Ekadashi at Home: A Simple Eleventh-Day Practice, With or Without a Fast

Inside the workbook

What the file includes.

How to Use • Read Health First before any fast, and ask at home how your family keeps the day • Set your own city in your panchang and find the next Ekādaśī and its pāraṇa window • Choose the path that suits your body this fortnight; devotion only is a complete Ekādaśī • Fill in the Our Family Ekādaśī Plan sheet once, then keep the two-minute pūjā on your next Ekādaśī Health First • A full page to read before any fast: ask a doctor first if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have diabetes, take regular medicine, have a heart, kidney or blood-pressure condition, have had an eating disorder, are elderly, or are planning a fast for a child or teenager • Never a nirjala (no-water) fast without medical advice • Do not stop or change medicines for a fast; ask your doctor how to time them • Water through the day, the warning signs to stop and eat or drink, and when to get emergency help at once • Children are not expected to fast; they share the devotion instead Finding the Date • What Ekādaśī is and why it comes twice a month • Reading an Ekādaśī entry in a panchang, sunrise rules, and why Smārta and Vaiṣṇava calendars can differ by a day • A worked example for Dev Uthani 2026: Smārta Fri 20 November, Vaiṣṇava Sat 21 November, with pāraṇa windows for each (New Delhi) • A checked list of Ekādaśī dates from November 2026 to December 2027, read from two published panchangs for New Delhi. Check your local panchang before every Ekādaśī Four Paths • Path 1 · Devotion only: normal meals eaten simply, with a lamp, a name and a short pūjā • Path 2 · No grains: no rice, wheat, other grains or pulses, with water freely • Path 3 · Phalāhār: fruit, milk and nuts, with water freely • Path 4 · Nirjala: only with medical advice • The day before, the day and the day after, and pāraṇa made simple in five steps The Grain-Free Kitchen • What "grain-free" usually means in many homes, and what to ask at home • A tick-box pantry list and simple plates for each path, including how to soak sabudana • Food safety: sealed, licensed, in-date fasting flour; cooked food cooled within about two hours; allergies; nuts and makhana crushed for little ones • Cooking one meal for those who fast and those who do not, and hot-oil safety • A Daśamī checklist for the evening before A Simple Viṣṇu Pūjā • Setting the shelf, with or without an image • The pūjā in 2, 7 or 20 minutes; the two-minute pūjā is complete on its own • Two verses in Devanagari, IAST, a say-it line, word by word and a plain meaning: Kāyena Vācā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.2.36) and Uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha Govinda, plus the name oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya • Lamp and flame safety Dev Uthani at Home • Customs many homes keep: the sugarcane canopy, seasonal offerings, drawing the feet, waking the god, lamps and bhajans • A Dev Uthani evening plan for Fri 20 November 2026, or the day your calendar keeps, with lamps in front of the canopy, never under it • Dev Uthani in a flat, with children, with elders, and far from India Tools You Can Print • Our Family Ekādaśī Plan sheet • A twelve-month tracker for the 25 Ekādaśīs from Dev Uthani 2026 to Dev Uthani 2027, with a check-in; no streaks, no scores • Four quick cards: The Four Paths · Date and Pāraṇa in Five Steps · The Two-Minute Pūjā & Two Verses · Gentle Rules Safety and Guards • Fasting is a choice; nobody pressed to fast, and nobody judged for eating • Unwell? Stop the fast, eat or drink, and seek care if needed • Never leave a lit lamp alone; keep it on a metal plate, away from cloth, leaves and children • Missed one? Keep the next • Your family's customs and calendar come first Read Next Read the Panchang · Light the Lamp · Sacred Sound · Pradosh at Home · Amavasya at Home · Purnima at Home · Weekday Devotion at Home · Open the Gita · Morning Sandhyā at Home · Evening Aarti at Home · Start Here: A Simple Daily Practice · A Simple Sankalpa · Namaskara at Home · Temple Visit Prep · Old Offerings at Home · Grace at the Table · Kolam at the Door · Tulsi at Home · Rudraksha Guide Format: 56-page PDF, US Letter, digital download. Offered for spiritual, cultural and educational purposes. It is not medical or diet advice; ask a doctor before any fast. It makes no promises of particular outcomes.