Vishnu · Sunrise to next sunrise
Keeping Ekadashi — the fortnightly vrat
Every 11th tithi, both fortnights — see the calendar's Ekadashi entries
In the simplest words
Twice a month, a day lighter than usual — no grains, more remembrance of Vishnu, and breaking the fast next morning at the right hour.
Twice a month the tradition clears a day for Vishnu: light or no food, more remembrance, less noise. The body rests its digestion, the mind loosens its grip on wanting — the vrat is a fortnightly reset, and capacity decides its strictness.
The vrat has named levels: nirjala (no water), jala (water only), phalahara (fruit and milk), and the single anna-free meal. Choosing the level is part of the sankalp; the parana next morning, inside the panchang's window, closes it — twenty-four such days a year, twenty-six when an adhik-mas falls.
Samagri — what you need
0/4 gatheredThe vidhi, step by step
0/5 doneSankalpa at sunrise
After bathing, take the vow before Vishnu's image: the level you will keep (nirjala only if health allows; jal-phal for most; one anna-free meal is also honoured), and for whose wellbeing.
Morning Vishnu puja
Deepa, chandan, flowers, tulsi leaf, and the twelve-syllable mantra — the day's anchor set early.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Oṁ Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om, I bow to Bhagavan Vasudeva. Vasudeva is Krishna as the indwelling one — from vas, to dwell: he in whom all beings live and who lives in all beings. Twelve syllables long, the mantra is the Bhagavata tradition's whole path in one line — not a request but an address: turning toward the person of the divine and handing oneself over.
Source: Bhāgavata tradition (Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa)
Through the day
Keep the food-rule taken; keep speech kind and low; fill spare minutes with the name rather than the feed. Rice is traditionally avoided by all on Ekadashi, even non-fasters.
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे । हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे ॥
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Hare, Krishna, Rama — three names woven sixteen times into one garland. Hare is read as the call to Hari, who takes sorrow away, or — in the Gaudiya reading — to Hara, the divine energy, Radha; Krishna, the all-attractive; Rama, the reservoir of joy. There is no request anywhere in the mantra: it is pure address — the practice of calling the beloved by name until the calling itself becomes the meeting.
Source: Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad
Evening deepa & katha
Lamp at dusk; read the day's Ekadashi katha or a Gita passage; a quiet mala before sleep. Some keep partial or full night vigil on the great Ekadashis.
अच्युतानन्तगोविन्द नामोच्चारणभेषजात् । नश्यन्ति सकला रोगाः सत्यं सत्यं वदाम्यहम् ॥
Acyutānanta-govinda nāmoccāraṇa-bheṣajāt, naśyanti sakalā rogāḥ satyaṁ satyaṁ vadāmy aham
By the medicine of uttering the names Achyuta, Ananta, Govinda, all diseases are destroyed — in truth, in truth I say it. Three names chosen like three medicines: the one who never falls (for when the body fails), the one without end (for when time presses), the keeper of the herd (for when no one seems to care). And the doubled satyam — in truth, in truth — is the verse staking its own word on the cure.
Source: Traditional healing verse of the Viṣṇu-nāma corpus
Parana — breaking rightly
Next morning after sunrise, within the parana window (your panchang lists it), break the fast gently — water and fruit first. The vrat ends with daan: food or grain given before you eat richly.
Note: Health first, always: diabetics, the pregnant, the ill, and children adapt or skip — bhava outweighs severity, and the shastra itself provides substitutes (jaap, daan, extra seva).
Note: Smarta and Vaishnava parana rules differ slightly; families follow their own panchang.