Bharatheeyam : ( 08/11/2012. )

16/05/2018 Chapter 16 : The Significance of Ekadasi - 3. A talk given on the 17th of January, 1970, on the request of devotees. Ekadasi is a Sanskrit word, which means 'the eleventh'. It refers to the eleventh day of a fortnight in 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

02/05/2018 Chapter 16 : The Significance of Ekadasi - 2. A talk given on the 17th of January, 1970, on the request of devotees. 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 manufactur