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Just in time for Mahashivaratri

Viraja

Jaya Jagannatha!
I'm attempting to keep a fast today, limited to dairy and fruits, maybe a small mixed salad. Salads are iffy though, many items to avoid on a fast day. So maybe just dairy (no cheese except curd because of the possibility of animal enzymes) and fruit. As I was leaving the temple yesterday the manager said to me "Tomorrow night!" I said disappointedly, "I know, but I can't make it". :( My coworker said she can't either. I said well then, I don't feel too badly. :D

So anyway...

शुभ महाशिवरात्रि
śubha mahāśivarātri


View attachment 27315

I am keeping ekadasi fast, but breaking it at sunset.

To keep the fast going during the day, I tell to myself, "Hey, you! you need all that to kill all your bad vasanas...!".
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
I am keeping ekadasi fast, but breaking it at sunset.

To keep the fast going during the day, I tell to myself, "Hey, you! you need all that to kill all your bad vasanas...!".

Oh, you break it at sunset!? That's right, sunset is the auspicious time of day on Mahashivaratri. I will do the same then. Ekadashi fasts end the next morning. By then I'm usually as ill-tempered as a grizzly bear. That kind of defeats the fast for self-improvement. :D
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
So Sivaratri went well here, lots of milk, lots of flowers, lots of devotion. Maybe 300 people at 7, about 60 at midnight, but that's when we left. 6:30 until 1:30 is enough for this old body to endure. But yes, it's an inner time. A day before new moon means it's a time to pray on inner stuff, get that side of your soul going so to speak. Not a joyous outward festival, but a joyous inner festival.

I visited with some hatha yoga folks just now discovering the joys of bhakti. It's always nice when a total newcomer to a house of God comments on the energy, without being pressed for it. Makes you think you're doing something right I guess.

For those who celebrated, I wish and pray you feel recharged from the inside.
 
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