Parana

Parana (Pāraṇā) — the ritual breaking of a fast on the morning after a vow. Most often this means the ekadashi fast: by tradition, such a fast is held incomplete unless broken at the right time, and parana timing is also calculated for other one-day vows. Ekadashi parana is carried out in a strictly defined morning window on the twelfth lunar day — shukla dwadashi or krishna dwadashi, depending on the paksha of the ekadashi that has passed. For the fast to bear fruit, it matters to break it at the right time: not too early (before sunrise) and not too late (before dwadashi ends).

Place in the system

In the Vedic calendar (panchanga) any fast is tied to the Moon's motion. The ekadashi fast is kept on the eleventh lunar day (tithi), and its completion (parana) always falls on the morning of the twelfth day (dwadashi).

The astronomical timing for parana is worked out by these rules:

1. After sunrise. The fast may not be broken at night, in the pre-dawn hours, or during Brahma Muhurta — eating is not customary at that time. One must wait until the Sun has risen at your location.
2. Before dwadashi ends. The twelfth lunar day can end at any time of day — morning or afternoon. It matters to break the fast before this lunar day gives way to the next.
3. After Hari Vasara ends. The first quarter (pada) of the twelfth lunar day is called "Hari Vasara" (Vishnu's time). Tradition does not allow breaking the fast during this period: one waits for it to end.

Practical meaning

In ekadashi practice, breaking the fast matters as much as the fast itself. Tradition holds the vow complete only together with parana: missing the parana window devalues the fast itself, and the vow is held incomplete.

The main rules for breaking the fast:

• Why timing matters: tradition connects a timely parana with fixing the fruits of the fast; missing the window, by contrast, devalues the preceding austerity.
• What to do if eating properly is not possible: If at the right time you cannot eat a full meal (say, while travelling), tradition allows a symbolic breaking — a sip of clean water, a leaf of holy basil (tulasi), or a drop of water offered to the deities. This counts as breaking the fast, and an ordinary meal can be taken later.
• What to do if the window is missed: If the parana window is missed entirely without good reason, the fast is held incomplete.

In daily practice

The traditional sequence for the morning of dwadashi: early rising and bathing, morning prayer or meditation, offering the prepared food at the altar before eating it oneself, and then light, fresh vegetarian food. Grain or legume dishes (rice, for instance) are traditionally used for this, since it is grain that was given up on the day of ekadashi.

How much a particular parana morning is yours is refined by Tara Bala from your birth nakshatra to the day's nakshatra.