Thread by @HinduMediaWiki

Shivratri Upwas Vrat

People who wish to observe upwas on Chaturdashi ( Maha Shiv Ratri ) should avoid eating rice on the night before the chaturdashi I.e on Pradosh (Trayodashi).

Fasting on Maha shivratri starts before sunset, by taking a river/ sea bath.

People having no facility of river or sea can simply take Head bath on that day. ( No shampooing or Abhyangana Snaan) prefer cold water bath.( People with complicated health issues avoid cold water)
Wear washed and folded clothes , avoid crumpled ones

Start your day with usual puja and take sankalp of the upwasa and pray ganesh ji for nirvighn( without obstacles) vrat. Off2r jaggery as neivedya and start your fast with any puja you want to perform. People do one round of abhishekam in the morning. Do your regular pujas.

Food Niyamas?

1. Nirjala
2. With water only
3. With fruits & Milk (Preferrably Cow Milk)
4. With milk food made out of Roots

Based on ones health condition people can choose any one way. There is no force of any one way to be followed. Main thing is our concentration on dhyan

People who opt for fruits milk and mild food should only eat ONCE AT ONE PLACE IN THE DAY. NOT BINGE EATING. This is for survival of health condition so doing it as if you are having a meal only will serve the purpose of having it. And don't eat excessive amount

Milk of cow is preferred , as it is highly sathwik in energies. If you can't find cow's milk, it is okay to have any other animal milk too as exception. Don't be rigid.

The fast will be observed until next morning until PAARANA Time I.e time to break the fast as per panchang

After the parana on the next day no other meal should be taken. One can again take one fruit meal and milk if the health condition can't survive.
Be very careful in choosing the fasting method.

Jagaran?

Proper way of staying in jagaran is to stay awake from before sunrise of Mahashivratri morning to the next day night. One should not sleep anytime before the next night. But, some observe partial jagaran until the Lingodbhava Kaala of the mahashivratri night ++

And sleep later to that. People who can't do jagaran, we suggest you to do as much as possible and then do Bhooshayana (sleeping on floor) in the night. Elderly and people with health problems again it's okay to sleep on the bed, relax. But try as much as u can stay awake.

Attaching here timings ( Hyderabad) for Lingodbhava. 4 prahara pujas timings and parana Timings. Use app to change location for various places. And also panchang varies for different regions please cross check. However there would be max 15m of diff as per diff panchang

drikpanchang.com/festivals/maha…

Visit link and enter the location name as you scroll down as shown in image you will get your timings as per your location 🙏🏼

Use this app from playstore , it is good for Muhurta Nirnaya 🙏🏼

Before Sunrise *

Before breaking the fast. Give an equivalent raw portion of a Brahmana Meal

1kg Rice
Dry red chillies
A glass or cup of Moong dal
Green leaf veggies
Raw Bananas
Any fruit
Salt
Bit of Tamarind

Which would suffice a meal for brahmana. Do this dana at a temple and then eat

Due to time constraints uf you aren't able to visit temple before parana time. Keep aside the raw portion apart after the bath and then start cooking. After meal go to the temple and do the daana before 10am.