Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

It says noon on the email. I dont remember from previous years sorry.

GBC seems to have changed it from noon to eve.

hari sarui prabhus "transcendental diary" 1-9, "Sri Dhama Mayapur," 11 feb 1976:
[quote]"Srila Prabhup'e4da also verbally listed the proper fasting periods to observe for other auspicious days: Lord Nityanandas, Sri Advaitas, Lord Balaramas, and Srimati Radharanis appearances are all half-day fasts. Lord Nrsimhadevas and Lord Ramacandras appearance days are full day fasts until sunset while Gaura Purnima is a fast until moon rise."[/quote]
here in mayapur at least, were breaking fast on these days without taking grains.

http://www.dandavats.com/?p=766

"Some Confusion Regarding Fasting"

nice, but this dandavats article doesnt do much to un-confuse the issue, particularly not to solve the question of grains or anukalpa (ekadasi) prasadam. according to HH bhanu maharaja, some centers do this, some do that, and he doesnt propose to change ISKCONs culture...

However question was how long one has to fast.

Another related question is if you travel (say from DEL to LGW) on the morning of the fast and your place of arrival has fasting day (muhurta calculations) on the following day, should you fast for two days (both for tithi of the place where you were in the morning and the place where you arrived to:-)?

actually the original post (question) mentions both, time & type of prasadam.

re. traveling: thats easy (assuming you have GPS & computer & lots of time). just calculate the exact time for each point of your journey, and when you reach the break-fast point, thats it. :)

its not clear for me yet. so can I eat at noon rice and dhal or not?

as far as i understand, there are no hard & fast rules, neither concerning the time of fast, nor the type of prasadam to be taken afterwards. its all pretty much up to the temple, center, or region managers.

typically we fast until the appearance time of the avatara, but in case of lord balarama that isnt konwn; according to HH bhanu maharaja, you can celebrate the lords appearance at any time of the day and follow that with a feast.

the trend im seeing is that devotees try to offer more austerity, at least here in mayapur, by fasting all day from grains and feastng on ekadasi prasadam, if at all. that cant be wrong, unless it disturbs your service or well-being.

according to what ive read so far, theres no offense or disrespect involved if you fast until noon, perform whatever celebration is possible for you, and then offer grains to your deities, taking the prasadam afterwards.

We know that SP laid the foundation stone for the temple of Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama on the holy appearance day of Lord Nityananda Prabhu and was opened on Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhus appearance day in 1975. But what was the first time in ISKCON that Balarama appearance day was celebrated... ? Certainly not in the first years. Have it ever been celebrated before KB Mandir opening?

thank you

> Does "fasting till noon" mean until 12 oclock or until the sun is at the
> highest point?
>
> ys Ramakanta dasa

Thanks for asking!

This fasting instruction, introduced into the old VCal program, does not
seem to be based on any particular sastric injunction. So devotees can
interpret it as they see fit.

Perhaps the origin of this tradition is that based on some instructions of
Srila Prabhupada, the temples would not serve breakfast that day, would hold
special worship programs for Lord Balaram at mid-day, and then would serve a
feast. This became known as "fasting till noon" to designate that out of
respect for the special worship program at mid-day, devotees would not eat
in the morning.

The old VCal fasting instruction wordings have been discontinued in the
latest version of GCal, although there is an option on the "Calendar
Settings" page to restore them. The reason that they have been discontinued
is that there are varieties of traditional practices found in ISKCON today.
Some worship Balaram at noon, some at dusk, some serve grains after the
abhishek, some serve only anukalpa (ekadasi) prasadam. Similarly with Lord
Ramachandras appearance day. The calendar committee did not want the
program wordings to be the source of quarrelling among the devotees. Let
everyone observe these festivals peacefully according to the instructions of
their spiritual authorities or temple leaders or their personal realization.

Bhanu Maharaja may want to say more in this regard.

Your servant, Bhaktarupa Das

[quote][cite] phani:[/cite]actually the original post (question) mentions both, time & type of prasadam.

re. traveling: thats easy (assuming you have GPS & computer & lots of time). just calculate the exact time for each point of your journey, and when you reach the break-fast point, thats it. :)[/quote]

I find it silly to have Janmastami (astami titthi) tomorrow in USA and day after tomorrow in Europe and India. I can understand the theory about tithi, but it just does not make sense to me - what if you left UK tomorrow and arrived to US in some few hours same (not the same) day -- are you to eat ekadasi prasadam at midnight?