Srila Narayana Maharaja spoke about the importance of its observance.

“Ekadasi day is nothing but Krsna Himself – God Himself. He has personally taken the form of Ekadasi. Once, when He was passing through the hellish planets, He saw the people there crying bitterly. Why were they crying so bitterly? They were in a very miserable condition. Those who are of bad character have to embrace a pillar of red-hot iron which feels like burning fire. ^{*[See endnote 2]} They do not die; they only suffer. They are also put into boiling oil to suffer, but they so not die.

“Krsna thought, ‘Oh, this is a very bad thing. They are all My daughters and sons. Today, I am becoming Ekadasi. On this day of Ekadasi, those who do not take grains or foodstuffs prepared from grains will very soon be liberated. On the other hand, if they do not fast from grains or those foods prepared from grains, then all sins will enter into those grains, and all those persons’ good activities will go to Mohini.’^{*[See endnote 3]}

“Pure bhakti is very easily attained by following Ekadasi. In no way should one disobey Ekadasi, whether one is male or female, widow or married. The only concession is for a boy or girl who is less than five years old, or for a man or woman who is more than eighty years old. If such persons are otherwise not able to maintain their life, then they can take some grains (prasada) – in a limited amount.

“So we should all observe Ekadasi, whether we are male or female, old or young.

“In our Matha (temple) there was a devotee named Sripad Muni Maharaja. When he was over 95 years old, he wanted to give up Ekadasi. Our Guru Maharaja told him, “If you are taking maha-prasada and you can walk and speak, why not follow Ekadasi? You should not give it up.” Having heard this from Guru Maharaja, Muni Maharaja followed Ekadasi and continued for the remainder of his life.

“So observing Ekadasi is a very important and easy method to achieve Krsna-prema and attain liberation.