“If a person fasts on Ekādaśī, I will burn up all his sins and bestow upon him My transcendental abode . . . . Indeed, Ekādaśī is the most meritorious day for destroying all kinds of sins, and it has appeared in order to benefit everyone.” (Lord Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna, Chapter 1)

As Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, says in the Bhagavad-gītā (1 5. 7) , the living entities struggling in this material world are eternal spiritual sparks, part and parcel of Him, the Supreme spirit whole.

As the function of the part is naturally to serve the whole, the natural function of the living entity is to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa. But this function has become artificially covered by ignorance because of the living entity’s contact with material nature. Instead of serving Kṛṣṇa, he identifies with his body and mind and tries to lord it over Kṛṣṇa’s material energy. This contamination, known as the false ego or false identification with matter, is the source of all suffering for the soul. But just as contaminated water can be filtered and distilled and thus brought back to its normal, pure state, so the living entity contaminated by false ego can be purified by the transcendental process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One of the main parts of this process is the observance of fasting on Ekādaśī.

Ekādaśī is a day of austerity regularly observed by those who follow Sanātana-dharma, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ekā means “one,” and daśī is the feminine form of the word daśa, which means “ten.” Ekādaśī is thus the eleventh day of both the dark and the light fortnight of each month. On these special days devotees fast from grains and beans and make an extra effort to render devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. As His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the founder-ācārya of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, states in the Bhagavad-gītā As It ls (9.14, purport), “In devotional service there are certain activities which are called determined, such as fasting on certain days, like the eleventh day of the moon, Ekādaśī, and on the appearance day of the Lord.”

Ekādaśī fasting is not meant solely for advanced brahmachārīs and sanyāsīs, or only for widows, as some small-minded persons have said. These sacred fasting days greatly help any sincere soul achieve liberation from birth and death, even within the present lifetime. Ekādaśī gives one a real taste of renunciation, thus helping one give up the illusory sense gratification of this material world. As Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.27.22, purport) , “Renunciation in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so strong that it cannot be deviated by any attractive illusion. One has to perform devotional service in full tapasya, austerity. One should fast on the two Ekādaśī days, which fall on the eleventh day of the waxing and waning moon, and on the birthdays of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rama, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu.”