Peace reigns, and there is no flutter of fear [as in the abode of Vishnu]. Ekadashi means the eleventh day of the lunar fortnight. The phases of the moon are numbered, and the day after the tenth, Dashami, is referred to as the Eka-dashi. But the real meaning of Ekadashi, the eleventh day, is this: When the senses - the five of action and the five through which knowledge of the objective world is gained - are all coordinated and turned towards God, - the 11th - then it becomes genuine Ekadashi. This is also the meaning of Namaskar, where you fold both palms together and hold them on your chest, near the heart region. The ten senses surrendered to the person adored, with real sincerity in the heart.

This is the day on which one has to transcend the lower impulses originating from the Tamasic and the Rajasic natures and help the upsurge of Satwic tendencies."

Last updated: Jul 17, 2000
Legend from Discourse: Sadhana with Love, Prashanthi Nilayam, Jul 5, 1996
Quote from Sadhana - The Inward Path, The Significance of the Hindu Festivals, 11-4, p 254