Food for thought!

“What did you have for lunch?” is the routine question that comes up everyday in the evening call (update) with mom. If I say I had some fruit juice, the immediate response from her would be, it’s not any religious day to fast :).

Let’s forget food for stomach for a while and take in a little food for thought!
We see people fasting on festive days and/or on special occasions. Why do they fast at all? To please God? He is the Giver, why would he ask us to starve? Or do people fast to create appetite (after fast)? Not really! And definitely not to distribute food among the poor, we do not have such good mind set.

Fast,”Upavasam” means to stay near (Upa-near, vasam-stay).So, Upavasam means staying in mental proximity with the Lord. If we just track our one day’s activities, most of our time and energy is spent in thinking about, collecting, preparing and eating food.Upavasam is a self-imposed discipline where we restrict ourselves from getting occupied with the thoughts of food. The free mind now entertains noble thoughts and stays in proximity with the Lord. Some people advice/suggest not to follow complete fasting, but consume food that doesn’t need much time for preparation, like fruits or fruit juices. This is in a way correct, for fasting should not make us weak, but should help us control our senses.

Our digestive system needs a break too.

Also the more we indulge the senses, the more demanding they would be. With fasting, we can control our senses, direct our minds to be poised at peace.

Fasting is thus a right exercise to develop will-power and a method to impose control over senses.

Our Vedas and epics stress on “Yuktha-aahara”, that is neither too less nor too much, but the right, pure, simple yet healthy diet even when not on fasting. Tell me, how many of us are not behind junk food ;)?

Happy Deepavali!

The holy lamps lit on the day of Deepavali symbolize the "inner light" of the Atman.
Light outshines darkness. Why just on the festive day, on any other day, the holy lamp is lit in the prayer room near the Altar of God. Lamp symbolizes knowledge/wisdom. Knowledge is the enlivener, the ultimate Source and is the one which wards off the ignorance. Light wards off darkness as knowledge does with ignorance.

This is precisely the reason for lighting the holy lamp. Hindu culture is so symbolic and our day-to-day practices remind us of our duties and responsibilities to be performed as a part of human birth.

Lighting the lamp is one such practice. We light the lamp to bow down to knowledge as the greatest of all forms of wealth. Knowledge backs all our actions, both good and bad. So, lamp is lit as a witness to our thoughts and actions on all auspicious occasions.

Also, the traditional oil lamp has a great significance. The oil in the lamp symbolizes our ignorance. As the oil gets exhausted, the lamp gets to glow brighter ad upwards. This symbolizes that as our ignorance/ego perishes, we make more room for the knowledge to occupy our mind and soul which would take us towards higher ideals.
Knowledge is one that increases with sharing, but never diminishes. So is the oil lamp. A single lit lamp can light so many other lamps without losing its radiance. Now tell me, can the tube-lights replace oil lamps?

Isn’t our custom a store house of intellectual and spiritual meaning?

“Shubham karothi kalyanam aarogyam dhanasampadaha |
Shatrubuddhirvinashaya Deepajyothirnamosthuthe ||
Deepajyothihi Parabrahma Deepajyothirjanardhanaha |
Deepo- harathi paapani Sandhyadeepam namosthuthe ||"