Significance
Maun means silence. The day is given to restraint of speech as a support for restraint of mind, treating silence as an aid to inward attention rather than an end in itself.
The tithi is honoured for the one hundred and fifty kalyanaks traditionally reckoned to it — arrived at by counting kalyanaks of Tirthankaras across the Bharat and Airavat regions for the past, present and future chauvisis — which makes it, in this reckoning, the most auspicious single tithi of the year.
Many observers take the day as the beginning of a longer vow kept over a period of years, continuing the observance annually rather than treating it as a single day's practice.
How it is observed
- Keeping silence for the day, in some cases from the previous evening.
- Fasting (upvas), commonly kept together with paushadh in the upashray or temple.
- Devavandan, jap of the Navkar Mantra and other recitation performed in silence.
- Kayotsarga, khamasana and other devotional practices, which several traditions prescribe in sets associated with this day.
- Study, meditation and pratikraman, with withdrawal from work, conversation and worldly activity for the duration.
At a Glance
- Lunar date
- Margashirsha (Magsar) Shukla Ekadashi
- Tradition
- Shwetambar tradition